Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held a press conference immediately following the Steelers game. Here’s a breakdown of the coach’s comments about their performance.

Opening Statement:

Awesome day. I’ll start by wishing my oldest child a happy birthday, my oldest son is 18 today. Just as a parent that’s a wild thing but on to business, good team effort. It was going to be required, I liked the no blink and supportive approach of the team in all three phases. We all had our moments where we didn’t get it done but we all had moments where we uplifted the other phases and that is what team is. We did what we had to do tonight to get it done, guys made plays. I think about the young guys that had positive contributions like Jaylen [Samuels], guys like James Washington, can’t say enough about their contributions. Bumps and bruises associated with play, we had a number of guys go down in the game but were able to come back into the game. I think Bud [Dupree] was the only guy that didn’t finish, and I think that could be characterized as a bone bruise, but I will give you more information as we get it. Tonight, we are just appreciative of the efforts and thankful to get the win. We will assess it and get ready to move on to the next challenge that this journey presents us.

On if the win felt bigger than an average regular season win:

It felt big because of our present circumstances. We like to believe that we are the common denominator in all stories involving us and it was less about the opponent and more about particularly how we have played of late, in terms of having an opportunity to finish games. So, I think the significant element is not about who we play, it’s about us overcoming the things that have been issues for us in recent weeks, particularly we were able to end the game with the defense on the field and that’s significant.

On how the win prepares the Steelers for the Saints:

We are not worried about that. We really just are assessing what happened here today, we’ll get ready to move on to the Saints tomorrow. We are appreciative of the efforts that allowed us to get the necessary win today.

On keeping faith in all three elements of the game:

You have to. That’s just the nature of this thing. It’s easy to display faith and talk that commodity stuff when things are going well. Sometimes you got to cut your eyelids off when you want to blink when it gets thick and we talk openly about that. We try to display it and live it and you only get to do that in these types of moments, so you want to embrace those challenges.

On whether he expected to hold the Patriots offense to ten points:

Again, it’s about us and about how we perform and what it is that we do. We take that approach, that ownership approach, that way we are not wishing and hoping. So, we played better today, so the result was better today but with all due respect the quality of the opponent, we acknowledge that, but we play good quality opponents every week. There are no homecomings in the National Football League. If you are not playing ‘A’ ball, anybody that you can play can whack you, that’s just how it goes.

On Joe Haden’s interception:

Joe is a special guy. He just really is, he’s got special talents but his approach to it day in and day out, he’s a compass of steady and influence for a young secondary or particularly young cornerback position those around him, we ask him to do a lot of things beyond a, b, and c, and he does it all with a smile. We are glad he’s a Pittsburgh Steeler.

Is Joe Haden a steady influence for the young Steelers defensive backs?

Without question, but Morgan Burnett also. We are a team that primarily builds our team through the draft and we supplement with free agency. Those are two guys that we acquired through free agency that are good components of a group and they provide leadership and they do the things that Steelers do so we don’t take that for granted.

Whether penalties were the difference in today’s win versus other games:

We realize that we might not be able to sack them five, six, seven sacks or whatever the things that define the good rush games because they are good, and he is good both physically and schematically, so we talk openly about pressure and winning those moments and creating plays in those moments. The sack total wouldn’t necessarily reflect the effectiveness of the group, so the numbers probably aren’t what we would define as a dominate rush performance, but we had those moments and those moments were big, those moments created the rush that allowed Joe [Haden] to make the interception you spoke of so together rush and coverage we eat.

What allowed the Steelers to keep Rob Gronkowski in check during the game?

We mixed a variety of people on him and concepts on him, but he had his moments. There was a possession down in that red zone before Joe’s [Haden] interception that he converted, and I think we had two people assigned to him. He’s a special guy but so is 12 [Tom Brady], and they are a special tandem.

What went through his mind when he sent Chris Boswell out for the second field goal and was it an immediate decision?

I made that decision when I walked in the stadium with him that he was our kicker and I wasn’t going to play that second-guessing game today. We evaluated that process in a very thorough manner. Prior to going into the stadium, we had a great deal of comfort with the route that we chose to take. We describe that route to you guys intimately and so I wasn’t going to get into the stadium and do that. He’s our kicker from start to finish and I liked the way he came back and banged that next opportunity and that is what this thing is about. This thing meaning the game of football at this level. You are going to be tested, we are going to be tested, sometimes you are going to fail but you better pass enough of them.

On how he keeps himself calm and steady:

I have been doing this for 12 years. It’s not my first rodeo, that’s how but when are talking Jaylen Samuels and guys like that they were in elementary school when I started doing this so such as life.

On whether it was difficult to pull Artie Burns out of the game as early as he did:

No, and that play wasn’t even his fault, so I think I want to be clear in saying that. That play that we gave up was not his fault. I accept responsibility that it was our fault. I was too busy arguing a sequence of events prior to that really to make sure we had proper communication in that sequence, so we essentially spotted them seven. No reservations about that, Artie [Burns] had a good week’s prep. Just really felt good about 24 [Coty Sensabaugh], and his ability to do some of the veteran things that is going to [be] required when you’re jockey and playing a paced game against a group like that and so appreciate Artie’s efforts, he had a good week worth. Just as we got into the game particularly when we gave a play up early I thought 24 [Coty Sensabaugh] with his veteran experience would be a little bit steadier.

 

Transcript provided by the Pittsburgh Steelers.