Mike Tomlin press conference recap: “I thought we played really good sudden change football”

by Joe Kuzma (joe_kuzma) on December 19, 2018

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin holds his weekly press conferences every Tuesday. Each week, we will take a glimpse at what stood out from coach’s comments about the previous week and heading into the Steelers next game.

Opening statement

Good afternoon. As always, I’ll start with a quick synopsis of the last performance or game or significant components of it. It was a big win for us. You know, we got significant contributions in all three phases. We had lapses in all three phases like you do in every game, but I thought, you know, the positives far outweighed the negatives particularly in a complimentary sort of way of the other phases of our team and that’s what produced victory. The offense started fast, and I thought that that was significant for us as a football team. We won the toss, we were able to go down the field, and I think we went down the field the first couple of times we had the ball and that was significant. We were able to drive the ball and produce a field goal late in the game offensively. I thought that was significant. Obviously, we have to work to continue to maintain possession of the ball and safeguard the ball. We had a couple of turnovers, but we knew that was possible playing a formidable bunch like that, particularly with the veteran presence that they had in the secondary and the things that they were able to get done in an environment such as that. On the defensive side of the ball, I thought we responded to the turnovers very well and played really good sudden change football. Obviously, we stood up on a couple short fields and made the necessary plays. I thought we were able to absorb some negativity early and find our rhythm. I can’t say enough about our ability to communicate.

Oftentimes when you’re at Heinz Field, you think about the issues that there are for your opponent from a communication standpoint, but you have those same issues defensively and I can’t say enough about Vince Williams and what he was able to do in terms of being a central communicator for us throughout the game and allowed us to settle in and be able to match some of the pace things that they do and things that they do very well. I thought communication was an element of that performance. Then in the special teams game, I thought we did a good job of neutralizing their dangerous return men, whether it was [Cordarrelle] Patterson in the kickoff return game or [Julian] Edelman in the punt game, they thought they were capable of being explosive in those areas. We didn’t allow that to happen and then obviously we made a significant field goal there late in the game. Positive things to build upon as we move forward. We are going to need to obviously with this next challenge.

On the injury front, Cam Heyward had a hyper-extended knee, he was able to go back into the game. Bud Dupree, a knee contusion that really limited his effectiveness. We will watch him participate during the week and let his participation be our guide, but fully expect him to be a participant this weekend. Terrell Edmunds is in the concussion protocol, don’t have a lot of information there. Oftentimes, guys show up on Monday morning or what have you with symptoms and we address it in an appropriate and professional manner. Preexisting injuries, James Conner with his ankle. I saw him downstairs getting rehab just a few moments ago. Hopefully, that sets the stage for a productive Wednesday and we’ll go on from there. We’ll let the amount of work that he’s able to do and the effectiveness of that work be our guide and we’ll make those decisions at the appropriate time as we push towards game time.

In regard to this week, we are excited about this opportunity. We understand that we’re playing a really good football team. We are playing a really good football team in their venue. We don’t run away from that. We understand what time of year it is and if you have the intentions that we have, you need forks in the road such as this. They are a really good bunch.

I’ll start first on the defense. When I look at the defense, I just think about a lot of homegrown talent. Guys that they’ve drafted and developed, I’ll start up front with [Cameron] Jordan and [Sheldon] Rankins, former first rounders that they’ve drafted and developed and have become Pro Bowl-caliber players for them as an interior rush man and an edge rush man. Those guys set the pace of the wave that others ride. Together, collectively, they have over 20 sacks. They’re extremely disruptive both versus the run and the pass. They’ve added to that tandem most recently with a first-rounder out of UTSA who’s produced some sacks and some sack-fumble like plays. His length is a difficult thing to deal with but, like a lot of 4-3 teams, it’s just not about those three men. They play a bunch of people up front, they keep them fresh, they get after your passer, they trample the run on the way to the pass. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention they’re number one in football versus the run. Part of that is obviously being a 12-2 football team, I understand that having leads and so forth, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that they’re number two in the league versus the run-in terms of yards per carry. So, they are probably not getting a lot of carries because of the nature of the game or the circumstances that they’re in, but you better acknowledge that they’re just formidable at stopping the run period because of yards per carry illustrate that as well. In the secondary, again a lot of homegrown talent, [Marshon] Lattimore, [Marcus] Williams, both Williams, at safety, and [P.J.] Williams at nickel. They supplemented that with Eli Apple, I think he’s been a quality acquisition for them. But a bunch of top-notch talent, first round caliber-like guys, guys that are capable of playing aggressive and playing tight man-to-man, playing the ball down the field. I think one of the things that have allowed them to go on the stretch run that they have defensively over the last five or six weeks where they’re really getting after people is they’ve gotten the ball and they’ve gotten the ball in a variety of ways. The way that they were able to punch that ball out, Von Bell, from that Carolina Panther runner last night was reflective of how they’ve been playing and really over the course of that span, I’ve seen them punch the ball out of several Atlanta Falcons receivers. I saw them punch the ball away from Minnesota Vikings receivers in recent weeks on tape. They are a very ball-aware group. Obviously, they are capable of catching the ball and intercepting it, but there’s just general ball-awareness in terms of punching it and hunting it that has really been an asset to them. It’s allowed them to make the necessary splash plays, to control games and keep the score down. At the linebacker level, [Demario] Davis is a savvy veteran that’s been around. We’ve seen him in New York, we’ve seen him in Cleveland, he’s an all downs and situations player. He’s good at man coverage, he’s a good blitzer. I thought he had some really significant blitz opportunities last night against Carolina. He’s someone that we have to reckon with. Obviously, we gave up a big blitz against New England, got our quarterback hit. We had a young back, back there. We understand all of those things, so he’s got to answer that challenge.

On the other side of the ball, it rolls through Drew Brees and his unique resume and experience and continuity that he has within. Their offensive structure with Coach [Sean] Payton is something to deal with. It allows them to move in and out of personnel groups with tremendous pace. It allows them to attack you in a variety of ways. I’m sure he has a lot of autonomy at the line of scrimmage. I’m sure that in his home venue that that’ll be significant. Their last three games they’ve been on the road. I’m sure they are excited about getting back into their home venue to deal with that group in their venue. The relationship he’s developed with Mike Thomas has been really extraordinary. [Alvin] Kamara is an asset to them in the running game and in the passing game. You can spend a lot of time talking about their passing game because of Drew and the relationship he has with Coach Payton and what they’ve been able to do over the years. Michael Thomas and his growth and development and the type of impact receiver that he is and Kamara, the things he’s able to do in the passing game. But the reality is that this is a really strong fundamental running team and I think that that was on display last night as well. Their running back tandem of [Mark] Ingram and Kamara is a formidable one. You look at one guy individually and maybe the stats don’t jump off the stats sheet at you but do the math. You add their contributions up and that is a tremendous production from the tailback position in the running game and in the passing game in their offense. They utilize a variety of people in schemes. They challenge in a lot of ways, three backs, two backs, one back. We are looking forward to the challenge though.

We just have a big week in front of us in terms of preparing and putting ourselves in the position to play. We have to acknowledge that environment as part of the preparation process. It creates challenges for us offensively. You have to respect that they’re in their environment as you prepare to play them defensively. Then in the special teams game, they have a really rock-solid unit, capable of making plays. Their return game is capable of being dynamic. Obviously, Kamara is an element of that. So, it’s a lot to be excited and on edge about as we prepare and I’m sure we will be when the players get here tomorrow, and we are as a staff as we prepare here today.

Patriots cornerback said your defense was spinning the wheel, what does that mean to you?

Again, I don’t know what he meant by that, so I don’t necessarily have the answer you are hunting. I know that week-in and week-out we game plan to try to meet the needs of the moment and sometimes those moments and needs are different based on who you play.

Are Ben Roethlisberger’s ribs ok?

Yes, I just talked to him right before I came in here. No worse for the weary, no negative consequences from this past week’s performance.

Re: Development of James Washington and Eli Rogers

I’ve been pleased with the growth and development of young people. Sometimes just the journey reveals that growth and development, sometimes that growth and development doesn’t have the opportunity to be revealed but sometimes just by the nature of the journey itself injury and so forth. Those guys are examples of that. James [Washington] has had the opportunity to ascend probably due the unfortunate circumstances regarding Justin Hunter. Eli [Rogers] has been missing some because of football. He got hurt late last year and spent the entire offseason rehabilitating in the vast majority of this season working to get well. He’s been working in recent weeks. Sunday was the first time for him to have an opportunity to contribute and we appreciated his contributions and I know he’s excited about continuing to get back to work, to continue to knock the rust off, to continue to find ways to be a positive contributor to our efforts. The same could be said about James. He’s getting an opportunity to make some plays and be a positive contributor to our efforts and I am sure that is a good thing. One that I am sure he’s concerned about continuing.

Re: JuJu Smith Schuster’s growth from last year

Just the overall consistency in his performance has been better this year but that is not a bold statement. We expect overall consistency of all second-year players to follow that line. I could say the same about T.J. Watt for instance. I could say the same about James Conner. Those guys have been a part of our program, particularly those that had an opportunity to contribute as young people and be the type of component of the unity the JuJu [Smith-Schuster] was is reasonable for them to use that as a springboard as they move forward into the second year and he’s done that and continues to do that and continues to work to improve in all aspects of his game and growing In terms of understand game and I think all of those things help him in terms of being a more consistent asset to us.

Re: Does the tape reflect the statistical ranking for New Orleans defense

You can always shape those stories however you want. Again, I think the yards per carry speaks on the dominance of their run defense. They are number two in the league in terms of yards per carry so forget the number of runs, forget the game circumstance, ahead-behind, the nature of that. When people choose to run they are number two in the league in terms of yards per carry, so they’re run-game dominant, so they have been up on some people so that creates a reasonable environment where some of the other things you mentioned may occur.

Re: The saints are run dominant at home, is that something you pay attention to on home tape or road tape

I look at what they are capable of and forget how they played. They are capable of being dominant regardless of venue. We happen to be playing them at home, we understand that, we understand that they are a formable bunch in any venue but particularly at home.

Re: Do you think you will go on a winning streak after going on a losing streak like in pervious year

Again, I am not trying to shape it, I am just trying live it. We have a big game this week, we are readying ourselves for that. I’ll leave the rest of that stuff to you guys.

What did you tell the team going into this week to motivate them?

Which week?

Last game against the Patriots?

I told them a myriad of things. We do not have time to shape our dialogue, but it was a normal week in a lot of ways in terms of the amount of communication, the depth of communication and things that we talked about.

Re: Non-conference opponent late in the year

I think anyone you play late in the year, everybody has a lot of tape of there so it’s the same for all of us. They have a lot of tape out there, we have a lot of tape out there. We’ve got a lot of common opponents to glean information from, they have a lot of common opponents to glean information from I think that is one of the reasons why these games are so tight late in the year and you may be surprised at times by the score. You may be surprised by Monday night’s score. You may have been surprised by our Sunday evening score, but the reality is there is a lot of video out there and preparation is an element of it but both sides get an opportunity to prepare so the playing field is very level, and these are big exciting games.

Is that something you anticipated early in the year when there were shootouts?

I stay away from anticipation. I am just living week to week and doing what is required to win that game and not paint with a broad brush. You can do some of that analysis and gain that understanding at the appropriate time when you are in the off season.

What do you appreciate about Vince Williams?

In what way.

The way his role has changed?

His maturation process is a very normal one. He’s a guy that was a later draft pick, a non-Combine invite who earned his stripes on special teams in the early years and got an opportunity to play some as a young guy due to circumstance. But then had to fall back into a supportive role, and really, he just never stopped working along the way. And I think that’s allowed him to ascend within our group and be ready for the challenges that we push his way. Whether it is central communication or setting up defenses and things of that nature. He’s been here a decent amount of time, he’s a guy that works his tail off in all areas, so he is continually putting himself in position to meet the challenges that the game and his career has put in front of him.

Were you satisfied with what Chris Boswell did?

I am not into that satisfaction word. We are ready to move forward this week.

With Chris Boswell?

Yes.

Jaylen Samuels had a lot of carries. What gave you confidence he could handle that load?

Who said I had confidence? He was our back and he was prepared and so we went into the stadium. There are oftentimes when you walk into stadiums, particularly as a young guy, it is a first time for a lot of things and I am sure as he continues to step into stadiums with a significant role for us he’ll check some boxes and do some things he hasn’t done before but that’s just a very natural thing in terms of a young players carrier.

Re: Counter toss in the game plan

It’s within the framework of our offense. We’ve run that play regardless of who is at running back.

How did you keep Tom Brady off-balance?

No bold statements about how we were able to keep him off-balance. I don’t even know that to be true. I know we made enough plays to win the game. we better the do the same this week.

What’s the key to successful quarterback and coach marriage?

Win games. You are not together for a decade if you don’t. That is just how it goes; the coach and the quarterback get ran out of town.

Re: Not viewing Terrell Edmunds as a rookie and high expectations

You can get into that cute word play if you want and motivate guys to play beyond their years or you can use it as an excuse. The bottom line is we’ve been playing a lot of ball with him all year and we expect him to play above the line of winning football like the other guys that have been on the field a lot. He is who he is, he is a rookie, he still is a rookie. He’ll be a rookie all year and into the playoffs if that is a part of his story. He’s done a good job, he’s gotten better every week and he’s continuing to gain detail and understanding in display along with the other guys who are getting an opportunity to contribute and that is where our focus is.

Will you watch Baltimore Saturday night?

I didn’t know they played Saturday night until you just told me so that tells you where I am at.

Can you speak on what you saw how the Panthers controlled the Saints?

I am not getting into that. I just appreciated the competitiveness of the game. It was division play and obviously they are going to play them again here I think next week.

Re: Did you discover anything schematically that you can use coming off of the win of New England

Time will tell. Words are just that, words. We’ll let our tape be our storyteller. You waste a lot of time making bold statements and predictions and looking for synergy and rhythm and things of that nature. The bottom line is we have to consistently step into stadiums and produce winning performance when the ball snaps and so we will wait for the ball to snap.