HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH
Opening Statement: "We're ready to work. We're looking forward to the game on Monday night out in L.A., and we have a lot of work to do between now and then to get ready for that game. It's a very tough opponent. What questions do you have?"
With ILB Roquan Smith, he left the game with a hamstring injury. Do you have any updates? (Jamison Hensley) "No updates right now. We're just monitoring it as we go here, and he'll be working to get ready for the game."
After looking at the film, what did you see from the two-point conversion attempt there at the end? It seemed like the Steelers were saying afterwards that they knew the play was going the direction it was. (Jerry Coleman) "Well, it didn't work. I think anytime you have a play that didn't work, you kind of look at it very critically. We're disappointed in that play. You want to have a better play up there – a better play call, a better-executed play, everything along those lines. In every game, whether you win or lose, but especially when you lose, and especially when it's an opportunity to tie the game at the end after a hard-fought game like that, you have to look at those plays really hard. That's one that we'd like to have back just across the board."
I know you're not a regrets person per se, but along those lines, not having RB Derrick Henry on the field for that play, how much more difficult does it make it to do things? (Brian Wacker) "I don't know really; I'm not sure about the question. I just think there are plays that guys are on the field for specific types of plays, and it depends on the type of play. Whether Mark [Andrews] is out there, or Isaiah [Likely] is out there, or Zay [Flowers] is out there, or 'Bate' [Rashod Bateman] is out there or whoever – Derrick Henry is a great football player, and you want him out there situationally, but he's not out there for every play. So, like I said after the game, that was the play that was called. That's the personnel group that it was set up in through a lot of game planning. Coaches are in early, and they're home late, and we all try to put the best plan we can together and come up with the best plays, and when it doesn't work out, it hurts, it's bad. And you feel disappointed about it, because it's your job, and it's what you want to get done well. All the little nuances within that are all things that disappoint you, but every player is not on the field for every play. I would like to have had a better play there, and I would have liked to have a successful play. So, you look back on it, and that's how you feel about it. You feel bad about it."
Obviously, RB Derrick Henry has been a big part of the run game for you this year, and you've been successful with it. But was there any thoughts of maybe seeing RB Keaton Mitchell? He wasn't very involved offensively yesterday. Was there a thought just to see what a different look with him in there ... I know he brings such a different dynamic. (Cordell Woodland) "The way you're asking it is it would just be like experimental – no. There's no thought to experiment in that game right there. Keaton [Mitchell] is a guy that we want to get involved for sure. He's only been back for two weeks coming back from a knee injury. The way the game went, we only got Derrick [Henry] 13 carries as it was, so you want to get him more. We only had 54 offensive plays. We didn't have as many throws or runs or anything else that we wanted. Now to try to get a specific player in the game – you could say the same thing about any other player, [if] you want to get him more reps, more opportunities – you probably need more plays. And to get more plays, you need more successful plays – more first downs, more yards. We were off the field a couple of times really quick. I think in two of our series, we were off the field in two or three plays. So that just cuts down the opportunities for everybody."
You made the change at safety with S Ar'Darius Washington replacing S Marcus Williams. What have you seen from Ar'Darius Washington up until this point for him to earn this opportunity, and then how do you think he played? He played every snap; he was the only guy that did that yesterday. (Luke Jones) "Yes, that was the plan going in. [Ar'Darius Washington & Kyle Hamilton] – we were trying to attack some issues that we had in the back end, as everybody knows, and I thought they played well back there. Those guys did a good job. Ar'Darius [Washington] had earned that opportunity, and he had earned that chance by the way he practiced and by also by the way he played when he was in there during the course of the season. We put Kyle [Hamilton] back there as well; I thought he played very well back there. He did a great job communicating – they both did, and they played well. That would definitely be a formula going forward, and then still the guys that are here with us, are still going to be working to do whatever they can to help us win."
It seems almost an inconceivable question over the last decade, but is there any thought to bringing in competition for K Justin Tucker – tryout candidates or anything? (Bo Smolka) "At this point? No. No, there's no thought to that. You have to find that competition first if you're going to be blunt about it. Where is that competition? That would be one thing. The best option right now is to get Justin [Tucker] back on point, because he's fully capable of doing it. [We] certainly haven't lost any confidence in Justin Tucker. You saw that on the 54-yarder that we sent him out for, and he drilled it. So that's the Justin Tucker that he wants to see [and] that we all want to see on every kick. He's definitely our best option, and he's going to make a lot of kicks – I really believe that – going forward. But it's up to him. It's up to him and the guys he works with every day to make those balls go straight. Competition right now, at this time, no that's not something we'd want for Justin. We just have to compete to get better and make those kicks."
With those missed field goals are you seeing it ... Is it on the kicking side? Is there anything going on in part of the other mechanics that go into it, whether it's the hold or anything else? (Cordell Woodland) "Not specifically. It's just a matter of ... They're a team [and] they work together. When things go well Justin [Tucker] credits those guys really well, and they all take responsibility for every good thing and for everything that doesn't go well."
Is there any way to look at the number of penalties that the offensive line had – especially in this last game – but just throughout the year? Obviously one of the strengths of this offense is QB Lamar Jackson's ability to improvise and hold onto the ball and give receivers time, but with some of those plays, do you think getting the ball out faster would help address some of those penalties? (Kyle Goon) "Well, the holding penalties were on runs. Those are penalties that hurt us. You start with what type of penalties we're talking about. First of all, [we had] too many penalties – way too many penalties. The penalties on offense are the one thing that is holding us back – that's the biggest issue. It shows up in different ways. Holding penalties on run plays – yes, color separation – it's happening, and we're grabbing those guys, and it's getting called. It's putting us to first-and-20; it's putting us to second-and-19, and we're probably the best get-back-on-track offense in the league right now – we're overcoming those things. But we shouldn't have to overcome them when you play defense like we played, or you play in a game like we were playing in. Sometimes it becomes too high of a mountain to scale, and that's why we didn't score as many points. That's really the No. 1 reason, because we were behind the sticks too much because of the penalties. The holding penalties [were in the] run game. No holding penalties in the pass game. We've been pretty good in pass protection. We haven't had too many holding penalties in pass protection; I give our [offensive] line a lot of credit for that. Especially the way Lamar [Jackson] moves around, I think they do a great job of blocking for Lamar that way. The linemen downfield penalties – in this game, there was one that happened on a run play that was taken out kind of like ... We took it outside to the right. I think we could have held our water on the line of scrimmage there a little better. The other ones were screens where the screens get held up, and the timing gets messed up, so that's tough, but we still have to try to find a way to be intentional about that and not get downfield. What I will say on the screens, when they cover the screen, and it gets delayed, that's a tougher deal. Other types of penalties – help me out. I'm trying to be like really specific about it."
What about the penalties on special teams? (Jeff Zrebiec) "Yes, the special teams penalties are unacceptable. They back you up and put you behind. Those are both unnecessary penalties, and they're both technique penalties. One of them was a leverage penalty in the kickoff return in terms of not setting up the right way in the right spot – you get beat across your face [and he] grabbed the guy – not OK. We work hard on that. The other one was the punt return downfield – you don't try to block somebody on the tip of the shoulder pad, because inevitably, it becomes the back on the punt return. [We] coach that all the time – not OK. There's techniques involved with that. Special teams is all about fundamentals and techniques and understanding the spacing and the geometry of those plays, and we have to better at that."
With the penalties, do you see that as a lack of discipline, and lack of discipline ultimately gets put on the shoulders of coaching? What can be done to eliminate these issues moving forward down the stretch? (Kyle Phoenix) "Yes, it's across the board. It's everything. 'The buck stops here,' [by] Harry Truman. [It] stops with me, so it's my job to make sure we're doing the things that we have to do – from a coaching standpoint, from a drill standpoint, from an emphasis standpoint, technique standpoint – and making sure guys understand that it's not OK. It's not acceptable. We've all got to be intentional about getting it stopped, and it's my job to make sure everybody is focused on it."
Going back to K Justin Tucker for a second, is there any way to change up the problem-solving process for him – having him talk to somebody else, a different voice in there – or do you just sort of have to trust the process that has worked so well for so many years? (Childs Walker) "You try to attack everything to the utmost that we can, across the board. Justin [Tucker] is one of the aspects that we're looking at. He's going to get it figured out. We have coaches. We have technique. We look at the tape. He's practicing well. He's got to kick it straight."
Do you have any more on S Eddie Jackson staying home? Also, another question on safety is S Sanoussi Kane's update? (Bo Smolka) "Really, no injury updates right now. There are MRIs today and things like that, so we'll see where we're at after all the information comes in. I really don't have anything to say about those personnel decisions that get made, or why they get made. Some of those things are just in-house conversations that we have, and it stops there. Other things are just week-to-week decisions that you make. We make decisions week to week. It's a week-to-week league, and that's pretty clear. I say that a lot up here, and I think we all know that. You can't get too high, you can't get too low, and it's not as good as you think when things are going well, and you're not as bad as you think when things aren't going well. It's a long season, and we have a big game next week. What worked last week or what the plan was last week – whether it's play calls, or who's on the field, or who plays – it evolves to the next week, and you have to look at your circumstances and meet them where they're at [and] just decide what's our best avenue, strategy. What can we do to try to win this next game against an opponent that's doing the same thing against you, trying to find a way to exploit anything they can to win the game. That's just the nature of this competitive business, so it's always going to be like that. It's conflict. It's clashing. It's two high-level operations going against each other in battle, a football battle. That's the beauty of it. That's the challenge of it. You can't get all down on yourself and start saying, 'Oh, we didn't do this right. We didn't do that right. We're going to beat ourselves up.' You feel bad about it, but then you pick yourself up off the mat and go to work, because we have a big game coming up. If we win this game, we're going to be in great shape. If we don't win this game, it's not going to be the end of the world; that's just a fact, and we'll go to the next game. We have a bunch of fighters, we have a bunch of competitors, and we're going to make the best decisions we can that are best for our team to play the best football that they can the very next week coming up."
You started out using CB Tre'Davious White in the dime package, almost like you guys used four corners, but it seems like he played more and more even when you were in nickel in the fourth quarter. How did he look, and do you feel like he's going to be in the mix more and more moving forward based on all of that? (Luke Jones) "I thought 'Tre' [Tre'Davious White] had a really good game, has worked really hard to pick up the defense, and [there] are still a few things he can learn like all of our guys are still learning things; we all are. I thought he played well, and he's a nice piece for us back there; a great addition. I'm looking forward to his continuing role and his expanding role."
When you went back and looked at it, what did the Steelers do well defensively to make life difficult for you? (Childs Walker) "They played really good defense. They're aggressive, they're physical, [and] they made tackles. We didn't exploit some of the things ... [We had] our guys running open sometimes that we didn't have time to get to or whatever, or we just didn't capitalize when we could. We had the penalties that set us behind schedule. So, it's a combination of all those things. I can't really narrow it down to one thing."
In a game like that, the smallest details matter. How frustrating was it to see Pittsburgh make the winning plays, like on the interception intended for RB Justice Hill, and your side not able to make as many as you'd like? (Cordell Woodland) "Yes, it's disappointing. Those are things that you want to do – you want to find ways to win the game."
One thing QB Lamar Jackson said after the game was that coming into the game, he thought the team was too hyped. I don't want to say that applies to everyone when it's Lamar's opinion, but is there anything to take from that stance by one of your leaders? Did you see, maybe, a mental approach that was sort of similar to butterflies or anything like that heading into the game? (Kyle Goon) "No, I didn't see that."
OLB David Ojabo was a healthy scratch for the third time this season, and you had OLB Adisa Isaac play in this game. What does Ojabo need to do to see the field, or what do you need to see from him in practice? (Kyle Phoenix) "I have those conversations with the guys, personally, every single day, and so, you make those decisions based on what and who and when and how [that] gives you the best chance you think in that game that week, and there are a lot of things that go into each of those decisions."
A lot of the defensive players said that communication is still the reason for a lot of their mistakes, but that it took a really big step forward this game. How do you attack communication issues, and why do you think it started to click in this game? (Giana Han) "I thought we came out and played good in this game, but we can play better. I know there are things that we can do better on defense, for sure. We'll look at all those things, just like we did last week. Just because you played a little better this week doesn't mean you're going to play better next week. We try to chase perfection in every aspect of what we do, but it's a challenging deal, because you've got an opponent over there that's coming after you and attacking you; it's back and forth. And hopefully, you can make those stops and make those plays. I'm proud of the guys. I thought the effort, the intensity ... The guys were locked in and focused. Communication, I thought was good on defense – really good – and we'll just keep trying to improve and get better and try to win the next game."
This isn't a recent injury, but we haven't mentioned NT Michael Pierce. Is he getting closer to being an option? (Jeff Zrebiec) "[Michael Pierce] is on IR [Injured Reserve], so when he comes off IR, then you'll know. But he's working hard every day. He's working hard every day to get healthy and get back out there, and he will be back this season."
It's not a recent injury from this game, but CB Arthur Maulet had the calf injury last week. Is that something that could be longer term with the potential for him to land on Injured Reserve? (Brian Wacker) "I don't anticipate that one being Injured Reserve, at this point, so we'll just have to see how it heals."
