PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Head Coach Mike Tomlin
(opening statement) "We came up short today. The bottom line is, we put ourselves in a hole with some adversity, some of which was created by us. Largely, we were a highly penalized group. That created some third-down situations that were insurmountable, and we made the going tougher with that. We had some very makeable plays – some dropped balls and such. We can't be that type of team. The margin of error is too thin for us to slice it in that manner. That's why we're sitting here having this conversation talking about running out of time in that football game. We are where we are. We're a 4-4 team, and we accept responsibility for that, but we also recognize that we're still tied for the division lead. And there is optimism associated with that. But the things that are tripping us up as of late has to stop. We'll come in tomorrow and look at it and proceed to get ready for our next opportunity because that's what is in our control. This stuff in our rearview mirror, our present state, that's done. We've done it, we own it, and we will move forward. I appreciate the effort of a lot of guys, but just not enough. Largely, like I said, not enough high enough execution. Some self-inflicted wounds that put us behind the eight ball and out of time."
(on injuries) "Maurkice Pouncey has a dislocated finger. He will get that addressed as soon as we get back. Jordan Dangerfield has a groin injury. Darrius Heyward-Bey has a mid-foot injury of some kind."
(on whether he thought he would be able to run the football) "I did, but, obviously, that did not transpire. They had a lot to do with that. Give those guys credit, but we are capable of more than what we displayed in that area."
(on why it took so long to open up on offense) "We just weren't interested in getting one-dimensional. We still had time. Obviously, the climate changed once the punt got blocked. Prior to that, we felt comfortable in terms of our ability to get it going because we were stopping them minus the big play that we gave to [Mike] Wallace. We were playing good enough defense. We felt like we didn't have to get one-dimensional from a personality standpoint. The blocked punt changed those things."
(on the Ravens stopping the run) "They were doing what they do."
(on whether he considered replacing Ben [Roethlisberger]) "I did not."
(on whether Ben looked tentative) "I'll let him talk about things relative to his play. He was healthy enough to play. We made the decision. We won't second-guess. We won't look back at all. I appreciate his efforts and his will."
(on all the penalties) "I have to take a look at the tape. We were highly penalized. Some of them I had questions about. The roughing the punter, I didn't feel good about that. That's life. When you're not doing things well, it makes the judgment of those type of calls more significant. When you're doing the things that you're supposed to do, you find ways to let those type of calls roll off your back. So, I'm not seeking comfort, we have got to play better."
(on whether he feels disappointed with the penalties) "I wouldn't characterize it as disappointment or the levels of disappointment. We just simply have to perform with greater detail and professionalism from a technique standpoint of the things that are creating the penalties."* *
QB Ben Roethlisberger
(on what changed late in the offense picking up in the fourth quarter) "We just started throwing the ball, picked up tempo, went no-huddle and clicking a little bit."
(on the game plan) "We had a game plan coming in, and we got behind the chains a little too much. We were in third-and-long a lot. It's tough to convert against a good defense like that."
(on why it was so difficult to run the ball) "How good they are."
(on how he feels about his knee) "I feel fine, thank you for asking."
(on how he feels about their record being 4-4) "We feel better than that, but our record tells us what we are. We're at the halfway point. We use this as kind of a halftime. We need to be a great second-half team."
(on the overall performance) "It's frustrating. We don't take anything away from them. They are a good team. We did not make plays. I did not make plays. I did not convert third downs. I turned the ball over. It's frustrating. I hold myself to a higher standard."
(on whether he is surprised with how this team is performing right now considering all the star power – are you guys rusty) "I've played through injuries before, and we just couldn't get going on offense."
(on the tempo and how you picked it up in the fourth quarter) "There's no quit by anybody. We fought through it. I thought Eli [Rogers] had a great fourth quarter. Nobody quit, and that's kind of the M.O. of this team. The team has always been that way since I've been here and the team before me. Pittsburgh team will fight to the end."
(on his performance in the fourth quarter versus the first three quarters) "I just need to be better. I put this on myself. I need to be more accurate and give them credit. There were times I was ready to make throws, and their guys jumped in front and [Terrell] Suggs got a hand up. Guys are jumping in front of guys, and you kind of hold on to the ball and it goes into the ground. I just need to be better."
(on scrapping the game plan late in the game because they didn't have the yards) "It's a fine line. We've talked about in weeks past that we were scrapping the game plan too soon. We talked about, in weeks past, scrapping the run game too soon. We had a game plan. There at the end, we had to go, pick up the pace, and throw it."
(on how he feels before and after a game) "It is a physical football game. You never walk out of a Baltimore football game like you went in. You feel a lot of adrenaline going through your body, and we'll see how I feel."
(on when he found out he was going to play today) "A couple of hours before the game. I was prepared to go. I think ESPN broke it to me."
(on the decision to play and discussion with Coach Tomlin) "We were being transparent all week. I was letting them know how I felt. Ultimately, it was his call, and he is the head coach. He waited until the 11th hour as he is allowed to do. He made the decision, and rock-and-roll."
(on how he felt this week at practice) "We had one practice inside, and that did not feel good. There were no setbacks."
(on how the defense played today) "The defense was great. They played very well, and I didn't perform to my capabilities."* *
WR Antonio Brown
(on the fourth-quarter comeback) "I think we got things going a lot better in the second half. Anytime you're playing a team on the road, you've got to be able to come out and start fast, and you could see that towards the end of the game. We were trying to play catch-up, but time ran out."
(on the penalties) "You just have to be penalty free. We've got to play better in that department."
(on Ben Roethlisberger's return) "He did really well. The guy's a warrior. You see him competing out there, making great throws. He never gave up. He continued to fight until the last minute. That's the kind of guy you want to play for."
(on being 4-4) "That's where we are. We can't make any excuses. We've got to find a way to continue to get better, and we get a fresh start next week. We've got to get things on the right side."
(on being double- and triple-teamed) "The linebacker, the corner, the safety – those guys did a really good job. They used a lot of guys to take me away."
(on what the other receivers need to do when he's double-teamed) "They need to find a way to step in, step up and make plays. It's been about eight weeks so far, and that's what we've been seeing – double coverage. Today it was triple coverage with the linebacker coming over, and we just have to find ways to win. Other guys have to step up. It just shows that people got respect for me, but we have to find a way to win no matter what they do. It's all about what we do."
(on the Ravens' big plays) "It's always frustrating when we look back on the game and see two or three things that, if they would have gone this way, there would have been a different outcome. We can't make excuses. We just have to find ways to win games."
RB Le'Veon Bell
(on the fourth-quarter comeback) "I think we just stopped shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers and things like that."
(on the Ravens' defense) "I think it was just us not executing. We stuck to our game plan and did what we did, but they had a good game plan, too. They kind of kept us off our rhythm, so you have to give those guys credit. Obviously, we can't allow it to keep on happening. We're not perfect guys; we make mistakes. We've got to go and correct them. Mistakes are going to cost us and dropped balls and turnovers, things like that."
(on losing on the road) "I just feel like we haven't played well on the road. I don't look at it like we're doing something different, just we haven't played well. That's literally what it is – we just haven't played well."
(on the game) "Baltimore had a good game plan. You have to give those guys credit. They played well, but we'll see them again. They just guessed right, so you've got to give those guys credit. We had a good week of practice, but we just didn't execute today, so obviously, it hurts, but we'll learn from it. We still have a long season. We know what we can do. We know what we're able to do. We've just go to put it all together. We still have a lot of games down the road. We'll be fine."
G David DeCastro
(on the offense) "It was pretty pathetic. You know when you look up in the third quarter, and there's two first downs, it's kind of frustrating and an empty feeling. On third downs, we just couldn't capitalize. There were penalties, and this was just a really frustrating game."
(on the running game) "That's credit to them. When you can't run the ball, it's going to hurt us."
(on coming into this game with Ben Roethlisberger back) "Everyone was feeling good coming off the bye week. We got some guys back, but we didn't come out here and show it."* *
LB Ryan Shazier
(on the defense) "We did a decent job. We did a little better than we've been doing lately, but we didn't do good enough to win the game. They had too many points. We gave up too many points. They made more plays than we did."
(on taking away the touchdown pass to Mike Wallace) "If we could do that every game, if we could take a play away from every game – you can always say we play good – but we can't allow those things to happen. We've got to do a better job of running to the ball and tackling. That play was not the only reason that we lost the game. It's a combination of a few things, and we've just got to do better."
(on another road loss) "We just have to grow up and realize that we have to come out here every week and make sure that we take care of business every week. Everybody in this league is great at doing what they're doing. They're going to take advantage of the things that we don't capitalize on."
(on the importance of a division loss) "We've got to keep winning. We're on a three-game losing streak, and if we keep losing, we're not going to make the playoffs. We're not going to be where we want to be. We want to win this division, and right now we're on a three-game losing streak. We've got to make sure we come back around, get everything back in order and take care of business. We haven't been taking care of business. We haven't been making enough plays, and we haven't been doing what we need to do. We're spotting them too many points, and we're putting our offense in a bind, so we just need to make sure we're taking care of business and doing what we need to do."
(on the frustration of losing) "It's always frustrating when we lose. I don't like losing. I didn't lose at Ohio State, and I haven't lost that much when I was here, so I don't like losing at all. So, yeah, it's frustrating."
S Mike Mitchell
(on the defensive performance) "We didn't make enough plays and ran out of time. We missed a tackle early in the game and they got a big play on it. We just ran out of time. They got points on us early and that special teams touchdown. It was a good game by them and bad game by us. We lost the football game."
(on the sideline talk after the onside kick) "I'm not quite sure. I don't remember any of that."
(on the WR Mike Wallace touchdown) "It was a slant where I've got to cover him and I have to tackle him. It was a missed tackle and he got out... then scored."
(on the three-game losing streak) "It's the first one since I've been here in Pittsburgh, but we never panic. Our leaders never hit the panic button. We're going to go back to work and work extremely hard. This is a bitter pill for us to swallow, but we will get better and play better next week."* *
CB Artie Burns
(on the WR Mike Wallace touchdown) "We were single-high, man-up. We played a lot of man this game. That's one of the plays I gave up."
(on his interception) "It was a concept they ran before and it failed. We were in one of our set coverages. We recognized the route concept and went and got the ball."
(on losing three straight) "We've got to get better. We're .500 right now. We've got to get a win. We haven't won a road game yet. We've got to go back to Pittsburgh and get the win against Dallas."
(on the defensive performance) "We made a lot of mistakes, starting with the 95-yard touchdown by Mike [Wallace]. It just trickled down as we continued to make mistakes. We didn't have enough time at the end of the game to come back."* *
LB James Harrison
(on the loss) "We did some things better than we did in previous games, especially with the run game. Everything still needs to improve. We gave up big plays that led to points and we didn't get enough big plays to try to get our own."
(on the difference in performance at home versus the road) "I really can't point at one thing or another. We're approaching everything the same. We're just getting different outcomes compared to when we're at home."
(on the penalty situation) "We stepped on our own feet a lot of times. At the end of the day, they made more explosive plays than we did. They made plays in a timely manner and got points off them."
(on bouncing back from a three-game losing streak) "We're going to go in and start preparing on Wednesday to [snap the losing streak]. We'll look at what we did wrong and go from there."* *
S Sean Davis
(on being more involved on the defense) "I'm trying to get on the field more. We had a rotation in today. We wanted to get an aggressive, strong safety out there to battle…so we used that rotation today.
(on the defensive play) "We did make a few plays today, but we definitely came up short. We have to do more. I always look at what we can do better as a defense. We just need to put more work in."
