Broncos 21, Steelers 26
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: We're thankful for the win today. Got to give a lot of credit to the Denver Broncos. They were a resilient bunch. They fought us the whole way. We helped them some.
We got a lot of growth ahead of us, but it's good to grow while you win. Today, I just thought we were loose with the ball some. We turned the ball over particularly at a significant period in the game, and we were highly penalized.
So we'll look at the penalties and work to play cleaner, but it was an Achilles heel for us today. It extended drives. It allowed those guys to remain in the game. We made the necessary plays, we bowed up when we had to on offense and defense and special teams, and so we are thankful for that.
We understand early in the season we're not going to be perfect. We were good enough to win. We'll make the necessary corrections tomorrow and then put forward. We got a good Houston, Texas, team coming this here next week, and we'll be ready for that.
Q. Mike, is this kind of what a football team can look like when it doesn't have preseason? I'm not looking to make an excuse for the sloppiness or anything but could that be part of it. You said these are correctible issues.
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: I'm not going to be make any excuses. We were far from perfect today in some of the areas that I outlined. So we got to get better. We're thankful to win today despite of it. We understand there's going to be some growth at the early stages of this thing, and we better make enough plays to win along the way, and we were able to do that today.
Q. Could you guys rush Edmonds much, if at all before that fourth down stop?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: Yeah, you know, we're capable of really bringing anybody, you know, except the field corner. That's kind of our philosophical approach. We're a blitz group. It's tough to bring the field corner because of the distance he plays from, but anybody else is capable of coming and that's just the code we live by.
Q. When you get the starting quarterback out of the game how does that change your game plan? And how much more have you seen and prepared for Driskel?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: We played against Driskel in his days in Cincinnati. But more than anything it's tough to anticipate their alternative plans, the adjustments that they make, their package of plays that maybe highlight his skill set. It threw us off rhythm. It's something to adjust to but I'm sure the loss of Drew Lock also threw them off rhythm.
So we're not going to make excuses for our performance. It was really a good job by them adjusting and adapting to circumstances and working to put themselves in the position to win.
Q. What did you think of the play of the offensive line with the guys you had in there kind of patching it together?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I will wait to look at the tape in terms of evaluating it in that way. But I just appreciate the efforts and the attitude, particularly of the young guys. Kevin Dawson starting his first game and missed quite a bit of time in team development. You got to tip your cap to him for his efforts. And Chooch (phonetic), we know what he's capable of, so we're not surprised by his performance. But it was enough to win. We'll comb through it in the morning and get critical.
Q. You bring in a lot of the pressure. You had a lot of sacks was that the game plan going in and did that change any differently when Driskel had to come in?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: You know, that's just the code that we live by. I wouldn't necessarily call it a game plan. It's just our personality. But there are consequences that come with that. We have to be clean. We got to be clean on the back end in terms of DPI's and so forth. So we suffered from some consequences from not being sharp today in that area. We got to shore those things up because our personality is not going to change.
Q. You're defense gave up some decent run plays early with a lot of that backside cutting. Was that just some gap integrity issues and how did you clean that up?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: You got to tip your cap to those guys. They had a good plan. Munch is a heck of an offensive line coach and run game coach, and I know he understands us intimately and that's probably a reflection of his understanding to be quite honest with you.
Two for 12 on third down. Was there anything in particular that made that tough sledding or any trends that you noticed?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: You know, they performed well. They mixed things up. We have to perform better. We don't make any excuses. It is what it is. It needs to be better than that. But I would be remiss if I didn't compliment those that we compete against when they perform well.
Q. We already have sacks from safeties, corners, inside linebackers, outside linebackers, defensive lineman, defensive tackles. Is that part of just the guys making plays or has there been a difference in terms of the blitzers that you bring in this year?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: Like I said earlier we'll bring anyone and, you know, that's just a philosophical approach. We're an attacking group and we understand the ramifications that come with that personality. And so we push forward with an effort to get better and shore certain things up that can be an Achilles heel when you play like that.
Q. Benny put the ball on the ground for a second week week. What is your level of concern there and how do you help a young guy work around that problem?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: I don't know that I have a level. I know that's I've got some concern because we've got to maintain possession of the ball especially in those significant moments. He's a young guy growing in terms of situational awareness and things like that. It will be a growth experience for him, but we've got some work to do there.
Q. When you look at the special teams and you have the safety by Derek Watt, and it looked like Ray-Ray had some good returns how do you feel about the state of your special teams overall given the lack of preseason games?
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: I'm really excited about it. I thought Diontae was dynamic. I know we got a penalty on that punt return but we had explosive plays in the return game. We had some splash, you know, with some other guys. So you know I just liked the overall trajectory of it, and we've got just to continue to grow.
Q. Talk about the touchdown from Claypool. And he's had the big catch in the last game. Talk about his development as the wide receiver position and what he's brought to you so far.
COACH MIKE TOMLIN: You know, he's a young guy who has some talent, who's capable of stretching the field vertically. I think he's put that on display. But we've always got a young guy in the hopper in that position that stretches the field for us. We've had that over a number of years and he's just the latest addition. But he's not just a one trick pony. He's working to round out all aspects of his game and contribute to us in as many ways as he can.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports