Las Vegas Raiders - 26, Pittsburgh Steelers - 17
MIKE TOMLIN: First let me start by complimenting the Vegas Raiders. I don't want to take anything away from those guys. They made the plays to secure victory. They did it in a hostile environment and for that they should be complemented.
In terms of us, in terms of how the game unfolded, I thought it was just two really critical areas that we did not perform up to snuff in. I thought from a penalty standpoint we hurt ourselves, positionally and so forth, and we didn't play smart enough from a penalty standpoint. That can't be a characteristic of our ball. Part of being a tough team to beat is not beating ourselves. I thought we beat ourselves in the areas of penalty today.
Secondly, I didn't think we had enough detail or enough play making on possession downs. A lot of that had to do with our inability to make plays in spots when attrition set in, but that's the nature of this thing. So put that on me, we got to do a better job of planning and insulating some of our down-the-line guys and we got to get them ready to play better, because it was obvious in the weighty moments, particularly in the second half, possession downs and things of that nature, we didn't play with enough detail, we didn't adjust well enough and so that's just the nature of this thing. Particularly when it's close it's going to come down to those weighty downs, those possession downs.
I thought the deep ball on third down that they hit the Ruggs for the score was a significant play in the game obviously. But there were several possession down like plays that we didn't perform well enough, particularly over the second half of the game that I thought created the outcome and the reason why we're sitting here at 1-1.
From an injury standpoint, we had two guys that got injured at Friday's practice I didn't get a chance to talk to you about Devin Bush and Joe Hayden. Both soft tissue injuries. I don't know their status. I know they weren't available today. We were focused on the guys that were.
In game, Tyson Aloualu had an ankle fracture, obviously that will be down for an extended period of time. T.J. Watt had a groin injury that he wasn't able to continue. Last play of the game there Diontae hurt his knee, it's being evaluated. Other bumps and bruises just associated with play, such is life in the NFL. We'll absorb this and make corrections and grow from it. More than anything we got to grow. Win or lose we got to grow. We got too many young people, new people in significant roles, they just got to grow in terms of understanding those roles the details required to win, the skills relative to their position to execute in those critical moments. Back to work for us. Questions?
Q. You punted on fourth and one with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Did you consider going for that at all?
MIKE TOMLIN: I did, but I felt comfortable with our ability to stop them. I wanted to play the field position game and I think we punted it and stopped them.
Q. The big play to Ruggs, you mentioned attention to detail. What details were missed on that or is that just a good play by the Raiders?
MIKE TOMLIN: We got to keep a lid on it always. So it always needs to be a lid on it, regardless of what the structure of the call is or the situation or circumstance, we can't have people running behind our defense.
Q. On the incident with Trai Turner, what were you saying to the official?
MIKE TOMLIN: Somebody spit in his face. And so I understand the 15-yard penalties and so forth, gaining control of the game and stuff, I just -- Trai is not a young guy, he's not overly emotional, he's a flat liner. For him to respond the way that he responded, you know, what transpired had to transpire and I was stating that case to them. I didn't believe he did enough to be kicked out of the football game. That was just my opinion.
Q. How did you feel about how you handled Waller and did that impact their ability to hit other people with big plays?
MIKE TOMLIN: I thought we did a good job early on. I thought as attrition set in it kind of limited us a little bit in terms of some of our flexibility with that, but that's the nature of the thing. They got a good group. It's not only Waller, they got other eligibles that are dangerous guys and that's why it's a challenge.
Q. Did you see Carr trying to take advantage of maybe some of those mismatches in the second half?
MIKE TOMLIN: That's what he does. He's an experienced quarterback, been working in that system with Coach Gruden for a number of years, it's reasonable to expect those guys to gain footing as the game wears on and goes on getting familiar with what they're looking at, how to manipulate it and so forth. That's why adjustments that we make and things are critical. We just didn't make enough of them or execute enough of them in great enough detail to be successful.
Q. What details need to improve offensively to get that rhythm that you guys want to have?
MIKE TOMLIN: Without combing through it from a minutia standpoint, we got to have better skill relative to our positions, we got to understand how what it is that we do fits into the bigger scheme of things. Play with more fluidity, which is faster, being able to adjust only our feet and things and as circumstances change. Reasonable, normal things associated with gaining continuity and experience and we're just going to keep working and I expect it to continue. Meaning us to get better.
Q. You didn't get much pressure last week, a lot more this week. Any significant difference you saw?
MIKE TOMLIN: Yeah, we talked about their rush all week. Their rush is a good one. That's why we were talking about it all week. Not only you and I, but the football team.
Q. Struggling running the football again, is that what they were doing or what you were not doing?
MIKE TOMLIN: Combination of both.
Q. Last week you were impressed with the offensive line not get in first and 15s, how do you evaluate how they went from last week to this week?
MIKE TOMLIN: We had some penalties, not only them, but us, all of us, that were catastrophic to our efforts and so we got to play smarter and cleaner.
Q. The slow start on offense, anything you can tie between the two games in that regard?
MIKE TOMLIN: I'm not looking to tie between the two games I'm just telling you guys and summarizing what transpired in this stadium.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports