Cardinals - 24, Steelers - 10
COACH TOMLIN: That was a horrible day at the office. We didn't do much right in that game, to be quite honest with you. So we've got to own that. Obviously starting first and foremost with me.
Just losing football, really was. We were highly penalized, some pre-snap penalties, some operational penalties, bad snaps. Just JV football in a lot of ways.
I thought it was a significant point in the game when we got stopped in the red zone and then they drove the ball there before the half. But that doesn't tell the story of the game. We just weren't good enough throughout the game. We didn't play a good game today.
We had some injuries. Elandon Roberts got a groin. Obviously wasn't able to return. Kenny Pickett wasn't able to return with an ankle. Isaac with a shoulder. Minkah, I think, broke his left hand. But they were able to cast it at the extended half, and he was able to finish the game.
But, again, as I mentioned, we need to look no further than the mirror. We didn't do it today. And we've got a short week. So no time to feel sorry for ourselves and things of that nature. We've got fast business approaching.
Q. What did you see different? You thought your offense made some strides last week. What did you see different today?
COACH TOMLIN: Possession-down ball was not where we needed it to be. I thought that was the story really the first half. I thought we were running it fluidly, but we weren't able to run it enough because we weren't winning enough possession downs. So I think it kind of snowballed from there.
Q. What can you attribute this to, Mike? A 2-10 opponent, any chance someone took them lightly?
COACH TOMLIN: No, we look at ourselves and the quality of our play or the lack thereof. And it wasn't there today.
Q. Was it the pregame defensive strategy for you guys to have a spy on Kyler Murray?
COACH TOMLIN: At different points. Not down in and down out, no.
Q. What did you see in that 99-yard drive with them converting the third downs to allow them to keep that rhythm going?
COACH TOMLIN: They worked the interior portions of the field. We didn't do a good enough job matching up on their tight end. I thought their tight end was significant, particularly in that sequence.
Q. If Kenny can't play, will you stick with Mitch or will you leave it up for debate?
COACH TOMLIN: We'll roll with Mitch, if he can't play. But I don't know where any of that is as I sit here today.
Q. Specifically where the tackles were concerned not lining up in formation, was that something that was off with your interpretation of the rules?
COACH TOMLIN: It was just negligence on us.
Q. With that negligence, the penalties today, was that something that was lacking in practice this week? Why do you think it was such a sloppy game?
COACH TOMLIN: No excuse there. I didn't see that in practice, but I did see that in stadium and we own it, for sure.
Q. Did you think you were able to use the delays accordingly to be able to come out and play better after 30-, 40-minute delays?
COACH TOMLIN: Both squads were delayed. That's the unforeseen. I'm not attributing any quality or lack thereof in terms of performance to the delays.
Q. How do you change the direction of this team on a short week going into the game on Thursday?
COACH TOMLIN: We just get ready to win the next game. We were coming off a loss on our last Thursday night game. That's what you could control. You control the next one.
This one's in the books. We better work and work quickly and win the next game. That's our focus.
Q. Defense has been able to thrive with a bend-but-don't-brake mentality. Forced turnovers of opposing offenses. What happened today that you weren't able to capitalize on any opportunities like that?
COACH TOMLIN: I thought we struggled from a communications standpoint when Elandon Roberts went down. We lost some significant communication and some glue there. And I thought it was reflective in our play.
Q. As for communication, how do you evaluate the offensive communication and play-calling communication on the sideline between your assistants?
COACH TOMLIN: It was poor today because of the outcome of the game.
Q. Seemed like you're running the ball well in the first half. Was it just the score that caused you to get away from it, or do you feel you didn't execute as well in the second half in the run game?
COACH TOMLIN: It kind of got away from us after we turned the ball over and it became a multi-score game. We weren't able to do some of the things that we had set out to do, obviously in the initial stages.
Q. When Kenny went out right before fourth down, did you consider kicking a field goal there?
COACH TOMLIN: No, we were going to go for that. We've got to score points in order to win football games. And so not going to question our aggression there. We've got to be able to get a yard.
Q. How about the decision to line up in the shotgun instead of having Mitch under center?
COACH TOMLIN: It's irrelevant in today's game.
Q. Did you think your players were overconfident at all, that they thought they figured stuff out last week and this was no big deal?
COACH TOMLIN: No.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports