Pittsburgh Steelers Media Conference

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Jonathan Gannon

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Cardinals 24, Steelers 10

JONATHAN GANNON: On the injury front, Emari had a stinger, couldn't return, and then I think Will -- I don't know honestly what he had, but he returned to the game, so that was good.

I thought good hard-fought game versus a really good team in a good environment. All three phases I thought made plays to impact that game. Had some guys step up, made critical, big-time plays, and I thought -- really thought at the end of the half there where we ended up stopping them on the goal line and then offense to get it moving, convert it, I don't know how many 3rd downs, but Michael Carter had one, Higgins had one, I think Trey had two. Put points on the board there, knowing we're getting the ball out of halftime, was a huge situational ball execution by us guys, made a lot of plays, and then we had the takeaway in the third quarter and then punched that in, and then played clean enough to win.

Good hard-fought game, had a lot of belief in themselves, and we'll take a little time off here because of the bye and get ready to go against San Francisco.

Q. You were very clear last week that guys don't (indiscernible) to see it on the field today and see what you were seeing, that's got to give you a sense of pride?

JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, honestly when we got on the plane on Friday, I knew that's how it was going to go because the week of practice and the preparation from the team, the leadership in that locker room, nobody was down. They believe in each other. That's what we talked about, look to your left, look to your right, don't let your teammate down, and it showed up all week, and that's why we gave ourselves a chance to win tonight.

Q. Coming back home how special --

JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, just gave him the game ball. He was lights out. Honestly that's a really good defense, and I thought that the O-line -- early took some chances to get it going a little bit, but boy, he closed out the game. I think he went over 100 with two touchdowns. That's how he always plays, though. But special for him coming back here, home. Glad for him to have a big-time day.

Q. The touchdown before the first delay, the touchdown after the second delay, (indiscernible)?

JONATHAN GANNON: We talk about it all the time, like I would call this, what happened in the game an external factor that you can't control. Whoever thinks it's an advantage or a disadvantage, that's what it's going to be. The energy in the locker room both times was really good. The detail, the focus of what we're trying to get accomplished when we go back out I thought was really good. They handled it really well. It's kind of disjointed a little bit, but came out ready to play however many times we walked out of the locker room tonight.

Q. It seems like Trey continues to step up (indiscernible).

JONATHAN GANNON: Yeah, he made a lot of plays. Kyler downed him a couple times there, a couple of those 3rd downs, a couple mixed downs. Kyler got rolling and found him and he made a couple big-time catches there. Obviously the touchdown but a couple 3rd downs, had some explosives in there. I don't know how many, but he's a big-time player.

Q. How is Josh handling wearing the green dot?

JONATHAN GANNON: He's excellent. I thought the communication was really good there. The two-minute, we've got to do a better job. There was one call we weren't on the same page, so we've got to make sure we get it communicated out. But I thought he played extremely well today. I've got to watch the tape, but he was violent, physical, got us in the right calls, got us in the right checks, which was huge.

Q. (Indiscernible).

JONATHAN GANNON: He was kind of taking it day by day, but I know this: We came in here, a hostile environment versus a playoff football team, a really good football team that's extremely well-coached, and he made it happen today, so it was good to see.

Q. As the head coach what kind of changes are you looking to make in the bye week?

JONATHAN GANNON: We've only got four games left, but I told those guys they've got to recharge a little bit. They've been going for however many weeks now with no days off, so they're going to get a little bit of time off, but then all our energy and effort and focus will go into San Francisco when we get back here.

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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
139529-1-1002 2023-12-03 23:08:00 GMT

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