Steelers 37, Jets 15
JEFF ULBRICH: All right, from an injury standpoint, AVT had the ankle; didn't return. TA had the hamstring; didn't return as well. X had the neck; you know, went to the hospital. Thank the Lord the tests came back negative. He's traveling back if the team. Huge relief in that.
And then Ashtyn got put in concussion protocol. That game, especially that second half, that's not who this team is. It's not good enough and that starts with me and the coaching staff. It goes down to every single player on this team.
We can all give more and we will give more. We have what we need. That's not who we are. Extremely disappointed.
Q. Jeff, it's 15-6, you're marching down the middle of the field, you're thinking to yourself, if we can get in field goal range here kind of take control of this game. Get that turnover, interception, that leads to kind of the turn fall. They get a touchdown, and then two series later in the second half you get another interception. Just talk about that changed the complexion of the game.
JEFF ULBRICH: Yeah, going into this game momentum we knew would be a big part of it, especially the environment we're playing in. In these games you can't give up those plays because it's a huge shift in momentum.
If you do make them you got to fight your ass off to f****** fix it. Excuse my language.
We didn't do that well enough today. So this has got to be an opportunity that we can grow from and become the team we're capable of becoming, because that is absolutely not good enough the way we reacted to the adversity.
Q. Did you feel that they didn't fight?
JEFF ULBRICH: No, I felt like guys were fighting. I felt like execution was not good enough. I felt like we went into the mode of trying too hard. Sometimes that's just as dangerous as not trying hard enough.
Q. Couldn't seem to be able to cover Pickens at all tonight. What did you see there? Were you just trying to...
JEFF ULBRICH: Yeah, the combination of him and Russ, he got the best of us. We need to play it better and also need to provide more schematic answers and more help in those times.
Q. I know you say that this isn't who the team is. You got to execute.
JEFF ULBRICH: Yep.
Q. I don't mean this disrespectfully, but we're until the talking about two, three games. We're seven games in the season, 2-5. Seems like the same things are happening every single week. At what point does this become this is what this team is?
JEFF ULBRICH: If we accept that then the season is lost. We're not going there at all. We have a high character room. We have the pieces capable of getting it done. We just -- every man in there, coach and player alike, has got to point the finger at themselves. If you do that, you got a chance.
Q. How do you think Aaron played tonight?
JEFF ULBRICH: I thought he played well. We will get back to the tape and take a hard look at it. I felt like he gave us enough to win that game.
Q. Do you feel like you guys wore down defensively with the injuries in just the second half?
JEFF ULBRICH: We didn't play to our standard. We'll take a deep dive into the tape and we'll identify what happened.
Q. You had some good movement in the first half; the offense in the second half, what happened?
JEFF ULBRICH: Yeah, they had some adjustments that got the best of us. We didn't executed like we're capable of executing. Our playmakers didn't make the plays they're capable of making.
And we didn't collectively, players and coaches alike, get it done.
Q. What did you see from Aaron and Davante in their first game together?
JEFF ULBRICH: You could see the great energy, the relationship that they had and the same page they're on. At the same time it's been a second since they played together. As we go forward, that relationship and the production between those two will go up.
Q. One thing we really haven't seen much this year at all, whether it was Nate or now that it's Todd, is vertical plays, like you guys really going 20 plus yards down the field. Is that just the way teams are playing you right now?
JEFF ULBRICH: It's a little bit of both, absolutely. We are believe me, searching for explosive understanding they're a huge indicator for winning this game and it loosens up your coverage and does so many things for your run game.
So we got to continue to look for the explosives and generate the explosives. And a lot of that is creating a consistent run game. When you do that, you get guys starting to bite, it starts to come to life.
Q. 40 drop-backs and 15 runs. Is that the way you want to be?
JEFF ULBRICH: No, it is not. We got to get our run game going. Got to run of the ball. Got to move people. We cannot have negative plays in the run game.
You know, you're behind the sticks and then it's just -- it allows obviously defenses, the dogs go a little bit and get after you.
We didn't run the ball well enough. We didn't.
Q. How do you evaluate Garrett tonight?
JEFF ULBRICH: We'll take a hard look at it. He made some exceptional plays as well.
Q. Vera-Tucker isn't an Achilles, is it?
JEFF ULBRICH: I'm not sure. They said ankle. That's all I know right now.
Q. You guys went out 15-6; it felt like you were about to go into the half feeling pretty good. Then the interception happened. How much of a turning point was that turnover?
JEFF ULBRICH: It was big. Like I said, we just did not handle the momentum swings well enough and we knew it was going to be a factor here, especially in this environment. We have to do a better job of that.
Q. Optimism getting a vertical pass rusher back on Monday?
JEFF ULBRICH: Yeah, of course that helps for sure. But we have -- we got a lot of things to fix right now.
Q. Do you think maybe a little bit too much Adams since he's only been here a few days and you said they hadn't been together. He started a played most of the game. Perhaps if you could do it over would you ease him in a little more?
JEFF ULBRICH: We'll take a hard look at it. I don't know that yet.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports