Steelers 27, Browns 14
Q. What did you do in halftime to make things go smoother in the second half?
RUSSELL WILSON: We just made plays. That defense is really good. They're really talented. They're coached extremely well. They make a lot of plays, good pass-rushers, all the things they do.
We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew it was going to be a tough, physical game throughout the game. We just had to answer the call.
The defense did a good job getting us some turnovers. When Keeanu got that interception, that was a huge play. We go answer. I think T.J. and Cam and all those guys just did a great job. Alex being back in there.
Then offensively I thought our offensive line did a tremendous job, especially when we got to the second half. We were able to get some real good runs in there, get some big first downs. We went tempo. Arthur Smith did a great job of getting us into plays, situations.
We took advantage of some of the looks that we had. They did a good job just kind of stopping us. We had some stuff there early. Felt like we weren't hitting it as much. They made some plays. They made some plays early.
I thought we did a really good job of responding. I think that's what we've done all year throughout the season.
Q. Your running today, was that taking advantage of opportunities?
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, I mean, I think it was something that they were crowding the box, all that kind of stuff. We had the run that I pulled on the third down and short. I think it was third and two, something like that. Arthur got us to the line. We had a call there.
Miles went down and ended up (indiscernible) it. I tried to cut back. I went down, slid, got the first down. I think down in the red zone, we tried to get the ball to Pat and they jumped it. I was going to throw it, it wasn't there. Took off, tried to get the first down there. Then we scored I think the following play, whatever it was.
Those are good things. Obviously I think that my biggest goal is always to get the ball to the right guy at the right time, and also to use my legs when necessary obviously. I still feel ready to run and get things done when I need to.
Q. What were they doing early taking away things? How did you solve that?
RUSSELL WILSON: To be honest with you, I think we just got a little bit crisper, we got a little bit better. It felt like the first half, both sides of the ball, both teams, game had to kind of get started a little bit sometimes. You can't panic in those situation. It's a four-quarter game for a reason.
It's great when you score in the first quarter multiple times. If not, score in the second, third, fourth, find the way. We got the best kicker in the world. Huge field goal. We drove down the field, Mike made the great catch, a couple plays. Got in field goal range. I think it was third-and-long. Mike ran an out-route. Big field goal.
We kind of got hot in the second half. We came out and executed our offense, executed what Arthur wanted to get to. I thought that was a good thing. It was cool to see Van get in the end zone on that play. Went tempo with that. The one later we hit with Big Pat up the seam.
I got to give credit to Arthur, all the stuff we were able to do. A lot of it is spending time on film study and what we can see, what we like. I think Pat did a great job of running up the seam.
We had a little bit different concept earlier in the week. We just adjusted it later in the week. If he runs that seam, he may be wide open. We talked about that. Those little Friday meetings help.
We're always working. We're always trying to find ways to score. I think when you have a complete team effort, it always helps.
Q. The touchdown, looked like you might want to run it, then throw it to Pat.
RUSSELL WILSON: I think you're talking about the one I threw to Van. The one to Pat was just a drop-back. We had an out-route to the left. Pat did a really good job. Such a good job in man-to-man isolating guys. He widened, ended up catching the touchdown there. That was a good job.
The one to Van, I think the one you're talking about, I don't know, it's a little play that we have. A lot of options of what we can do. Van did a good job of getting in there.
Q. 10 guys caught the ball last week, nine this week. What does it say with this offense that you can keep distributing the football to so many different places?
RUSSELL WILSON: I think the fact we got so many guys we can trust. Nine guys caught it this week, 10 last week. The only guy we're missing is George (smiling). He would be the 10th.
Guys, we have so much confidence in everybody. I think how we play together, we're having fun, enjoying the process, working our tails off every day.
It's about winning. It's about the process of that. We're doing the right things. We got to get better, keep working. But, man, we're having a lot of fun.
I think when you got guys that can step up like Scottie Miller today, which was unbelievable plays by him, made some great plays. I trust him. I have no doubt he's going to make a great play. Just try to give him a chance, put the ball where only he can get it.
Same thing with Big Mike. We traded for him in a big way. His first catch as a Pittsburgh Steeler was a touchdown against the Commanders to win the game for us. In a way, he kind of helped seal the game this week, too, with some big catches on third down.
There's guys that we trust. Obviously we want to be able to facilitate the ball to everybody, make it really hard on the defense.
Q. How big of an adjustment was it without George?
RUSSELL WILSON: Listen, George arguably in my opinion is one of the best receivers in the National Football League. Anytime he's on the field, it's a good thing for us. We love George out there.
We were hoping he was going to be able to go and everything else. I think the trainers and everybody made the right decision at the last second saying we got a lot of season left, a lot more games. We want him as good as he can be. We don't want something bad to happen to him.
He was hoping to get in there and play.
Q. How does the field come in when you go up-tempo? Is that a coaching decision, your decision?
RUSSELL WILSON: Yeah, I think Arthur and I have a clear vision of how we want to go up-tempo in different moments throughout the game. We have a lot of different packages, a lot of different things that we can do.
I think we've done a great job of that so far this year of how we get to certain situations, certain moments, certain tempo packages.
I think it's an advantage for us, get to see what's going on in the defense, get to go fast, snap the ball quick. We have so much confidence in what we're doing, how we're doing it. We're enjoying that process and we're going to celebrate this one. There's more things to do.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports