Steelers 23, Browns 9
MIKE TOMLIN: Man, it's great to win in the North. Good start for us in divisional play. I appreciate how the guys came off the bye. We didn't warm up to it. We had certain agendas that we thought were critical to making this game unfold the way we desired for it to unfold.
We thought they played behind their runner. We wanted to do a good job of minimizing him, and I think we did that. When you do that, then you're in favorable one-dimensional passing circumstances for your defense, and I think that was reflected in the pressure that we were able to put on the quarterback.
On the other side of the ball we were able to stay on schedule and minimize those one-dimensional moments to minimize Myles Garrett's impact on the game. So some of those agendas, man, that we had, we were able to get accomplished, and I thought that's why we engineered victory.
One area where we certainly fell short was the penalty component. We scout crews just like we scout teams. We know this crew throws a lot of penalties, and we dropped the ball in terms of our preparedness there. I'll accept responsibility for that. We got to be better.
You can't beat anybody when you are beating yourself, and it just felt like at times we did that today. So we got to own that.
We got a short week. We're chasing another AFC North pelt here in a short number of days, so we respect the process. We got to work fast here in preparation for Thursday night.
Got some bumps and bruises associated with play. The only one that is worth mentioning of any significance is Miles Killebrew. He's got a significant knee injury, and I will have more updates for you, I'm sure, in the not too distant future about the details of that.
Questions.
Q. Aside from a couple of leaky moments in Ireland, what's been the difference with your defense the last two weeks with the pressure and everything?
MIKE TOMLIN: I just think we're getting a full complement of our weapons back. In Ireland, man, we got 25 back. This week we got 56 back, 24 back.
Everybody goes through injuries. I'm not seeking comfort in the lack of availability, but if you are asking me, Why is it starting to look the way that we desire, we got a full complement of talent. When we put this band together, we feel like we can do things like you saw today.
Q. On Tuesday, Mike, you mentioned how good Dillon Gabriel is at processing, what you call his super power. What did you guys do to be kryptonite to that?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, we did a nice job with our pre-snap looks, but I think that's aided, again, by having our secondary intact and some of the things that we developed in Latrobe, man. Are you able to execute when you have a full complement of guys?
I thought they did a nice job with their pre-snap disguise. They didn't allow him to digest information prior to getting the ball in his hands. That's the first component of slowing down the process being.
Q. What led to some of the chunk plays in the passing game? How impactful was that for you offensively?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I thought we ran the ball effectively. I think when you run the ball effectively. It tees up some of the action, the play action, and most of our chunks were born out of run action. So, you know, it's really as simple as that.
Q. This run game has had two 100-yard rushing games. How much consistency have you seen them build over the last stretch here?
MIKE TOMLIN: The overall trajectory of it has been what we desired. I've been talking about that. You know, we certainly started to see the result of that, but we got to keep rolling.
Q. Once you see the fact that Aaron Rodgers is a pretty grizzled vet, but do you think he's getting more comfortable with him molding the offense?
MIKE TOMLIN: I certainly think that's a reasonable expectation. With more exposure, whether you are young or old, experienced or inexperienced, particularly this collective journey that we're on, the more that you get an opportunity to play, certainly there's more comfort there.
Q. Did you have Ramsey on any kind of pitch count or just being cautious with him or just circumstantial?
MIKE TOMLIN: We did, but we certainly wanted to make sure he could impact the game. I cannot say enough about Jalen Ramsey, guys. This guy plays outside corner. He plays nickel. He plays free safety. He is exactly what we hoped he would be, and certainly he was significant today.
Q. The performance of Darnell Washington today, what are your thoughts?
MIKE TOMLIN: We've been very transparent about Darnell's role. We play four-three teams. Man, we need a guy that looks like those four-three ends. It's a major component of our run game. Can't say enough about his efforts and also Spencer Anderson. There are weight classes in combat sports for a reason. They got big people out in that C and D gap area, and so do we. When we deploy those two guys, it really gives us a fighting chance.
Q. Kaleb Johnson saw a lot more playing time today. Can you talk about his play more special a young guy coming back after the mistake he made --
MIKE TOMLIN: I don't want to get into all of that, man. He's a young guy. He's getting better. He's earning opportunities. It's a reasonable expectation for him to get better.
Q. You mentioned Ramsey. But what kind of level is Herbig playing at for you now?
MIKE TOMLIN: He's playing at a pretty high level. That's why I introduced 12 defenders today.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports