Steelers - 27, Colts - 20
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, it was a tough week, but we certainly deserved it based on the last performance. I like the way the guys absorbed it, smiled in the face of it, and prepared and waited for the next opportunity. That's the National Football League, man. You get one opportunity every seven days. Sometimes you gotta wear it. We certainly wore it this week.
I'm appreciative of their spirit, their efforts, their resolve. Certainly, we weren't perfect in any of the three phases, but we fought. We did what was necessary. We made plays. So it's a big-time win for the collective.
Can't say enough about the defense's effort to minimize the runner. I don't think you slow that group down unless you minimize the runner, and we were able to do that. I think that's why we were able to get them in some one-dimensional circumstances, create some pressure, create some sacks and the turnovers that go with that. It started with minimizing their dynamic runner. He is that. He's dynamic.
I thought we started slow on offense. We took the ball to get the ball away from their dynamic offense. We didn't do much with it there early. Again, it didn't overcome us. We stayed in the fight. The defense provided some short fields. We caught some momentum because of it. That's team football.
Isaac Seumalo has a pec, wasn't able to finish. We've got some other guys with some bumps and bruises. I think Slade dislocated his finger, was able to go back in.
Can't say enough about Kyle Dugger. Just gave him the game ball in there. This guy got on the moving train, man, and played a lot of defense for us today, and we needed it. We were really short at the safety position. Coupled with Dee Elliott's injury. We have some illness and soft tissue injuries. We're running super thin, and that dude came in here, man, and gave us some quality work. We're certainly appreciative of that.
Questions?
Q. Mike, how do you explain such a drastic difference? You shut down the run, take the ball away, it's the highest scoring team in the league.
MIKE TOMLIN: It's a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes in this business. It's nothing dramatic, you know. It's really not. And that's why we respect it so much. Couple plays here and there might have been different last week. We don't give up a 59-yard ball and a 33-yard ball. We don't let them convert on fourth and one in the flat, for example, in the third quarter.
That's football at this level. It's a limited number of plays or sequences that can really change the trajectory of an outcome. We're still the same group that stunk it up last week. That's football.
Q. What do you call that 4-3 alignment, and what was the thinking behind using that?
MIKE TOMLIN: I'm not going to get into detail there, but we're trying to utilize the people we had at our disposal. We were limited in a lot of ways in the secondary. The people that have been here, we've got to find ways for them to contribute. So it got us out of this week. We'll see what next week holds.
Q. All the times when you guys have combatted the quick passing game, you've been very proficient at batting the ball down at the line of scrimmage. You got back to that today.
MIKE TOMLIN: We're always on that. Sometimes we're successful, sometimes we're not. It's not like all of a sudden we're in that business this week. We're in that business every wake.
Q. What kind of momentum or wave did the T.J. strip sack provide?
MIKE TOMLIN: It was everything. We were running on the beach offensively. We needed a short field. Like all great players, he provided it when we needed it most.
Q. I talked to Joe Haden a couple weeks ago. He was saying one of the indicators about you, where you kind of tweak things, he says it always shows. We talked about your Super Bowl victories in Tampa. This week, did you take any extra care, maybe tweaking some things like Joe was saying?
MIKE TOMLIN: It is my job to do what's required to provide these things what it is they need formally and informally, strategically. It's just a job.
Q. I know last week, you somewhat bemoaned having to settle for field goals. Three of their turnovers turned into touchdowns. So I'm assuming -- obviously, that was big for your offense and defense.
MIKE TOMLIN: It was just complementary football, you know. But that's what happens when you take the ball away from people. It feeds itself. And that's probably one of the most disappointing things about the stretch we were on. We weren't taking the ball away. That's the life blood for us not only as a defense, but as a football team. It's a catalyst for how we engineer victory.
Q. What can you say about Joey making that play on this day with his dad and that '05 team here?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, first, I just got to acknowledge that '05 team. It was really good to see him. It's really good to perform for them this weekend. They are deserving of that.
I know a lot of those men and worked with a lot of those men. They're a special group. I hope that they had a great, great time, fellowshipping and reminiscing and doing the things that come with these type weekends. Certainly, that was a significant play by Joey. We had a lot of significant plays that we did and a lot of contributions from a lot of people.
Q. How about how you handled the tight ends this week. You spoke about them a lot in the Tuesday press conference. What did you like about that?
MIKE TOMLIN: We did a nice job of eliminating the intermediate passing game off the play pass. Again, as I mentioned, you don't get a chance to do that unless you're minimizing the run. If they're running the ball successfully on you, the intermittent play pass is what comes next.
So we were able to maintain control of the running game, and it minimized some of that intermediate passing game that really features his talents and where they're really trying to get him the ball. I think that was the synopsis of the entire day, really. Anything that we did defensively, it started first and foremost with minimizing Taylor.
Q. Coach, talk about Jalen Ramsey, the importance of Jalen Ramsey. He didn't move around today, pretty much stayed at safety.
MIKE TOMLIN: I can't say enough about Jalen. He does anything and everything we require for him to do. We needed to him to play exclusively free safety today. He did and did it at a high level. I'm glad he's on our team.
Q. Can you describe the resiliency of this group, particularly the defense.
MIKE TOMLIN: We'll keep writing the story. We responded today. See you next week.
Q. How about the impact of Payton Wilson and how far he's come this season?
MIKE TOMLIN: It's a reasonable expectation, a second year player who played a lot last year, made some plays last year. It's a natural progression when you've got a good relationship with the game, you work the way that he works and you have the talent that he has, I don't think anybody is surprised by the impact and the general trajectory of his game.
Q. Coach, thoughts on just Jack Sawyer and making the splash play, the interception.
MIKE TOMLIN: Man, the sun's always shining on Jack Sawyer. He's a five star.
Q. When did you know that Dugger was going to have to be in there as much as he was?
MIKE TOMLIN: Probably by Thursday, we knew we had an issue. But, again, you know, he's a veteran guy, and that's why you go get a veteran capable guy like that. It's reminiscent when we acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick, to be honest with you. We got him at a similar time in the week. We were in the Bay area, and he fit in instantly. His talent showed. He made plays with us. Felt similarly with the contributions we were able to get from Dugger today.
Thanks, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports