Steelers 28, Dolphins 15
MIKE TOMLIN: Man, when you love Monday Night Football, mission accomplished. Certainly we wanted to engineer victory, but we wanted to do it in a certain way.
That was a hot football team and they had rode their run game over the last month or so. I think averaged 192 a game over the last five weeks, so we needed to stop the run, and certainly we needed to run the ball in the effort to flip that component, and I think that made the engineering of the victory more fluid.
Couple of injuries. Isaac Seumalo has a triceps injury that's being evaluated. Nick Herbig has a hamstring that's being evaluated. Others are just bumps and bruises associated with play.
I would also like to recognize our Hall of Honor inductees. Just quality black and gold Steeler men. Great to not only welcome them into the fold, but also see many of their teammates here in town supporting them. That never gets old, seeing those guys. Hopefully they had a really good weekend, man. Thankful that we were able to perform and entertain them as well.
Questions?
Q. Was that as balanced a performance as you had offensively, four consecutive touchdown possessions, running and throwing?
MIKE TOMLIN: Yeah, it took us a while there to get going, but you got to give a lot of credit to the Dolphins. Over that same five-game stretch I think they averaged giving up 13.2 points a game. They've been really stingy in the red area. Only about 20% of those possessions were touchdowns.
So we didn't expect it to be easy, but certainly after we got it going we had a little bit of fluidity there.
Q. Mike, what was the significance of bookending those touchdowns and getting the one at the end of the first half?
MIKE TOMLIN: It's always big to bookend halftime and certainly we have had some success there in some instances, but that was big today.
Q. Was it important to talk to the players about -- I know you're always talking about stacking wins, but that was your first back to back since October.
MIKE TOMLIN: It's that time of year. It doesn't need to be said.
Q. ...really how your defenses did against the run game for the Dolphins.
MIKE TOMLIN: Yeah, you know, obviously we were at less than full strength, but everybody is. You know, we embrace that component of it. We believe in the strength of the pack and a lot of guys stepped up and made that a trueism.
Q. You talked about the importance of playing well in December. Do you feel like your team is getting there?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, see you next week. Keep watching.
Q. No TJ Watt today. How is he doing and also how did Herbig as well as Sawyer play in place of TJ?
MIKE TOMLIN: Last things first, we got a lot of confidence in our edge group as a collective, so we're not surprised when they play well. You know, we view Herbig as starter-like certainly. Excited about the bright side and the future of Jack Sawyer.
Not surprised they're able to step in and hold the standard. Man, also will be excited to get TJ back. Texted him pre-game to let him know he was missed, and I'm sure he's excited about getting back around his teammates sooner rather than later.
Q. Talk a little bit about Dylan Cook. Do you have any evaluation from what he was able to do?
MIKE TOMLIN: You know, I definitely thought he was above the line, but it was also our job to assist him schematically. So both things happened. But he's another example of a guy upholding the standard. We've absorbed some attrition to say the least at that position. He was part of a winning effort tonight. He's deserving of congratulations for that.
Q. What was your thoughts on Asante Samuels, Jr.'s performance with the interception in the first quarter?
MIKE TOMLIN: I'm not surprised by what I see from that young man. That's why we were so excited to get him. We did our draft evals on him when he came out and really liked him when he came out of Tallahassee. He's a global starter and so we're appreciative of his efforts and certainly not surprised by it.
Q. How about the start of the game (indiscernible_ you guys offensively tonight?
MIKE TOMLIN: When things are less than ideal, you know, that's what we have come to expect from him. Jaylen missed Dublin for example and played big out there. Brings that energy. He's a football player. We're thankful to have him on our team.
Q. When Minkah went down you and some of his former teammates went out there to kind of show support. How important was that for that and what went into that?
MIKE TOMLIN: We care about him. It's simple as that. We care about Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Q. Did you have to change much with Warren getting sick today as far as how you distributed playing time?
MIKE TOMLIN: We made natural necessary adjustments based on the tools available to us. Certainly Jaylen was under the weather, but we appreciate him showing and being available and putting his hand in the pile and contributing. We also appreciate Kenny Gainwell stepping up.
Q. Specifically with Queen, the leadership he's shown, 11 tackles tonight, his impact in this game?
MIKE TOMLIN: He's going to tell you he could have played better and I agree with him. He and I just had a brief conversation. He has a big week next week. We got to go to Detroit and you know what they're capable of, particularly with their backs and so forth. Stay tuned. Keep watching.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports