Vikings 36, Steelers 24
You know, that team that played in the first half for us was pretty darn good, and I think could probably beat anybody. The team that played in the second half probably could get beat by anybody.
So you know, there was a lot of really, really good things in the first half. Ran the ball. I thought Cook was outstanding. Offensive line opened up a lot of holes. Defensively we were getting after the quarterback and playing good in coverage.
And then the second half we were up by 26 or something, 29, throw an interception on the first play of the drive. You know, and then we get two -- I think two turnovers and start -- or end up kicking two field goals start of the second half, which we got the ball down in there, we probably could have put them away.
But anyway, we fought like crazy like we always do. The crowd was outstanding tonight. I know Pittsburgh travels well with their fans. We kept the TV ratings up, too. That's good. Every week now we do it.
Questions?
Q. Does this feel like a microcosm of the entire season encapsulated in two halves?
A. I don't know so much about two halves. Last week was kind of like this. We didn't play good in the first half and played pretty good in the second half and came down to the last play and we lost.
I don't know. You know, I'm trying to -- I keep trying to teach these guys how to finish. We talk about it all the time, being detailed about your job, and I do think there was some -- especially in the first half guys were detailed about everything and played with a lot of energy.
You know, I guess we haven't really been in a game where we've been up by so much. I was still trying to be aggressive with everything that we were doing and we didn't execute as well.
Q. It's just hard to find superlatives enough for Dalvin Cook, how tough he is and how he shows up. He's the heartbeat of this team, but just an incredible performance. What were your thoughts?
A. Yeah, I think he's a warrior. He's warrior. He comes out and competes. He's a great leader, a great competitor, he wants to play, you know.
Eric Sugarman our trainer texted him today, You sure you're okay and good to go? He says, I have no regrets. I'm ready to go. This is why I do this, because I want to play.
And that's the kind of guy he is. So there was no doubt in his mind he was playing tonight.
Q. When did your start thinking during the week that you might have a chance of having him?
A. They told me he was doing well really, really well in his rehab. I guess Tuesday they said there was a good chance and Wednesday they said they think he's good to go, or Tuesday after practice I think they said that.
Q. There were some massive holes in the running game, especially in the first half. What did you see from that part of the game?
A. Well, you know, I talked to our offensive -- the whole team last night -- but I told them, You know, it's not good enough to stalemate. You get in there and block a guy and stalemate him. It's not good enough. We got to drive some guys off the ball.
We did a really good job in the first half of getting guys off, removed off the line of scrimmage. Second half they started taking an extra guy and putting him over the center and having their big guys in there. They've got some stud, big defensive lineman that are good players, and that eliminated us to some extent.
At the end we're trying to kind of control the game with the time clock so we didn't really try to extend some of the outside plays.
Q. In the fourth quarter, Cousins touchdown to Osborn. Was there any thought about going for two?
A. Yeah, we talked about it. You know, we went for two last week twice and didn't get them. We haven't been very good this year in two-point plays. I knew that they had to get two touchdowns and two extra points, and typically that's a 50/50 bargain there. That was the thinking.
Q. Did you enjoy dusting off the whole double A gap, and how do you think that affected Pittsburgh's O-line?
A. It gave them some problems, especially early in the first half, and then the second half they changed up a couple things, changed protection a little bit.
They blocked one up on -- I can't remember, but they blocked one up. They were changing protection pretty good. First half, they change protection from what they did the week before, and once we kind of figured it out it was pretty good.
Q. (Indiscernible) was talking about how much pride they take in the defense being able to close out the game. For you seeing what happened at the end the first half, and then also that pass break up by Harrison Smith, how do you feel about the defense played in the two critical two-minute...
A. Well, I talked to the defense last night, too, about the two minute -- disappointed, at the end of the game we let the guy get out of bounds like two, three times. The game would've been over. Game would've been over if we get -- when they called pass interference and picked the flag up.
If we got the first down there, too, the game would've been over. So there is all these kind of things. But, you know, the first half I look out there and we got Pierce and Tomlinson and Barr and Kendricks and Peterson and, that's kind of what I expect it to look like.
Q. There was a point when you still had a shut out going, and I think there was a penalty. Did it feel like that flipped momentum a little bit?
A. Yeah, they're going to have to punt there and that allowed them to score. You know, you get to that point right there and they're going to punt the ball and now they're -- and if we go down and score the game is over probably.
Never say over with this team. But, you know, things like that. That's what I'm talking about. You have a penalty on defense. You get a holding penalty on offense and make it second and 30 or whatever the heck it was. It's hard to win games when you do stupid things like that.
Q. At any point during the game were you thinking, oh, here we can again?
A. Yeah, the whole time. Whole time in the second half I'm like, you know -- yeah.
Q. Mike, just talking to Kendricks and some of the other guys, how enjoyable it is to sack someone, yes, but when you're sacking Ben Roethlisberger and he said he could barely get his arms around him. As a coach, when you're seeing your guys take this guy down, what does it does it feel like?
A. Yeah, when we used to play him when I was in Cincinnati he was always tough to sack because he is so big and so strong.
You know, Harry had a good one on him tonight. Came off the backside. I think Watts had one, and I don't know who always else. It was nice.
I think Barr early in the game affected him on one of the first, second play or something maybe, because I think he beat the back pretty good on that one, if I remember right.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports