Steelers 24, Colts 17
JEFF SATURDAY: Obviously disappointed in the turnout. Started way too slow, both phases, ultimately all three phases. Turning it over on our own side, defense fought and held up, and they gave up points. We didn't do nearly enough in the first half, dug ourselves a big hole.
Felt like the effort was good, they fought, came back strong in the second half, gave themselves opportunities again, fumbled inside the 1-yard line, can't do it, and not converting with the two-minute there at the end.
I think ultimately can't have two turnovers against a team like that. Third down conversion wasn't nearly good enough. Again, the first half had a ton to do with that. Just didn't make enough plays.
Q. Were you thinking about a timeout on the Matt Ryan scramble?
JEFF SATURDAY: You know, I thought we had plenty of time. I wasn't really concerned. We still had time-outs. I wasn't too concerned. When he was going down, I couldn't tell where they were going to start him from going down, like he was going to get the first down, and then we got there, I expected us to give him the ball and have another play a little bit quicker than that.
But again, this wasn't a press for time. We just didn't make enough plays.
Q. What was the vibe at halftime? You guys came out in the third and flowers sparked the whole thing. It looked like a different team in that third quarter.
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, listen, when I walked in, I just said, hey, you're going to learn a lot about who you are right now, right. Z got up and gave the breakdown and just challenged everybody and those guys, they stepped up and met the challenge. Obviously it wasn't nearly good enough the first half, and I think everybody felt it, just not nearly enough plays and really self-inflicted wounds, which has kind of been the story the last two weeks against opponents that you feel like you have an opportunity and don't make enough to close it out.
Q. Any clue what's going on with Jonathan Taylor's fumble issues?
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, I didn't know that about college, but today it wasn't a hit, it was a mesh, he and the QB, and getting the mesh.
Yeah, one of those that -- I don't know that I've seen it. I haven't seen it very often. Obviously that's tough to stomach inside the 1-yard line.
Q. What did you think about the slow start? And what did you think about the offensive play calling?
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, listen, I felt like the defense started good. Obviously they gave up a field goal, but then we give them a short -- we turn it over inside our own and they hold, so I thought they fought. The effort was good there. For us, there were plays to be made, we just didn't make them. We thought we could attack them down the field. They were pressing us up pretty good early in the game, and we were trying to get some plays off and just communication wasn't great, execution wasn't great, and again, you can point fingers -- it's like everybody takes a turn at different moments.
Collectively we just didn't do enough, and you saw we come out in the second half and it looks like two totally different offenses, one that's in rhythm moving -- no new plays. We talk about all the time, no new plays, no new players, it boils down to executing, and we just did a much better job in the second half than we did the first.
Q. Any idea why the turnovers keep happening?
JEFF SATURDAY: I don't. I think the first one the kid made a good play. He fell off in the coverage he was in. I think it was Pitt who was trying to sit down and he fell off another sever to make the play, so it was a heck of a play for the kid to make. Just had good eyes on the play. The second one, like I said, just untimely, and you hate to see it again. How often does that happen? It may never happen in his career again. Just unfortunately it happened tonight.
Q. Have you seen enough after three games to maybe make a change at quarterback?
JEFF SATURDAY: No, Matt is doing -- Matt is going to continue to be the guy. Like I said, we're going to keep moving forward, keep pressing forward with what we've got. I told the guys in the locker room, we've got the players in the locker room to do it, we've got the plays to do it, we've got to figure out how to execute in moments that matter. So that's really what we've got to focus in on and hone in on.
Q. At the end of the game Matt scrambles, it's 3rd and 3, you choose not to take a time-out. What was the thinking there?
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, I didn't really feel like time was of the essence. I thought we had a good play --
Q. A run play?
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, and I felt like we could get to it. We obviously don't do great on the backside, so it's worse. But I felt good about the call before. Felt like we had time; we would have had time-outs afterwards. We were in striking distance. So yeah, I never felt like the pressure of needing the time-out.
Like I said, I thought the call was good, and again, we were in that mode pretty much the whole second half, so it was pretty consistent with what we were doing, so again, it wasn't like a change for us. We just didn't execute.
Q. On a positive note, talk about Jelani Woods.
JEFF SATURDAY: Oh, so glad he's back. Had a heck of a day. Jelani is a massive human being, and got a great attitude, a great heart. The kid fights, and made play after play for us. Yeah, he's one of those guys, you're super excited to get him back in the lineup, made a bunch of plays for us tonight.
Q. How would you evaluate your offensive line's performance?
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, I actually think they did a pretty decent job and they gave ourselves a shot to win. I thought they matched up again, and I've talked to these guys, just going to have to get better each and every week. I think they're making strides. It's a really good group, and I thought they fought -- I know a couple of the sacks, one was a nickel in coverage coming down to make the sack, and the offensive line, so not all sacks are equal, but I thought the guys really did a good job. I thought Bernie did a really good job, again, put a bit hat on him blocking Highsmith and that whole side, then obviously blocking TJ on the right side.
When you talk about those two guys and the guys in the middle, they had a heck of an opportunity. I thought they met up and fought well.
Q. On the end-of-game situation, you weren't concerned about the time on the clock, but a time-out would have given Parks a chance to get his favorite play called there.
JEFF SATURDAY: Yeah, as the play was happening, we already -- again, that was kind of the mode we were in the whole second half, so we already had it in the head we were going actually to the next play, so as soon as he got tackled, we knew where we were going.
Again, I mean, would I have liked him to snap it a little bit earlier? Sure, but again, never felt pressed for time. Never felt like we wanted to get to something different. Like I said, we had made that same play a couple times and done well with it, and unfortunately just didn't work out.
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