Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin holds his weekly press conferences every Tuesday. Each week, we will take a glimpse at what stood out from coach’s comments about the previous week and heading into the Steelers next game.

Opening Statement

Good afternoon. I’ll start as I always do with a quick synopsis of our last performance. What a tough football game. Hard fought on both sides. Plays really made throughout. Plays even made down the stretch. Just not enough of them. Not enough to secure victory.

I love the way the guys fought. It’s good to be in that environment in those situations. Obviously, it’s better to persevere and overcome those environments in circumstances. We’ve done that a lot over the second half of the season. We weren’t able to get it done on Sunday. For us it’s not about what transpired. It’s about how do we move on from it. How do we learn from it? How do we better ourselves for the next fight? Obviously could be coming in a number of days, unfolding that way but also just looking at how things unfold in terms of good versus good and the things that are critical in the terms of winning football games and the quality of detail that is required to perform in those circumstances.

So, there’s a lot to be gleamed and learned from that. There is a lot to gleamed and learned from when we’re successful. We’ll go through our normal process and that is what I told the team after the game. We hadn’t lost a lot of games this year in practically recently so we hadn’t had to deal with failure from a week-in and week-out perspective. I think how we respond to that lost is important. We’ll define us, how quickly we can transition and get our attention turned to the Houston Texans and the opportunity that faces us this week. The challenge that faces us this week and get back into our winning ways.

We talked openly about the process in which we play when we’re winning. That’s prepare, play, analyze, repeat process. I’ll stick to that script and we’ll take that same approach even when we’re less than successful.

Injury updates

From an injury standpoint, we had a number of things to deal with from the game.

James Conner will be having knee surgery this afternoon. He will be placed on IR. He will be replaced. It will be done so later on today. You’ll be given notification at the appropriate time. He’s got an MCL injury. Unfortunate for him. I like the trajectory of where he is going and where his career is going here in 2017. He’ll get well and obviously continue on with his career.

Antonio [Brown] has a significant contusion to his lower leg. He can be characterized as out this week. I do not want to frame it in any other way. I think it’s simply too early to tell and then you end up backtracking say yea but yea but so he’s out this week with a significant lower leg contusion. We’ll see what the future of it holds at the top of next week.

Ramon Foster came in on Monday reporting concussion-like symptoms. For that he is in the protocol. I do not know where he is in the protocol. Obviously, we’ll do what’s appropriate there in terms of making sure that he’s good to go.

Got a couple other things that could develop from a personnel standpoint. Vance McDonald could be available to us. Joe Haden could be available to us. We’ll follow both guys through the workweek and their progress. The amount of which they are capable of working, the quality of that work, that will be our guide as we push forward toward game time. We do have an extra day this week. This will aid us and them I would imagine in being available. So, we’ll be excited about that.

We also have Marcus Gilbert coming back. We’ll quickly get him back into the fold, evaluate his level on conditioning, football-readiness, rust etc. and do what’s appropriate there as we get close to the game time. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the quality work that Chris Hubbard has given us during that time period. Appreciative of that and that provides big time flexibility for us moving forward. Not only his positive contributions but young guys like Hawk [Jerald Hawkins] was able to rise up in terms of his division of labor as well and give us some extra tight end work reporting as eligible. Things that Hubb [Chris Hubbard] usually does. One man’s misfortune is often an opportunity for others and those are just a couple of examples of guys that have done a really good job of taking advantage of those opportunities and providing quality work for us.

The Houston Texans

Now we turn our attention to the Houston Texans. We are excited about getting back into the field of competing. Doing it in a hostile environment. We’ve been comfortable in recent weeks at home. We have a lot of respect for these guys. You start on the offensive side of the ball. Boy you better minimize 10 [Deandre Hopkins] and his impact on the game. It’s a difficult thing to do. They do a lot of things in terms of making sure he’s a part or a central part of what it is they do. They move him around quite a bit. They’re play-action game is exceptional. His route running is exceptional. He double moves a lot. His catching of the football is probably what’s most unique about him. His catch radius is unique. His ability to control and contort his body to catch the football is outstanding. His hands, his pluck, his ability to reach and also pull the football is exceptional. It allows him to win one-on-one battles. Florida football. He’s a big combat catch guy. Covering him is not enough. Just simply being close is not enough. We better make plays on the ball. If we don’t he will. We have a lot of work cut out for us there.

We have some work cut out for us in terms of looking at the quarterback play and maybe the questions that position and the challenges it provides us. They are different men with different skills sets and so we have to be light on our feet. We have to have a strong enough plan to combat the skill set of both guys. [T.J.] Yates being a little bit more mobile in some of the things they are capable of doing with him in terms of moving the pocket and moving him. Whether it’s by design for ad lib. Makes things a little bit more different for us. They’ve done an awesome job really when you look at the video of keeping you off balance. Utilizing what seemingly might be a disadvantage from a circumstance standpoint and making it an advantage.

They are short at tight end. They have been utilizing extra linemen and it’s not all in the run game, it’s also in the pass game. I think it provides a unique challenge from a play pass standpoint in terms of the ability to protect the pocket. You have to deal with extra o-linemen and all personnel groups playing tight end whether there are three wideout personnel, two wideout personnel groups, or one. They also use, obviously, tight ends and they run and pass with both of those guys so some of the questions that seemingly might be challenges for them create challenges for us in preparation and that is just life in the NFL. Particularly this time of year as you weigh what attrition does to people and how they adjust and forecast and try to prepare with those things.

On the defensive side of the ball they are a very multiple group. They challenge you in a lot of ways with both schematics and people. Starting first with people. You have to talk about [Jadeveon] Clowney. He is playing at an extremely high level. They move him around. He’s extremely impactful. All of the offensive line better be prepared to block them. They make sure of that whether it is in base or sub. Base defense he moves quite a bit. Outside linebacker, even inside linebacker, some interior pressure associated with that. Sub ball they move him around inside and out. Very multiple.

But I think the same can be same about a lot of their guys. [Benardrick McKinney] 55 is an inside linebacker. He’s a fourth sub rusher and some sub packages. They bring DB’s, back up safeties, such as [Eddie] Pleasant who played sub package. Linebackers and defend running backs and so forth. [Kareem] Jackson plays outside. He plays inside in sub. He’s a good man to man cover guy. He’s a good blitzer.

Very multiple in the secondary. A myriad of mans and zones and bogus pressures. They have a veteran group back there and it shows with a lot of the things they do.

So, we’ll be challenged in that way obviously environment will be an element of it. Silent count and so forth. Being on the road environment but for us, again like I stated earlier, it’s about the process that we go through and finding our rhythm. A winning rhythm. Getting focused singularly on this opportunity preparing and then going and playing. We have an extra day. We’ll utilize that, glad to have it and hopefully it will produce victory for us.

Are you happy for the most part that you played man and the outcome?

I’m not happy with the outcome. We played to win. We didn’t win the game. We’re not quantifying levels of success in anyway to be quite honest with you. We didn’t do enough to win the game.

Do you have an end of game plan for situations where everyone knows the formations and alignments or is that in every single game?

You have sets and things and frameworks that you work from but often times the end of games are so specific, so unique. They unfold in a mired of ways that it’s just the framework.

What transpired as far as the communication on the final play?

It really was a lot of things that transpired during the course of that time period. It starts kind of with the review and what potentially could happen coming out of the review. We had a couple scenarios and there was obviously touchdown, drive over scenario. There was a scenario that transpired that was ruled incomplete but there was also another scenario that was probably more critical and more time specific that was being discussed. It was being discussed by us.

It was presented to us by the officials during the review process that if he gets ruled, completed catch, down in bounds, that was probably the most significant element of the discussion as we approached the last play. Why they were in review, that was being discussed because if his knee was down in the field of play there would be a ten second run off. They’d spot the ball, wine the clock, and we’d be faced with a running clock in that circumstance.

So that probably was the most significant element of the discussion when they were in the review and that was presented to us by one of the officials that they may come out with a completed ball in the field of play and he gave us a alert that that may include a ten second run off and a running clock. So obviously ten second run off, running clock, that’s the scenario that maintained most of our attention in terms of what could happen as it came out of review. What did happen when it came out of review obviously is probably the least of the scenario from my expectation, which was it be ruled an incomplete pass.

As a member of the competition committee, do you feel that that is something that needs to be reviewed? Is extending a football move?

I think that we all can acknowledge that all of this needs to be re-visited. It’s not just that play. We’re having similar discussions week-in and week-out, so as a member of the committee I acknowledge that we’ve got our work cut out for us this offseason regarding a number of those things.

Why did the officials give you those options if those options weren’t in play at the end?

That I don’t know.

Were there two plays called coming out of the review?

There were multiple plays being called for the reasons that I explained. There were multiple potential circumstances depending on what transpired coming out of the review.

Should you have just spiked it?

It’s interesting. We had a nice conversation about it yesterday and again today. I find comfort in the fact that Seven [Ben Roethlisberger] is my quarterback. If everybody is uncomfortable, then that’s advantage Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s why we chose not to spike that ball. We wanted to try to win that game in regulation. We knew that a spike or a fake spike, an incomplete pass and then you’re running your field goal unit out – there were extra seconds there that I wanted to take advantage of.

That’s why we instructed him not to spike it.

If given an opportunity to do that again, I’d do it again. We made a lot of hay in those circumstances over the years where everyone is uncomfortable. We made a lot of hay in those circumstances in Dallas I think a year ago when everyone was a little bit uncomfortable and the ball was in Seven’s hands. So I don’t have any second guessing about that. Those discussions are part of the learning process. It just…it’s football.

Should there have been two plays called coming out of the review?

Again like I said, in hindsight, knowing what they’re coming out of the booth review with, certainly. But we were given multiple scenarios that they could come out of the review with of spotted ball in the field of play winding the clock with a running clock kind of took precedence in our discussions in terms of leading up to them coming out of the review.

When Roethlisberger says he felt like he should’ve gone with his own gut, do you advise him to take initiative to overrule what’s called?

Certainly, there is no script for those moments. There’s always professional latitude that goes with being a veteran quarterback in those circumstances. He is on the field. He is inside the helmet and on the field with those guys. He has a feel for what’s transpiring on the field that we on the sideline and in the booth do not have. That’s just, that’s normal operating procedure. We call plays all the time that he may change at the line of scrimmage based on game circumstances or what he sees.

Roethlisberger felt like there was a chance you’d go for it on fourth down from the 5-yard line. Would you have?

We probably would’ve gone into overtime, but there’s a chance.

Did you want a timeout after the big play by JuJu Smith-Schuster?

I did not. Ben was signaling timeout, making eye contact with me on the sideline. I wanted to pocket that timeout, but in the midst of him making eye contact with me and signaling to see if we wanted timeout, Tony [Corrente] interpreted that as Ben calling a timeout.

So that’s why a timeout was awarded.

During that timeout, I called Tony over and said, ‘Why did you award that timeout? The timeouts are supposed to come from the bench.’ He said that the timeout request came from Ben. I said, ‘I was looking at Ben. Ben was signaling timeout, but he wasn’t signaling timeout at you. He was signaling timeout at me trying to get confirmation on what we wanted to do.’ So those things happen during the course of play. There’s a lot going on. We were still given an opportunity to win the football game. Definitely not crying over spilled milk.

Why wasn’t Martavis Bryant on the field for the last two plays?

Again, we had a myriad of options and discussions going on relative to who was available, what plays we were going to run. A lot transpired in a short period of times. The people who we chose to put on the field are the people who we thought could help execute those plays.

Would you rely on your quarterback to throw it to the stands if nothing is available?

Certainly.

Why not double-team Rob Gronkowski on the last drive?

There was attention paid to Gronk [Gronkowski] there were two people assigned to him at times. He was very good and so was there quarterback. I’d be remised if I didn’t acknowledge those things. Guys, I understand that second guessing is a part of it, particularly when you don’t win. I’m not going to be resistant to that. But you’re not going to find some of the answers that you guys are looking for. There are a myriad of layers to some of these discussions. They’re complex ones. None of it is very black and white. That’s just how games unfold from time to time.

Re: Players making mistakes on defense on the Patriots’ last drive:

It’s a reality that errors happen often in football. Sometimes the moment makes them notable and worth discussion. But nothing extraordinary happened in those moments. We were making calls schematically to minimize production from them, specifically him. Sometimes it was effective, sometimes it wasn’t. It might be an error in terms of schematics. It might be an error in terms of execution. We don’t make excuses. They made the plays. We compliment them for that. We’re not seeking comfort. It is what it is.

Re: ‘survive the ground’ rule:

I’m so tired of talking about it. I’m just done talking about it to be quite honest with you. You all know what we teach. Catch the football.

Re: Playing the Patriots defensively vs. playing other teams week to week:

Week to week we do what’s required to win. We pit ours versus theirs, our schematics versus their schematics, our people versus their people. Our plan changes every week for those reasons, so from our standpoint, it was no different.

How did Mike Mitchell and Sean Spence grade out?

I’m not getting into that. That’s our business, not yours. I like the work of both guys. We’ll continue to work and we’ll get ready for Houston this week.

Is Tyler Matakevich available for a more defensive role this week?

I don’t know that. We’ll see where this week’s work leads us and how he comes off that performance dealing with the less than ideal circumstances that he has from a health standpoint.

You mentioned Antonio Brown has a contusion. Does that mean his calf isn’t torn, just bruised?

I don’t know what that means. I’m not a medical doctor. I said, ‘Can I describe it as a contusion?’ They said, ‘Yeah, you can describe it as that.’ So that’s what I described it as. What others, particularly medical professionals would describe it as, I have no idea. I just know he’s not playing this week.

Was it difficult to call a game without him there?

It’s not. We just call plays. We’ve got guys. There are 11 guys. It’s a team job obviously. He does things from time to time that are unique that others can’t, but that usually has nothing to do with the nature of the play-calling. It’s just his unique skillset that he applies to schematics. So, it didn’t change how we functioned or what we needed to do from a play selection or offensive personality standpoint. We just acknowledge that A.B. [Brown] is a special guy. You all know that.

What needs to happen for Joe Haden to be available?

I don’t know that. We just need to go through the work week and first lean on the medical professionals and secondly see how he feels and performs. Really those are the variables not only for him, but all of those guys. You can apply that same discussion to Vance McDonald or Ramon Foster or anyone else that I mentioned.

Did you know that Ryan Shazier would be there?

I knew that there was a possibility, yes.

Did it do anything for you to see him on the jumbotron?

That was for Ryan. That wasn’t for us. If his presence aided him in his recovery, if it brightened his day, that’s what we were interested in. We weren’t doing it to uplift us or anything of that nature. Everything that we’ve done in terms of dealing with his circumstance has been focused on him and his recovery and providing him and his loved ones what he needs, not us. So, I didn’t view it in that way.

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