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. As always, I’ll start with a quick synopsis. Obviously last night was a big game for us on a lot of fronts. Having an opportunity to secure our twelfth win – going 7-1 on the road. We are 9-2 in the AFC to this point. There is a lot of positivity, but more than anything when we step into the stadium with a single agenda and that is: that week, that opponent and that game. There was a lot to be excited about that happened in that game.

I thought getting Joe Haden back and the way that he was participating was exciting for us. Obviously, his contributions were big for us and they were big in that football game. We allowed him to travel with [DeAndre] Hopkins to minimize his impact on the game, and largely I thought he did a great job particularly for being his first time back.

I can’t say enough about the contributions of Cam Heyward. Not only in the game, but all year. Oftentimes he gets misidentified because of our base structure. He’s a 3-4 end, but the reality is that he is an elite interior rusher – no different from Aaron Donald or Geno Atkins. When you look at it from that perspective, the season that he is having is a really special one. He rushes on the interior just like those men and is having a very comparable season to the best in the world in terms of being an interior rush man.

We had good contributions on special teams. I thought the punt return game was an asset to us. I liked the work of Eli [Rogers]. We’ve talked about him some in the past in terms of working through some things and getting ready for another opportunity. He’s been doing that now for us for several weeks. I just thought largely over the course of the past several weeks, his play in that area has become really solid. He played big for us in that game. He helped us in a big way with field position.

In order for that to happen, we have to play penalty free. We have had instances this year where we haven’t been able to do that in the return game, and we were able to do that on Monday. That’s big for us. Hopefully that’s a catalyst for us as we continue. Lastly on offense I thought we maintained balance.

Obviously, Ben [Roethlisberger] did a great job of taking care of the football and spreading it around to a lot of people. People made plays when given the opportunity. The replacement of Antonio Brown, if you will, is a difficult task, but not if everybody simply does their job and makes the necessary plays when the opportunities come their way. That’s what happened throughout the game for us.

It was great to have Vance [McDonald] back. You felt his impact and presence early in the football game. There is a lot of positives to build upon.

We will transition now and get ready for Cleveland, and I mean that. That’s AFC North football for us. It’s the 17^th week. You can talk a lot about the structure of this week and the things that you try and get done, but the reality is that it’s a football game. We will play to win that football game. Who we choose to employ or utilize or activate – we are in the process of discussing. Make no mistake about it. The expectation will be what it is. The people we put on the field will be expected to play and play winning football. That will be our mentality as we prepare. We don’t try to overthink some of these things because you can.

We set ourselves out on this thing to dominate the AFC North, and we have an AFC North game this weekend at our place. That will be our mentality. Looking at these guys, obviously they have gone through some tough times this year. You can trace those back to some specific areas. They have turned the ball over quite a bit. So, as you look to prepare for them, what are they going to do to put their best foot forward? That probably includes running the football.

We didn’t stop the run very well at times on Monday. So, we will have some work cut out for us this week in that area. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson Jr. are a formidable tandem. They complement each other well. They are extremely talented. They are catalysts for those guys on offense. Obviously, we have to be ready to defend Josh Gordan. He didn’t play the last time we played those guys. They have weapons. [Corey] Coleman is a former first rounder. We have to work to minimize some of the explosion plays. Largely, if we talk about Gordon, Coleman or Sammie Coates or anyone who plays for them, we better do a good job of keeping the lid on it and keeping them in front of us. I think we put ourselves in the best position to play our best ball when we do that. Obviously, some of those guys have the skillset geared towards the big play – Josh Gordon specifically. We have to work hard in that area.

On the defensive side of the ball, I see an evolution of a lot of young guys since the first time we played them. [Jabrill] Peppers, Myles [Garrett] and others have really stepped their game up and improved. They are still playing with a great deal of energy and passion. They are producing some splash plays. Sometimes under unfortunate circumstances – they had an offsides negate a big-time splash play that could have changed the environment for them this past weekend. We can’t allow those guys to breakdown our pocket in the ways that they do. Particularly with their coordinator Gregg [Williams]. He’s experienced in terms of attacking protections and so forth.

The protection of the quarterback is always central to us playing well, at least to us protecting the football. We have to do those things well in order to win. There is not much to talk about in terms of injury. We came out of the game pretty well. There is no real update yet on Antonio [Brown]. I haven’t seen him yet today. Obviously, he will be out again this week. Maybe we will have an update on him and his status a little later in the week.

Are you going to rest any of the starters this week?

I’m undecided as I stand here right now. Like I mentioned, it’s obvious that those discussions are in play. We will do what’s best for us – both long and short term – and we won’t look back.

How does the availability of the No. 1 seed affect your decisions?

It doesn’t. We want to play and play to win the football game and I think when you just keep it that simple, it’s a football game. It’s a regular season football game. It’s an AFC North football. We are going to play to win it.

Do you think about the layoff when you consider that?

I don’t.

Two weeks off doesn’t make a difference?

I do not, no.

Do you tune out the New England Patriots vs. New York Jets in terms of decision making as the game should go along?

We have no control over that. We better take care of the business at our stadium. Fortunately, I’ve been in this thing long enough. You start having these hypothetical conversations. If you’ve been in this thing and length of time you realize you are setting yourself up for big-time failure. We better focus on the challenges in our stadium and take care of the business that is within our control and not worry too much about some of those other things. That’s going to be my mentality as we prepare this week and as we walk into the stadium.

What’s your process for deciding on Joe Haden when deciding on traveling with a receiver like DeAndre Hopkins?

It’s really a lot of things. The matchup, the matchup of the other guys. Largely how we choose to play that particular day, zone, man, one high, two high safeties, it’s a lot of variable in the equation.

Are you encouraged with the way Martavis Bryant has played the last couple of weeks with A.B. [Antonio Brown] being injured?

Not because A.B. [Antonio Brown] is injured. It’s just because he’s been a guy on the rise largely all year, big picture. In terms of the detail in his play and quality of his play, we expect all of our men to have that trajectory in their play over the course of the season he’s done it.

What is it about A.B. if he is gone for a month by the time he suits up for the first playoff game then you don’t have to worry about rust.

I didn’t say that. So, we’ll see. He hadn’t missed a lot of time over the course of his career here anyway so we don’t have a lot to draw from in that regard.

Do you expect to make any roster moves before the Browns game?

I don’t know that. We’re playing catch up. We played a game, we’re working on a short week so some of those type things are undecided as I stand here.

Anything that is notable to you about Ben Roethlisberger in the recent stretch that he has put together?

No, he’s always a guy on the rise this time of year. He is. He understands the moments. The culminiation of this work. Nothing surprising, no.

Re: Defense run game issues:

Some of it was just our desire to minimize 10 [DeAndre Hopkins] so I don’t want to make more of a deal out of it than what it was. I was completely comfortable once we got a multi-score lead to allow them to run if they so choose. We couldn’t allow 10 to do what we’ve seen him do. Not only this year but over the course of his career. So really that was our focus as we went into the football game to work hard to minimize him impact on it and we realize it could have been some collateral in terms of the run game.

You have a couple guys that are on the verge of leading the league in statistical categories, if they came to you and said that I’d like to play does that factor at all?

No.

How much do you weigh intangibles when you are making roster moves?

Intangibles are always apart of decisions. There’s no cookie cutter in terms of decision making. There isn’t but you better weigh all variables some of which are intangibles and we do.

how did your team respond with the lost two weeks ago?

It’s evident in score. We did what we needed to do.

What did you see out of [Stevan] Ridley?

It was just good to be in the stadium with him and to see his gameday demeanor. He’s a pleasant guy. He’s a put his hand in the pile type of guy. We’ll continue to work with him in terms of finding detail and etching out a roll for him and get him in top flight football condition. All of those things are on the table with him but not displeased with what he has done so far and his mentality about the challenges in front of him.

Do you have a personal relationship with Hue Jackson?

Yes.

Have you conversed with him much about this season?

I have not.

Would you like the practice squad to be eligible for the last week or two of the season?

I would not.

Is the door open to possibly re-sign James Harrison and how difficult was that?

The door is always left open for anyone that we stop doing business with. That’s available for business so that’s no different than any other decisions that we had to make over the season if someone’s unemployed. I’ll let the discussion that James and I had between he and I. I think that is appropriate.

What has led to the defense getting consistent pressure with 50 sacks?

I think our commitment to everyone being valuable in that area. Sometimes it’s the interior defensive line, sometimes the perimeter defense line sometimes the linebackers, sometimes its members of the secondary like it was with Mike Hilton. I think that if you’re going to be a group that is committed to applying pressure on the quarterback you have to be willing and capable of it coming from any and all areas and that’s something that we really focus on.

Is there anything we can do in the media to properly get the message out to why there was a roster move with James Harrison?

We needed a spot for Marcus Gilbert.

There is not a reason why it couldn’t have been anyone else of the roster?

Again, we make the decisions that we feel give us the very best chance to win. We needed the people we kept. We needed to activate Marcus Gilbert. Really its nothing more to it than that.

Transcript provided by the Pittsburgh Steelers