Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his weekly pre-game press conference ahead of Thursday’s preseason game in Green Bay. 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. We are excited about going into Heinz Field for the first time. Three weeks into the preseason is pretty interesting in the process that this will be our first time.

So, on that level we’re excited. It is also the third week and it mocks a regular season process from a preparation standpoint from a lot of ways. We are back here in the comforts of our facility. Our daily schedule mimics what it’s like in terms of how we go through our week’s work, today being a simulated Friday in a lot of ways. We did some more extensive game-planning and utilization of people relative to their skill sets.

We are still very much in the evaluation process of all the guys as we push forward toward our 53-man roster but there will be selected things in terms of asking people things to do relative to their skill sets in a game plan like way.

We’re excited about the Titans. They present a good challenge for us, the mobility at the quarterback position being a specific challenge that our defense needs in preparation for the season. We have a lot of respect for [Marcus] Mariota and not only his passing abilities but his mobility and how that effects your play, not only schematically but technically. He is going to challenge us in a lot of ways that way.

On the other side of the ball, Dean Pees being their coordinator, we’ve seen him a lot over the years and he’s very familiar with us. I think that familiarity, and how multiple his schemes are, are very challenging on the other side of the ball.

They have some dynamic specialists in special teams. Their punter, we spent a week with over there in Orlando at the Pro Bowl. He is a quality talented guy. Adoree’ Jackson, they drafted last year in round one, had a very good rookie year. In a return capacity, they have some young guys that are competing in that area.

Thus far this year, vying for roster spots I think they have the longest kick return in the NFL this preseason, so we have very good challenges. But as always, the focus is us, and our preparation. I like the process that the group went through this week. Our mindset is that those that are healthy are going to play and we are going to leave the light on for those that are partial participants.

It’s been some partial participants this weekend because we do not have to declare availability. We will leave the light on for them in terms of participation. Those guys being Antonio Brown, Morgan Burnett, Dan McCullers, T.J. Watt, all who have worked within a limited like capacity. This week we will continue to push forward toward the game and determine their availability at the 11^th hour.

Some guys that have been out an extended period of time who you can classify as out are Ramon Foster, [Xavier] Grimble, [Mike] Hilton, and [Vance] McDonald as examples of guys that haven’t been working and dealing more in the week-to-week like capacity, as opposed to a day-to-day, or limited participation like capacity.

We are excited about this opportunity. We realize the sand is running through the hourglass in terms of this process and so there is some urgency there. We also realize that there is some complexity to this third game from schematic standpoint, from a role standpoint, from a competition standpoint and it is just going to get increasingly more clearer as guys continue to roll the ball out and compete. So, we are excited about that as well.

What do you want to see on defense from last week?

I hadn’t even really thought about that. Last week is last week. Less game planning and so forth. I am just more interested in how they are performing this week relative to this week.

You have to be careful comparing performances this time of year because your agenda is somewhat different from time to time.

What did you get out of the conference call about the new rule last night?

I didn’t participate in the conference call. I had duties here. From what I understand it was very productive.

Re: player playtime:

We have a plan, but we also light enough on our feet. There are certain things that we want to see and that plan is subject to change so I am not going to back myself into a corner. You guys [have] seen how we operate in the past. We are going to give those guys an opportunity to show that they are game ready.

Any plan to use Landry Jones this game?

Yes.

Why was Antonio Brown limited this week?

I am able to, but it is not that time of year. We are just managing him from a rep standpoint in his participation and we’ll decide as we get closer to game time whether or not he is playing in the game.

Are all four quarterbacks playing?

That is not the plan. We are going to play Ben [Roethlisberger]. We are going to play Landry [Jones]. And we’ll see how it goes from there. We’ll harden it up as we get closer but those two specifically are scheduled to play just like the other two were specifically scheduled to play last week.

What has Vance McDonald been dealing with for the past couple of weeks?

It’s just been an injury, he’s working his way through it. He’s getting close to partial participation and once we get him back out there working in that capacity, I will be better equipped to explain where he is in terms of his return.

What things do you want to see your team accomplish this Saturday?

We just have to play varsity ball. You know what that is, on offense that is taking care of the football, dominating situational football, red zone, third downs, short yardage and playing with a tempo. A tempo that we select.

On the defensive side of the ball, it’s being stout against the run, minimizing big plays and winning possession downs. Those things are relatively constant. That is why I do not routinely bring them up in this setting.

Do you have a better feel if Ramon Foster will be ready in September?

I don’t but I haven’t asked to be honest with you. I’ll start looking at some of those things in terms of availability next week.

I’ve really just been in a tunnel this week on this mock preparation game week, if you will, and focusing on those guys that are participating or partially participating and I hadn’t done a lot of question asking regarding his status regarding is his status or that status of guys like [Vance] McDonald and others that you mentioned.

How did Antonio Brown respond to the work that he did get this week?

Good work week. I visit with him just about daily. He wants to do more and things of that nature. We are just being smart about how we are going about the process of preparing him for the season.

Is it harder to run a game week with 90 players?

I don’t really think about what normalcy is. This is just the third week in the process of team development for us in the preseason, so I do not look to compare to what it is like. I have just been focused on this group and their readiness and the opportunity and the challenges that is in front of them.

There is a bunch of guys in there, 90 trying to become 53. I’d be doing them a disservice if I was focused in another way other than providing an environment where they’re preparation is good.

How do you assess Jaylen Samuels practice and play so far?

I think he’s increasingly getting more consistent in terms of what we expect from him. He’s got a skill set that is good in some areas that is very varsity and consistently varsity. Some areas in his game that he has to continue to grow. He’s finding more consistency in those areas that he needs to grow as he should and we’ll continue to take him through the process as we will all the others.

I like his overall attitude in terms of the challenges that we are presenting to him and terms of areas that he needs to work. He caught a lot of balls, and his was a third down type back at N.C. State. We’ll challenge him in some other ways that might be somewhat new to him.

What are those ways?

Just regular type running back things. It’s not anything earth shattering to be honest with you. He caught a lot of balls, he didn’t run a lot of balls, so some of the running back things, some of the non-receiving things.

Have you seen growth, physically and mentally from Matthew Thomas?

Yea but they all have. If they didn’t we wouldn’t be talking about him because we would have fired him by now. This process is about growth and learning and he is doing it appropriately so.

Re: Is tackling a significant issue for you or is it too early in the season:

Time will tell. Not only for us but for everyone so we’ll see. We’ll keep working.

Did you request the black tarp in the back of the end zone?

I’ll leave that somewhat mystical. I’ll you guys get hypothesized about the origins of that and it’s use. At some point we’ll address it directly. It will be the 2018 little side story.

Mystical?

You know how it is. This is an interest time, drones and so forth you know. We’ll do what we have to do to prepare and be ready to play. Play on a level of fair competitive playing field.

Do you ever wonder who might be sitting up on those hills?

I wonder about a lot of things. Some of the questions I get in here I wonder about.

Your offensive coordinator spoke very highly of how Ben Roethlisberger looks this year, how do you feel about Ben?

I agree with him. It’s been a good process for him and coming ready has a lot to do with it in terms of conditioning and mind, body, and spirit. But the proof is in the pudding and he is about to step into a stadium this weekend so stay tuned.

Transcript provided by the Pittsburgh Steelers