Coach Mike Tomlin
Press Conference
January 1, 2008
First off, I’d like to start by saying Happy New Year. Needless to say we are excited about a lot of things and hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars at Heinz Field this weekend in the first round of playoffs is one of them. We don’t take what we did lightly. We are excited about it. It is the next step of the quest we had this year and we look forward to preparing to meet the challenge that awaits us. Of course, the Jaguars are a stiff challenge. They are a very good football team. They are an 11 - 5 football team. They are big. They play a physical brand of football. And it starts first and foremost with Fred Taylor. Dynamic tailback has been doing it at a high level for those guys. He is complimented by Maurice Jones-Drew, who is a good football player in his own right. He is a contact guys, he is a powerful guy. He does a lot of things for them. He catches the ball out of the back field extremely well. He returns kicks, he is a third down back, and he is very good at blitz pick up. They are big. They are big upfront. Their tight ends are excellent. Richard Angulo is a big blocking tight end. Marcedes Lewis is a vertical threat. They have big wide receivers. Studying them here this week, Reggie Williams is really picking his game up at wide receiver, blocking, creating some hole for those guys. He is probably a bigger part of their run than anything. The way he blocks and pick up things on the perimeter and allows their backs to get one on one situation with cornerbacks is impressive. Matt Jones, the big red zone threat.
Defensively they are rock solid. Much like their offense they’ve got big people. They play power game. John Henderson of course it starts with him. Very big man up front and he is complimented with guys such as Grady Jackson and Paul Spicer. They’ve got a young rusher, Brent Hawkins who is really emerging and really doing some good things. He is one of the young dynamic rushers in this game. He has been hot of late. He has a couple sacks against us and he has taken off from there. Young guy, linebacker Durant is doing some nice things for them. Sammy Knight is veteran above the neck, savvy football players at safety position. He played an extraordinary game against us last time.
Its that time of year and when you think about it and I do often, I always get excited when I think of January football because it is something that we all aspire to when we start out. When the records and the slates are clean in that summer air when you approach training camp. Thirty two teams in thirty two different cities that aspire to be a part of this. We narrowed it down to twelve and that is the nature of this thing and the roads are going to be tough when you get down those situations. It is something we crave and I’m sure something that everybody in this position craves. You want to compete against the elite of the elite and that’s what this is. We have a big challenge Saturday night and excited for those reasons, excited to be playing at Heinz Field. Excited about being apart of that Steeler Nation home playoff football. Out fans are going to make a few tackles for us Saturday night, no doubt. Looking forward to meeting the challenge.
As we do that let’s quickly talk about some of our injuries before I take questions. Some guys that are out. Some guys that are potentially ruled out. Clint (Kriewaldt) has been dealing with an injury for a long time, hadn’t gotten any better. We are probably going to make a move to get a healthy guy to participate for us. It is probably the best thing to do for him and us. As is Max Starks who got hurt in the game against Baltimore. He has a meniscus injury. He is going to get that fixed. We are in the process of making the move of getting a healthy man in here to replace him. So you know that creates an issue at left tackle for us. We feel like Trai Essex did a solid job in relief of Max in Baltimore. We also have some potential with other options we will explore, but we will start first with Trai Essex at left tackle, which made a good accounting of himself verses a very goof front in Baltimore, of course starting with (Terrell) Suggs. We kept Charlie (Batch) pretty much clean all evening and he was a big part of that.
Some other injuries, Bryant McFadden of course reinjured his ankle in the game, he will me limited at the front part of the week and we will see where he goes. (Troy) Polamalu has knee inflation and he is going to be limited as well at the beginning of the week. Hopefully he can participate. Willie Reid, his shoulder, same thing, limited and we will keep him out of contact here early of the week. (Deshea) Townsend has a foot discomfort. He is probably going to be limited somewhat but we fully expect him to play and (Hines) Ward is in a similar situation with his knee. May be limited at the beginning of the week but we are going to push those guys. These guys understand the gravity of the moment. We know they are going to do everything in their power to get well. They’ve done that. They were in the building yesterday and of course they were here again today. Some of the guys I have mentioned since Kriewaldt and Starks, we anticipate these guys pushing, getting through it and being able to participate for us. Of course, Marvel Smith will still be out and Allen Rossum is questionable with a ham string. His ability to run later in the week is going to determine is ability to participate. I’ll answer any questions.
Is Ben Roethlisberger okay?
He is going to be fine. We expect full participation from him.
Who else might return kicks?
We are looking at a variety of candidates. Najeh Davenport has returned kicks for us. Cedrick Wilson has fielded punts for us. Santonio Holmes has a history of having the ability to do those things. We are going to take a look at some guys. We are going to start first and foremost with Najeh and Cedrick Wilson.
Will you sign a lineman in place of Max Starks?
Yes, we will. When we talk about signing linemen at this point in January football, we are talking about for depth. It is unrealistic to think someone flying in today is going to help us play winning football this weekend. We are where we are. We always look for our answers within. Trai (Essex) is the next guy up and the level of expectation will not change. Using commonsense, because he is the third guy we’ve lined up at that spot this year, we have to do some things schematically to help him. We intend to do that, but we expect him to play winning football for us.
Is moving Alan Faneca out to left tackle an option?
It is an option.
Will you practice him there?
Yes, we will.
Are you leaning towards playing Trai Essex?
We don’t necessarily want to show our hand, but those are options for us.
Why hasn’t Trai Essex played much?
It is less about the quality of his play and more about the quality of the play of the guys he competes against. It is just that simple. He is working. He has done some nice things since I have been here, but it hasn’t been as good as some of the people that have been playing in front of him. That is me being brutally honest. That being said, we still expect him to answer the call and deliver this weekend.
What did he do well against Baltimore?
He stayed after people. From an assignment standpoint, he played at a high level and it starts with that; knowing what to do, particularly a guy in his position who hasn’t got a bunch of quality, meaningful reps over the course of the season. From an assignment standpoint, he was impressive. He stayed after people and those are the two key ingredients to being able to play at a winning level; knowing what to and competing and he did those.
Who is the third offensive tackle?
It might be me, but we don’t want to do that. It really is what it is. We have Trai and we have Willie Colon. Potentially, we have Alan Faneca, who has done it some in the past and that is what we are working with.
Why did those third and long draw plays work the last time you played Jacksonville?
First and foremost, they executed at a high level. You never want to discount what they are capable of, particularly (Maurice) Jones-Drew. We have to do a better job of suring up some gaps and getting some tackles. We had opportunities on several of those plays to bring those guys down and when you get in those situations, when people are running the football there are chances for people to get four or five yards because of the posture you are in, but we missed a few tackle opportunities and they blocked things up well. They executed and we didn’t.
Why did Fred Taylor have success against you last time?
He is a great player. He has 10,000-plus yards and he has a career highlight reel of why he had success against us. He is big. He is fast. He is a great cutback runner. He is tough to get on the ground. He doesn’t provide much of a surface for you to hit. He finishes the job and runs well. They block well for him. Pick one or several.
Do teams block differently since Aaron Smith got injured?
I don’t know if people have blocked us differently. They have blocked us effectively. We have to combat that with quality play. We have to shed blocks, whoop tackles, run to the football and when you get there, tackle and get multiple people to the ball. There is no question when you lose a player with the quality of Aaron Smith there is going to be some drop-off. We still have to play winning football. We still have to tackle ball carriers. That is our level of expectation and we will make those corrections and get that done this weekend. I know Steeler Nation is going to be there for an assist or two.
Is it a matter of winning more one-on-one battles?
It certainly is and when you do that you have to tackle and tackle extremely well.
Did LaMarr Woodley earn more playing time?
He has and it is nothing new. With the limited snaps he has got, he has shown he can be productive. It has been our intention to work him in. Part of the reason he hasn’t been in as much as we have like or he would like is because he has been battling injury, from a hamstring standpoint, off and on over the middle and latter portion of the season. He is healthy now, so we are playing him. He was healthy in St. Louis so we played him some. His production and play is more a product of him being healthy, as oppose to any change in our mentality of what eh is capable of.
Does he know the defense well enough?
Yes and it wasn’t necessarily knowledge of the defense as we got into the middle and second half of the season. It was just that he wasn’t healthy.
How do you correct missed tackling?
It is a lot of things. Sometimes you miss tackles and it doesn’t show up because the next man is there cleaning it up and it looks like you are gang tackling. We have to get more people to the football and whoop blocks. That is the nature of it. You are going to miss tackles from time-to-time, particularly when you are playing great backs. That is our focus this week.
Is gap-integrity more important in your defense?
I don’t know a defense where gap-integrity is not important and I haven’t been a part of one. It is definitely important for us. That is part of playing good sound defense.
Has it been more of a problem lately?
You don’t talk about it publicly unless you’re struggling. When we’re kicking butt and tackling folks you don’t ask those questions, so the guys don’t talk about it. It is something that is in our minds from day one until the end of this thing. Great defense starts with that. Your job first and where you are supposed to be. It is a topic of conversation because we’ve played some backs that have had some success against us.
Which run plays have given you trouble?
It differs from team to team. It hasn’t been a consistent, particular run. I think everybody has their own personality, in terms of the way they design their running game and draw their things up, as does Jacksonville. You deal with it.
Is there something you can exploit in the Jacksonville specials teams after they gave up
big plays against Houston?
That is probably a question for those guys to answer. We are focusing on getting ourselves ready to play as I’m sure they are. I am sure they will work to correct those problems, as we will ours. We expect to get their best and I’m sure they expect to get our best. It is January football and that is what January football is all about. That is what is exciting about this weekend. We don’t expect any chinks in the armor. We expect to get their best shot and we better be prepared to deliver ours and continue to chase the dreams we both have.
Is the turf at Heinz Field an advantage?
Sure it is, if he feels that way. I don’t know anybody on our team that hates our field, so I would have to say it’s an advantage then.
What does playoff experience at quarterback mean?
For us playoff experience is a weapon, because you understand what the feeling are like and you understand the moments and how special they are, particularly, when you have a football team and men who have been a part of it and had it taken away and now they’re back in it. We expect to use that as a source of energy, enthusiasm and focus for us. It is a natural thing. It is playoff football.
How much difference is it for you as a head coach versus as an assistant?
It’s not at this point. It may be a little different Saturday night around 8:05p.m.
Talk about Ben Hawkins.
This guy is a legitimate emerging player. Whatever tape you turn on he is getting warm. That is nature and what is awesome about this league. Everyone is a potential play maker. It was you do on a day to day basis. This a young guy that is making plays for them and playing more because of it.
Are you concerned your team lost some swagger?
That’s a concern. A lot of things are of concern. I tend to take the approach of what lies ahead. What lies ahead is an enormous playoff game versus a great football team at our place. So that is our focus. We have to prepare ourselves. We have some guys that understand the gravity of this moment. If there is any hesitation they better quickly get over it because the ball is going to be kicked off here shortly.
Will you talk to other coaches who have been thru this?
I haven’t at this point. I really don’t anticipate it. One thing about sitting in this chair is that everyday I confirm what I already know in that you have trust your instincts and you’ve got to do it your way. I’ve got a bunch of mentors and peers that I respect a great deal and I know they are there for me if I need advice. But ultimately I have to go with my gut. I’ve done that and I need to continue to do that.
What are your dynamics of playing a team twice so close together?
I hope January football is enough motivation. But no doubt, losing to this team, being the only loss that we had this year at Heinz Field has been motivation for us. But they are a good football team and this is playoff football. If you can’t get up to play at Heinz Field in the playoffs in January, then you’ve got a problem. I don’t think any of our guys have got that problem.
How much have you missed (Troy) Polamalu this year?
Injuries are a part of the game and when I say that I believe it. We are not unlike any team. Any of the 12 teams that are in this field, left still standing, have had injury issues. They found ways to overcome it. Whoever hoists that Lombardi Trophy in a month or so will have had injury history issues and will have found ways to overcome it. We don’t dwell on that. That’s as much of part of the game as blocking and tackling. The healthy guys play and the standard of expectation doesn’t change. Yes Troy (Polamalu) is a great football player. Yes you lose something when he doesn’t play, but you’ve got to play to win. That’s what we do. I believe in the men in this football team. They understand what team is about. That’s why this is the ultimate team game. We won’t make excuses.
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