STEELERS-JAGUARS POST-GAME QUOTES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2008
AT HEINZ FIELD
STEELERS QUOTES
HEAD COACH MIKE TOMLIN
Needless to say, there is a bunch of disappointment that this season came to an end tonight. I am disappointed for those guys. I am disappointed because we don’t get a chance to go back and do it again. This group will always be special to me. It will. There is no denying that. I am disappointed that we weren’t able to deliver for our fans tonight. Steeler Nation is something else. They are awesome. They deserve the best. They deserve a team that pursues championships. I’m sorry we weren’t able to get it done for them. Nothing really soothes the feeling we have right now. That is part of it. We understand that there can only be one, but it doesn’t help the feeling you have when you pour everything into it, in the pursuit of the prize. We came up short.
Why did you go for the two-point conversions?
We wanted to make sure we were up by at least a field goal, so if they kicked one it would only be a tie. Being up by two doesn’t serve any purpose.
If we go 30-28, we still lose the game based on what transpired after. With the first one it was still irrelevant. It was the same quandary. It was insignificant if we got the one. Playing the charts, that is not out of bounds. That is just baseball. Everybody has that chart.
I don’t know if there was 10 and a half minutes left. There were 10 and a half minutes left when we scored that first touchdown with Santonio (Holmes) and we kicked the extra point. It was six minutes on the one he is talking about. We were trying to get the score to three points. We were down by 11 and we scored, so it would have been down to three.
Would you have kicked the extra points if you knew two points would be the final margin?
If I had a crystal ball and I knew we were going to lose by two, I probably would have kicked the extra point.
What do you think about the way Ben Roethlisberger came back and played in the second half?
He is a competitor. There are a lot of competitors in that room. Competitive spirit is not our issue. We fall short in terms of execution. The Jaguars are to be congratulated. They probably made one more significant play than we did as a football team. We accept that.
Re: Ben Roethlisberger’s quarterback sweep on third and six.
There was, particularly on the third down play. That was something we worked on all week and we felt good about it. We actually had the look and we didn’t execute it. Good job by them.
How do you feel about the way the team fought back in the second half?
That has been our story here as of late. We like the way we fight, but we don’t execute well enough early on. We felt good about the way we started the game. We marched down and we talked about that all week offensively; starting fast, sending a message and putting ourselves in a position to control the clock and win the time of possession. We put together a nice drive and scored and they answered with a kickoff return. It was zero to zero at that point. That has been a struggle of ours and it cost us. It cost us tonight.
How do you feel about your first season?
We fell short of our ultimate goal. I will leave the evaluation and grades to you guys. We are single minded in terms of how we compete. This is the National Football League and it is the elite of the elite. Everybody if competing for the Lombardi Trophy and that is our intention. That will always be our intention. We fell short.
STEELERS PLAYERS
QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER
Obviously, there is a level of disappointment. What did you tell your team in there?
I just wanted them to know, for everybody, not just the offense or defense, that no one should blame anybody or anything other than myself. I take the heat for that. I dug us a hole. We got out of the hole a little bit, but it was too deep. I’m ashamed of the way I played today. I told the guys I apologize and it’s unfortunate that it had to end this way.
What changed in the second half?
I don’t know. They did a lot of good things. Give them a lot of credit. They rushed four. They didn’t blitz a lot, and when they did, we burned them for a touchdown. They dropped a lot of guys. There weren’t a lot of holes to throw it to. It’s frustrating because the throws, the interceptions, only one of them was probably a stupid throw. The first one he makes a great play to just cut in front of [Santonio Holmes] with the right read. For the third one, a defensive lineman just gets in front of the screen. In the second half, we started going no huddle, started calling the plays. We went down the field we just tried to get out of the hole I dug.
What were you thinking on the third down play on the second-to-last possession?
That was a designed run play. We called it just to run. It was a good play, it was man, but they got outside and we were just trying to protect the ball.
What about the way the defense played in the second half?
It was fun to watch them play. They got us back into it. They helped me out and got us the ball back and let us have a chance to win the game. That’s all you can ask for. I do want to say that if this was my last game with Alan Faneca, and I hope it isn’t, it truly was an honor and a privilege to be his quarterback. I love him to death.
Where is this team right now?
Going home. Just kind of in disbelief and shock right now. We are a worn down team. We’re physically drained. Mentally drained. It’s tough. We have to look at it and figure out how to not get that way next year.
You lost a lot of first string guys to injuries this year. What role did that play?
We never like to make excuses or anything but we did. We lost some key players and it definitely hurt us. We’ve been pretty fortunate during my couple of years here to avoid a lot of those major injuries and this year it got us. It hurt a little bit but we’re not going to make excuses. We hope everyone will get healed up and we’ll be back.
Did you want to go for two on the first touchdown from the 12?
We had to do it. We had a good play call. They just covered it up. The play was to try and let me run. I tried to run up and got to the four or five yard line, just didn’t quite get in.
What’s your report card on Mike Tomlin’s first season?
It was a winning season. We got to the playoffs and we fell a little short. We all have things to learn. Him. The team. The rest of the coaches. I’m sure we’ll learn it and come back and be a better team.
What did you learn from this game?
It’s frustrating because only one of the interceptions was a bad one. The others were just great plays on their part. It’s hard to sit here and say ‘take care of the ball,’ ‘make better decisions,’ because I felt like the decision making was pretty good. It’s just unfortunate. They made good plays and we didn’t. Like I said, I put this loss on me. I told the guys it’s not on them and if they all want to blame me that’s fine. I’ll take it.
What goes into having a slow start in most of the games in this last month?
I don’t know. We’ve been saying we need to start fast on offense. What did we do? We went right down the field and scored. That was big for us. And then the next kickoff, they go all the way down to the one or two yard line and put our defense in a tough position. From there, we couldn’t get over that hump and get going again. It was frustrating offensively. No disrespect or anything to Bruce [Arians] because I thought he did an unbelievable job this entire year, I felt like their schemes were just … they were getting us. They called the right defense every time we had a play called. I could be wrong, but that’s what it felt like to me.
LB Larry Foote
General comment
“I don’t want to get fined. Watch the long quarterback sneak. Watch the middle of the defensive line, and you’ll see.”
Inaudible
“You’ll see it. Watch it. Replay that on SportsCenter, or whatever sports show it is, and watch what happened in the middle of the field.”
Did you see what happened on the edge?
“I saw it on the big screen, and I saw it during the play. See what happens.”
Is that something that was going on all game?’
“I don’t know. But I saw that play. You’ll see a big old hole open up, and you’ll see the reason why. That’s all I’ve got to say. Thank you.”
LB Clark Haggans
General comment
“I’m the wrong person to interview. You might want to interview the referees. Plain and simple, that’s it. I don’t have anything else to say besides that.”
How disappointing is it to lose a game like this?
“Very disappointing. Everyone’s fired up. We fought hard [and] came up short.”
Defensively, you faced a short field quite a bit. There were a few turnovers early, but you were able to still hang in there.
“It was a close game. A play here, a play there – you can sit back and analyze would’ve, could’ve, should’ve, but Jacksonville beat us.”
Talk about how this team fought back.
“That’s just the spirit of the team. We dug ourselves a hole [and] climbed out of it. We just came up short.”
C Sean Mahan
Did you talk to Alan [Faneca] after this, knowing this could potentially be his last game here?
“I’m sure he’s upset. We’re all upset. No one wants to end the season like this. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Alan, but we’re all pretty down right now.”
Talk about the difference between you guys in the first half and the second half.
“They came out and gave us some different looks – twisting, where they were running some good defenses against our specific protections – and we got a little down. [But] we came back and tried some different plays, different runs and found some stuff that would work . [We] got in a rhythm with the no-huddle.”
Talk about how hard it is to go from the low to that high to the way that it ended.
“It’s an emotional game and it’s tough. A lot of games are like that, you know. It’s a roller coaster. There’s peaks and valleys and you’ve got to play through them. It’s part of the game.”
JAGUARS QUOTES
HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO
Lot of smiles in that locker room.Guys are excited.Obviously we played very well early, and we talked at halftime about the need to come out and play good football in the second half, that this team had the heart of a champion and they weren’t going to die easy.They came back on us.Some mistakes allowed that, obviously, but they did some things to get themselves back in it as well.For our football team to kind of regroup, defensively, get it stopped, and offensively to take the ball down.Special teams come out, put the kick through, and we make a play to finish it – those are winning plays.That’s what it takes in this league.In order to advance in this playoff tournament, you’ve got to be able to make plays to close games out.
I’m very proud of our guys who responded after watching that 18-point lead evaporate.I thought it was crucial for our guys to continue to battle, and they did that.I’m very proud of those guys for doing that.The players and coaches worked hard all year.It’s a group I’m very proud to coach.I’m very happy that we’re advancing now in this tournament.I think they deserve it.I think we’ve worked hard, and got a good football team.Certainly getting this experience tonight should be good for our football team going forward.Regardless of how tomorrow works out, we know we’ve got one heck of a challenge.We’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow, then find out who we’re playing.Of course the coaches will be working hard already, but the players will get that time and then we’ll see.
What was going through your mind as the lead evaporated?Were you waiting for someone to make a play?
We wanted to stay calm, stay poised and keep fighting, and understanding that that’s what you need to do, just make some plays.Ultimately we made enough to win, and we needed it.We needed every bit of it.
On the fourth-and-two, was the play a called run for Garrard?
Yes.
Talk about your decision making on that call.
I don’t like to get into game-planning sort of stuff.Bottom line is that it’s a play we’ve run before, it’s a play that we felt good about, and executed it well.We made a huge play there.Obviously fourth downs aren’t foreign to us, we’ve gone for a few this year.That was one we had to – there wasn’t a whole lot of choice.I thought the team did a nice job executing against the look they gave us, and David made a great play.
What do you know about David that gave you confidence in running that play?
There were some big plays, some big throws on that drive as well.David has played big for us all year to help us win games.That’s what you want in a leader, in a quarterback, so I’m really happy for him.
You stressed poise all year.That broke down in the fourth quarter – what did you tell the guys as the Steelers were making their comeback?
Right before we went out, I pulled the offense together, and I said, ‘Guys, you’ve gotta love it.I mean, here we are.Right here.Let’s have fun, make some plays, have good poise about us and go down and win this ballgame.’We broke it up right there, and they went out and executed very well and pulled out a win.
Did you think they were losing their poise?
I don’t think that at all.
What does the fact that you withstood the comeback and came back to win tell you about your team?
I think it clearly exemplifies the kind of resolve this team has competed with all year.When you lose (Marcus) Stroud, (Mike) Peterson, and some others – we’ve been able to plug guys in and play with resolve and keep winning.We lost Garrard for three games, and we were able to win two of those three with our backup quarterback.That shows tremendous resolve.I think our team has shown that all year.I think that’s why we’re able to stand here right now and talk about advancing in this playoff tournament.
What’s the status of John Henderson?
John’s really the only concern going forward.We’ll know more as we get into the week.He strained his hamstring and he was available to go, but it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to go and play well.The other guys were playing well, and we just elected to hold him out.I don’t think he did anything real bad.We’ll just see how he responds.
Were you surprised to see the Steelers go for two from the 12 given the amount of time remaining?
I wasn’t expecting that.We were responding accordingly, but on the headphones we thought that they’d forego the two-point conversion there.We all make our choices in what we think is best for our teams in those situations.
Was this the most satisfactory victory of your career?
Well, right now it is.I mean, there’ve been some real good victories, but obviously if you advance in the playoffs…you have your regular season stuff, and then you have your post-season stuff.I needed one of these.I want a win in the post-season.
Did this feel like you thought it would feel?Was it more relief than joy?
There are a lot of emotions that are a part of tonight.Right now I’m feeling a lot of joy.I love coaching these guys – I told them that last night.I love coaching this team.This team – they’ve been so unselfish, and worked so hard all year for me.I respect what these guys bring for me every day.
This game was actually broadcast in Japan – I don’t know if you knew that.Your team has flown under the radar somewhat all year.What do you think about now getting worldwide coverage?
I did not know that.I love it – worldwide.We’re in Japan now. Thanks for coming out and covering us.We appreciate that.
Are you concerned about your team’s performance in the second half – in particular, your defense didn’t tackle well. Would you agree with that?
I thought we got pretty good pressure all night on Ben (Roethlisberger).We thought that was going to be a key for us to be able to do that.For whatever reason, we didn’t quite execute the way we needed to in a certain stretch and allowed them to get back in.Look, fundamentals are what it’s about. If you block well, if you tackle well, if you do certain things fundamentally you’ve got a chance to be a good football team.We were pretty good for stretches and then we had a couple stretches there that can put you at risk.