Steelers Blog

Coach Tomlin’s Post-Game Comments

Coach Mike Tomlin
Post-Game Comments vs. Buffalo Bills

It’s good to come on the road and get a win, hadn’t done that in the preseason. I thought we got better as the game wore on. I didn’t like how we started from a detail and execution standpoint. I thought we defeated ourselves some, dropped passes, untimely penalties and so forth. The thing I did like about the group is they didn’t get down on themselves, they continued to work. They put together a couple of drives, particularly the one right before half I thought was big. The defense continues to give us a short field which is good; hopefully that is the signature of our ball here in 2012. On the injury front David DeCastro went down with a knee, it’s potentially severe but we’ll see what the MRI says. The other injury of the game was Brett Keisel. We held him out for precaution. I think he has a mild high ankle. He should be ready to go for us. But overall I thought the guys were into the game in all three phases. I thought they warmed up to it, got going and made the necessary plays for us to get out of here with a victory. We need a little more detail early on. We can’t put ourselves in hostile environments and not execute at a higher level in initial portions of football games.

Talk about the first touchdown, the third-and-two play, and the commitment to run it in?
I am not going to make a big deal about it. We were in goal line and we handed the ball off to the left side to Isaac Redman. He did a nice job of getting into the end zone.

Did Ben Roethlisberger run his own shown in the no-huddle on the 98-yard drive? Is he calling the plays?
We have the capability of talking to him any time the playbook hadn’t gotten to 15 seconds. It’s a collaborative effort. I would have to look at each individual play to give a gist of what happened. It’s a collaborative effort.  Obviously he is a critical part of it and has done a nice job.
Can you talk about Ben getting fired up after the illegal substitution penalty?
As he should because it’s a mechanical thing we can’t accept. I was of the same mindset.
Were you impressed how he responded with that adversity, being pinned back?

I have been looking at Ben for almost six years now. I am not surprised by it.
Can you talk about the challenges of making a change on your staff during the preseason?
There are, but nothing we can’t handle. I look forward to accepting that challenge and moving forward with Amos Jones, myself and others in assisting in that area.

Are you going to divide the work up at all with Jerry (Olsavsky) and Ray (Jackson)?
No. It’s his show. Those guys have jobs to do. I am going to help a little bit more and I look forward to doing that.

Can you talk about how Antonio Brown performed?
We expect that from him as well

Any update on Mike Wallace?
None.