Steelers Blog

Coach Tomlin’s Post-Game Comments

Coach Tomlin: That’s no Ernie Banks, but we’ll take it. We won’t apologize for it either. Such is life in the NFL. The guys made the necessary plays to get out of the stadium with the win.Big time kudos to all of the people that made the necessary plays, particularly Lawrence Timmons, who made a big play there for us in overtime. On the injury front, Ryan Clark is being evaluated for a concussion. We don’t have definitive information on that at this time. It happened too late in the game. Ben [Roethlisberger] has a right shoulder that’s being evaluated. We don’t know the status of that as we sit here right now. Obviously, those two men are critical to our efforts here moving ahead. When I get information you’ll get it. But, I love the contributions by all parties involved. We were short some bodies and guys had an opportunity to step up. I appreciate their efforts. [It was] enough to win.

Was Roethlisberger taken from the stadium?
To my knowledge he was. But again, I don’t know where he is as I sit here right now.

How did QB Byron Leftwich do filling in for the injured Roethlisberger?
The great thing about Byron is he’s got a very consistent demeanor, a very calming presence. It wasn’t a pretty body of work by any of us, but his consistency remains the same in terms of being a stabilizing force for us. We appreciate him. Big time play. Several plays for him, particularly down the stretch. I thought the third down conversion to Jerricho Cotchery was huge.

If Roethlisberger can’t play, Leftwich is your guy, correct?
I’m not going to get into hypotheticals as I sit here right now. I’m waiting to see what his status is like before we make any determinations.

How big was it to shut the Chiefs down on third down?
The big thing was, particularly in the second half, was calming the run down to the point where we had them in some third and long situations where we could apply some pressure. Too often, particularly in the first half of the game, I thought they were coming up in third-and-shorts, third-and-two, third-and-three, because they were running the ball effectively and I have to give them credit for that. We effectively stopped the run and got them in third-and-long and then we played to our strengths, if you will.

Were the Chiefs doing anything defensively that gave you problems?
No, it was just that we didn’t perform very well. We accept responsibility for that. We’re not going to make excuses. We’re not going to take anything away from our opponent either, though. That group came to play tonight. I tip my hat to Coach Crennel and company over there. But we didn’t do enough to play good football. We did do enough to win, though.

Were you searching for something by using three different punt returners tonight?
No, we weren’t. To my knowledge we only used two.

Didn’t Sanders return the first punt?
No, he didn’t. We used [David] Gilreath and we gave Chris Rainey one.

What is your level of concern with Roethlisberger’s injury?
I’m not because I don’t live in the hypothetical world. I wait until I get information and then I respond accordingly to that information.

Re: The consistency of Shaun Suisham:
He’s been rock solid for us. Not only tonight, but all season, regardless of circumstance or conditions. We respect him. He’s a critical part of our football team.

Re: Roethlisberger’s injury:
Again, I just get information from my medical staff. It was the end of a possession, he came off the field, at some point in the next possession when the defense was on the field I got information that he was being evaluated and that’s all I know regarding it.