Steelers HC Mike Tomlin (11.14.19)
Head Coach Mike Tomlin:
Opening statement:
“We weren’t good enough tonight. I liked the effort but not enough playmaking. Some people went down on offense. We didn’t have enough playmaking. (RB James) Conner went down with a shoulder, (WR) JuJu (Smith-Schuster) with a concussion, (WR) Diontae Johnson with a concussion. We had some inexperienced guys in there, and when you’re behind in a game with inexperienced guys and the pace that you have to work at, and things of that nature, we got challenged. Defensively, I think (QB Baker) Mayfield did some positive things on extended plays, and that was probably the difference on that side of the ball. We didn’t keep him in the pocket enough on kind of extended plays. He created some things and we weren’t strong enough on the back end in combination with the rush in terms of keeping him in it. He made a few plays that we weren’t able to overcome. That’s really kind of the story of the game. We’ll utilize these 10 days to assess who is available to us. We’ll make no excuses and we’ll prepare for our next one.”
On whether taking QB Mason Rudolph out of the game was ever considered:
“No.”
On what happened at the end of the game:
“I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. You guys saw what happened at the end.”
On whether there is any comment for what happened at the end of the game:
“That’s exactly what I said. I have no comment.”
On whether he has ever seen anything like that at the end of the game:
“No more questions regarding that because I’m saying nothing.”
On concerns about the offense:
“I’m concerned, but we didn’t get it done tonight, and that’s my level of concern. It doesn’t carry over into the upcoming weeks and things of that nature. We’ll evaluate this. We’ll assess who’s available to us and plot a course to move forward.”
On why there was a timeout for the fourth and 2 early in the fourth quarter after the deep shot to WR Johnny Holton:
“We didn’t have enough wideouts for guys to be fresh – you know what I mean – and get back. We had some young people in there. We wanted to communicate some of the minutia of what we were doing on the call. Sometimes you lose a little bit of pace or the element of surprise or what have you. We just need to communicate and try to win that down.”
On whether there was any thought to challenging that play to get a breather:
“No. I had already used a challenge. Utilizing the challenge frivolously in that way is not my style, having already used one in the game.”
On what he saw on the two deep passes the defense allowed in the first half:
“Baker out of the pocket.”
On the Browns being tougher to defend this year with WR Jarvis Landry and WR Odell Beckham, Jr.:
“I don’t know that they were tough to stay close to. I thought quarterback mobility and the extension of plays were the difference. It wasn’t about coverage.”
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