Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin (Post-Game Transcript)
Opening statement:
“First, I’d like to compliment the Eagles on a hard fought victory. But as I just told the team in there tonight, we didn’t coach as well as we’d like. We didn’t play as well as we’d like. It’s just such a fine line at this level. It is. If you just look at that game, we had a penalty going in that forced us to settle for a field goal. We turned the ball over on the short field and got no points. There were several possession downs on defense where we had opportunities to tackle ball carriers in the flat, and we missed those tackles. And that produced extended drives, and thus points. That’s life in our business. It’s not anything mystical. It’s very fundamental. We have to play disciplined. We have to secure the ball. We have to tackle. And we didn’t do some of those fundamental things well enough tonight to secure victory. Although it sucks, we learn and we proceed and move forward. From a health standpoint, [Steelers QB] Justin Fields had an abdominal injury. I don’t know the extent of that. On that slide, he injured his abdominal. [Steelers CB] Donte Jackson had a back injury, wasn’t able to return. And [Steelers LB] T.J. [Watt] had an ankle. I think that can be described as a low ankle at this juncture, but I’ll have more information for you the next time we get together.”
On not taking advantage of the early turnovers:
“As I mentioned, there were several plays like that that were significant. Settling for a field goal when we had the ball maybe around the one is significant. Not making tackles in the flat when we have a chance to make those tackles on possession downs are significant. You can point to one play, but more than anything, when I look at it through the lens in which I look at it, we weren’t good enough in some fundamental areas tonight. We own that, particularly as coaches.”
On what kept them from being more consistent offensively:
“Again, we started slow, but you have to give some credit to those guys. I wasn’t necessarily overly concerned about the start. The starts are not going to define us. But again, I think we largely look at the big picture as those fundamental things outlined.”
On what wasn’t working in the pass defense tonight:
“I don’t know that I feel that way. I just thought that we didn’t win enough possession downs. They possessed the ball. Like I mentioned, we didn’t tackle well enough and that’s life.”
On why it took 26 seconds to call a timeout after Steelers LB T.J. Watt was injured:
“I got caught up on some information, and I’ll just leave it at that.”
On why the run game wasn’t working:
“You know, [the Eagles] did a nice job. They get in those six man fronts and make you block individually. And one man wins a block, and it creates issues for you. I thought they did a nice job.”
On the explanation from the referees after it looked like Steelers TE Darnell Washington was punched in the scuffle:
“Not a sufficient one.”
On how to not keep this loss from snowballing and carrying into the next two games:
“It is a loss. I mean, let’s not get dramatic.”
On playoffs being a goal and whether it matters to him on not clinching a playoff spot yet:
“Not as I stand here today. We had a game to play today. We wanted to win it and we didn’t. Some of that other stuff is less relevant to us.
On the referees’ explanation to him after the scuffle:
“I’ll let them explain that sequence. Why should I explain it?”
On the missed tackles:
“Again, as I outlined in my opening statement, I thought it was significant.”