Introduction:
First off injuries. McDonald had a knee, we'll have to check on that tomorrow. With Carlos Hyde, he was evaluated for a head injury. He was cleared, but opted not to put him back in, that was me.
Hats off to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The coaching staff, the players, their organization. They played a heck of a football game today, and they got after our tails. Questions?
On secondary breakdowns:
We obviously don't need to be letting people throw things over our head.
On Acker against Brown in second NFL start:
We have to go back and take a look at it, but a lot of those plays he was not on his own.
On team fighting back:
No, I obviously that they fought through the game, I believe that. Offensively, I thought we really kept fighting back, not blinking. We didn't get it done. Bottom line, there's no excuses. But, I did think the guys kept fighting through.
On defense fighting back:
Yea, I do, they kept fighting. I think they were trying to find it, and obviously we ran into problems there with that guy, particularly one guy. We've gotta be able to get those things corrected, get those corrections moving faster.
On clock management issues:
That's unexcusable. That goes to me. I have to have that clear, I have to have that cleaned up. That's me.
On if there were similar issues each team:
All three of them were different situations. One was a personnel group, another one was the play-call, the wording, we didn't hear it right. And quite frankly, the one was a good time out because Kap didn't like the look. He knew that we were in a critical point right there and we didn't want to squander that one.
On anything making it seem like this was possible this week:
No, no sir.
On short week:
No excuses. No excuses. No excuses. None, zero.
On Mike Davis seemingly surpassing Jarryd Hayne on depth chart:
No, we were gonna play all three of them. Obviously we had a couple scores on us there, and we were trying to, the run game had to get turned down a little bit.
On Hyde getting banged up earlier in first half:
Yea, he got tackled in the leg. He's got his thigh pads. They checked that and he was fine.
On third down problems on offense:
Yea, it was a combination. They made plays on that third down, and we didn't. There were a couple there where we've got guys on a guy, and I might have to re-think a little bit of that. There were also some things where we should have had a combination on that.
On this being first loss and what it means moving forward:
No, I mean during a game I stay in the moment. At halftime, my whole point is put your head down, don't look up, just keep grinding. Don't keep looking at the score, just keep playing the next play. And that's when you talk about them finishing, and going. I think they did that, our team did that, our coaches did that. But, I mean we are a football team. I said it last week, I'll say it this week. We've got a lot of work to do, and we've gotta continue to get it going, and we've got keep going in a 16-game season. We're not going to overreact when there's a W, and we're not going to overreact when there's a loss.
On physicality of win last week and being out-physicaled this week:
I don't think it, I'm not willing to say that. I think the Steelers made a lot more big plays, they made big plays that we didn't make. When their guy was throwing the ball to their receiver, when they make that play, we didn't. They had a nice thing there where they were maxing up, maxing up and getting the ball down the field. And one, Ben got out of the pocket on us that one time, and it's no secret they do a wonderful job of creating. And that's what happened. We can't give up the big plays.
On pass rush vs. secondary coverage being bigger disappointment:
Well, I mean it's a combination, it was a nice play by the Steelers too. There was max protections, and they're maxing up, and getting that thing down the field. And, so, what they did and our response, we didn't match it. We've gotta do a better job. I don't have any, that was what happened.
On Wilhoite covering Antonio Brown on deep ball:
That's the play when Ben got outside and created. That shouldn't be happening. When you've got the Cover 2 there, we had the safeties, but then that's where that play gets long, and that's where Ben does a good job, and my man turned it up on Michael and he ends up getting isolated.
On Brown just being better than coverages:
Listen, Antonio Brown is a terrific player. I said that at the beginning of the week. Knew that coming in. We have a ton of respect for him, and the Steelers. We've just gotta play better in those areas.