Coach Mike Tomlin Postgame Press Conference (Week 1 at New York Jets) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Coach Mike Tomlin Postgame Press Conference (Week 1 at New York Jets) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Man, wow. That was fun and challenging at the same time, man. The NFL season is back. Um 60 minutes of football, man. I tip my cap uh to the New York Jets, man. They were a worthy opponent, man. They fought uh they really put us up against it. Challenged us in a lot of ways. Um it’s an unknown sometimes when you’re playing a new staff, man. I thought that we exposed in in some of those spaces at times. Um but I thought the coaches did a real good job of communication. the players did a real good job of communicating and adjusting. Um we made about one or two more plays than they did and sometimes these games um are decided by that. Um I’m excited about the next week’s process. Um we got opportunity to get a lot better between week one and week two. We’re going to need to obviously our slip was showing a little bit today in some areas. We weren’t good enough in the running game, particularly the RPO running game. Uh we didn’t put enough pressure uh on Justin. Uh on the offensive side of the ball, I thought some negative plays killed drives. We didn’t protect our quarterback well enough on play pass. You know, trying to go for chunks on first and second down. They sacked us a couple of times in those instances put us behind the chains. You can’t be behind the chains in a hostile environment in a close football game. Uh usually those bills come due. And so, you know, those are some of the things that you know, you talk about or you feel uh immediately after. Uh but certainly we’ll comb through this and and and work to get better. That’s a part of the process, that cycle of prepare, play, evaluate, make necessary corrections, and play again. And so, I’m excited about looking at the video and and dissecting it. Uh, the things that we need to improve upon and and going to work next week with this group. We absorbed some attrition in game like always. Deshawn Elliott has a knee injury that’s being evaluated. Uh, Malik Harrison also has a knee injury that’s being evaluated. Uh, Joey Porter Jr.’s his hamstring got tight and we shut him down so it didn’t uh get any worse uh than it was. There’s some other bumps and bruises associated with play. I think Cam got poked in the eye but he was fine and able to finish. Um but more than anything man I’m just excited for this group to face adversity and persevere. Um I’m excited about the new Steelers whether they’re new to the league or new to us and we got a lot of plays from a lot of new Steelers today. um and they’re earning their place and the and steel are lower with their efforts. And we talked about a little bit about that last night. I don’t care about what means you get here, man. You play one play for this organization, you’re a Steeler. And so, a lot of guys uh etched their names into into that legacy with their efforts in play today. Can’t say enough um about Kenny G. Um that that that offensive player making a tackle on kickoff and knocking that ball loose. I think Scoranic recovered, man. And um it’s just an example of making plays in all three phases and being a football player first and a positional player second. And with that, I’ll pause and open up for questions. What did you like that you saw from Aaron Rogers and how the players responded to? I just thought he was game all day. Um but again, you guys asked me last week, why was I confident? Um that’s why I was confident. That’s what I’ve been looking at in preparation. Um and I’m appreciative of it. Uh not only his efforts, but the efforts of the collective. Mike, what allowed you guys to to persevere? What what about the the group? You know, um just acknowledging that NFL football is tough. Um there’s going to be eb and flow. You’re going to be up against it. Um you’re going to be tested individually and collectively and how you respond to that often times defines you. Um and I can’t say enough about Bos. Um man, our kicker is a serial killer, man. He’s he got a low pulse rate. He can’t wait to deliver. Based off of what you saw in the moment, the issues against the the run, was that more schematic or did the judge just just beat your guys? It was both. Um there were instances we weren’t good enough, you know, when he walked in, you know, on the keeper on the touchdown, for example. There were some instances where he simply won. Uh we had an appropriate number of people. And that’s what’s challenging about quarterback mobility, particularly the plus one running game. When it’s designed runs, um there’s not a lot of gang tackling under those circumstances. It’s a bunch of one-on-one football and when big- time athletes get in one-on-one circumstances, often times they win. And he he showed us some of that, but not that we were surprised by that. That was on our team a year ago. Talk about 60 in pregame. Did he say that to you at any point? Do you know that aware of that? Bos always makes it from 60 in pregame. Bos always wants to to bang from deep. Um that one he made in the in the first half, I don’t even know if he looked at me. It’s just when it went to fourth down, he walked out on the field. But that’s the type of guy you want um banging for you under them circumstances. This defense, I’m sorry. Talk about this defense. It was shaky all game, but in the fourth quarter, they actually stopped the Jets two times in the fourth quarter. So, the importance of making at big times we needed to you play today, you evaluate tomorrow. Um the game’s not always going to unfold the way that you like. um when you start measuring it in the midst of play, you don’t have enough energy and enough gas to do what you suggested. And so that’s what I like about it. Do I like um how we played? Do I like our inability to stop the run? No. Um but I love our mindset because our mindset shows that we were game for the fight that we weren’t measuring it today. We were playing and playing to win. And when you do those things, man, you got enough gas in the tank to finish it at the end. So, does having Rogers give you a different feel or a different approach in a final drive situation because he’s been there so many times? We’ve had him for one game and so you can paint with a broad brush or not. Um, I’m appreciative of the efforts today. Specifically with pass protection, where do you need to see this line grow from the performance that they put out there today? We got to be able to turn our back to the defense on play pass on first and second down. I thought that’s where we were most leaky, but it’s risk associated with with that. I understand that. Um, but that’s just a component of play that we desire to be be functional at and we weren’t good enough today. Mike, what were your first impressions of Jaylen Ramsey in a Steelers jersey? I’m glad he’s on my team. Uh, I’ve seen it in stadiums before. Um, a lot of these new Steelers, man. Um, you know, we’ve covered it for a long time and sometimes it’s just about opportunity. I’ve certainly been an appreciator of his skills and talents. Can’t say enough about him, man. and he played nickel, he played free safety, he played outside corner. Um, he is a top-notch football player and I’m glad he’s on our team. Can you talk about distribution reps at running back? Was that much Kenny Gainwell something you were expecting or sort of the way things played out? We played and played to win today. I’m not going to stand up here and and and break down the distribution of reps for you guys week in and week out. I’m not into that. Mike, what is it about Ben Scoranic that makes him such a key player in big moments? He’s got an unwavering belief in self. you know, we kid him a lot. Sometimes it’s somewhat unrealistic. Um, but man, if you don’t believe in you, who will? Um, he’s one of those guys that has big- time belief in self. Was there a game ball? I’ll keep that between us until you guys go in there and ask them. Anyone else? How critical was that drive right before halftime to lower the deficit to two? It was big time, man. We wanted to book in the half to be quite honest with you. Weren’t able to come out in the second half with that same level of execution. Um, that’s why you defer, man. We we wanted to book in that half. We handled the front end of it. We didn’t handle the back end of it. Mike, I realize your quarterback is going to be motivated regardless of circumstances, but he just beat the team that let him go. What was your emotion for him in that context? I agree with you. He doesn’t care. He been doing this too long. Um it was week one. There was a lot to be excited about. We got the victory. It’s on to the next one. You talked about having to rotate defensive linemen a lot and week ones all the time. Do you feel like your conditioning of your group was up to par? I do. Um I certainly believe it was challenging particularly like you know at outside linebacker our third guy was a was a rookie who was also on punt and kickoff and Jack Sawyer and so but that’s the challenges that everybody faces this time of year. We got through it. All right. Thanks guys.

Coach Mike Tomlin speaks to the media about the Steelers matchup against the New York Jets in Week 1 of the 2025 season.

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