Porter Jr., Highsmith, Queen, Harmon, Austin III Media Availability (Oct. 6) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Porter Jr., Highsmith, Queen, Harmon, Austin III Media Availability (Oct. 6) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Was it kind of perfectly timed this by week? Definitely. You know, I wanted to get back before the vig, but it for the greater good I said, got some more time. So, yeah, we’re we’re ready now. Did you push forward in the Vikings game or did Mike did Mike T have a timeline? He had a timeline and he’s the head coach, so he got that right. So, whatever you call, I’m with it. So, yeah. So, Joey feels above this. Yeah, definitely. be on that. How much I say, how important is it? You know, you’re coming back, Jaylen’s status is kind of up in the air, but what do you think the secondary can be with you back on the field and having it more complete than it has been? It’s really going to be the same. You know, coach said before I went down, we got horses, we got a lot of good guys that come in and make plays. I went down and we had be stepped up really uh these past couple games. So, I feel like the clock is just going to keep ticking. We’re going to keep grinding and um keep striving to be the best out there. How important is it for you guys to kind of kind of go through this attrition early on that kind of battle test and whatever because you’re seeing other teams maybe even in the division dealing with attrition too and they’re not they’re not three and one right. You know that’s just a part of football. We all know that. So going in we all got to have our guys ready and uh be prepared. So when one guy go down we already know the next guy’s up and we’re going to focus on that guy that’s up. We’re not really going to worry too much about the guy that’s down. We going to let him get uh recovery and come back but we just got to keep going. How is it preparing this week with, you know, a rookie quarterback, not a ton of tape out there on him? We’re really not looking at the rookie quarterback. We’re really looking just at the the rivalry in itself. You know, this is just um it’s one of those games. It doesn’t matter who’s out there, it’s going to be a close close battle and that’s how we prepare him for it regardless of the situation. We’re just going to keep moving forward with that mentality. I know you weren’t out on the field against the Vikings, but having Deshawn back, you’ve played with him before. What kind of energy does he bring to the secondary? You know, he brings a lot of dudes to the field. you know, uh, he reminds me of my my guy KZ. Uh, so just to have that juice out there, just get the guys fired up. You know, they all miss that. They all love that and he’s going to put put it on the field every time. I think has usually been a pretty good time for you guys to make adjustments and and everything. What have you guys learned from yourselves over the first four games and what adjustments? We really just learned that we could be better out there. You know, we’ve been playing some uh pretty good ball, but there’s just there’s still more meat on the bone, what coach like to say. So, we’re still hungry for it. We still know we could be we could be one of the great defenses out there. So, that’s what we’re striving for. That’s our mindset. Especially since we have some coming up. We got to be able to start tomorrow. So start this week and Sunday. So we just got to start this division start. So was someone in the locker room notice took quick notice of an opportunity to be had here given the circumstances. Yeah, I mean absolutely. [Music] Like I said, we have two division games coming up. Um, you know, the only only way we can win is to start two and I think, you know, if we start two and 0 in the division, you know, we’ll be 5 and0 starting two and0 division. I think it’s even bigger than that. All right. Since you watched the games, what do you think of JJ? I thought it was cool. I mean, I I remember watching the the Patriots game at home and it was like it was like a throwback there or something like that. Had the glasses on. So, I think it’s good commentary. He’s got a bright one. It’s crazy for me. I watch the game especially in the fourth quarter when the game’s close like I’m I’m pacing back and forth. Like I see I see why fans heart their hearts beating all the time. So my heart racing at the end of both both last games and so I’m just glad you guys guys got to go basketball. Like I said I can’t I can’t wait to be back out there guys. I mean it’s definitely tough. You know, I know that was a trip I was looking forward to since since it got announced, but I’m not necessarily sacrificing anything that trip to not have my angles have any setbacks with that. And so get back out there as soon as possible. Definitely was looking forward to going out there. So get back out there sometime. Yeah, I mean I I think we just we just got to be the aggressors this week. Just really got to got to get after him. Show different looks to him. We know he’s going to try to get the ball trying to establish the run game. So ultimately we just got to stop the run and be able to get after him. So it’s just the game plan really this week. It’s got to go back there. We got a lot of pressure. So excited for like I said we go out there play right now. to just kind of get everyone back healthy. Yeah, it’s huge. Um, you know, everybody got a chance to take care of their body, do the uh things they needed to do to be ready for the season, make that little push. Um, but you know, hopefully everybody got me right. That’s the biggest part. Um, just trying to, you know, reset yourself. What did you feel like you guys have done defensively well to put yourselves in this position in the AFC North? And like what what would you like to see continue along those lines? Um, getting the ball. I think u communication, getting to the ball, getting the ball. I think those two things are huge. Um, then everybody’s just doing their job. I think when we do our job at a high level, um, we just communicate, everybody, trust each other. We go out there and play fast. How much does having Deshawn back help with that communication? Yeah, that’s huge. Um, got the biggest on set up, but um, that’s the best part about it. Um, just continuous communication. Even sometimes when you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, dude on point make plays. So, I just love having him back in the schedule. uh you just just come out and you go to work. Um I don’t think it’s a big a deal. I think um at the end of the day, everybody, you know, has something wrong with their schedule. So, you know, kick up in that schedule. But for us, we just come back to work, get get our get ourselves right, whatever we got to do. focus on just the small things that you know about to do this or that what clicked with you guys in the run fit and how you guys what clicked with you guys and how in your run fits this last player well against the Vikings it seemed like you guys were quick to the hole and addressing each gap pretty consistently yeah just trusting our teammates to do their job um whatever gap you got play that gap um and be physical um I think when you do that do that and then get to the ball and try to get that ball I think that’s the biggest thing um but we just trust each other we going out there playing fast having fun trusting each other doing out. But there was one there was one player I think you and Pton met the running back in the back field and saw you just kind of just like go kind of crazy afterwards. Was there a sense that like, hey, it’s clicking. We’re getting it. We’re taking steps forward that we know we can. Yeah, we just went out and have fun. Um, I kind of talked to Denzel about this and I was like, you could just see like sometimes you like last year and I looked at the film like from years before you see somebody making players like the whole sideline wouldn’t be into it or like the whole defense wouldn’t be into it and I was just like, what can bring that energy back? So, I think we just go out there and have fun. When somebody make a play, we all celebrate, we all have fun with it. I think that’s gonna lead to better plays. Eric, uh, if you go up against Dylan Gabriel, your your old teammate, what you know about him and how excited are you to play? Um, good great football player, man. Hell of a guy off the field, too. Just excited to see him, you know, battle with us. You got Now that you’ve had, you know, an off to like look at your your first couple of games. How have you felt about your play? Made some you already contributed some big moments to to the defense. What do you feel about the trajectory you’re on? Um, right now my main focus is just to keep getting better, man. That’s my main thought process. My main um ideal focus is to keep getting better week in and week out and do my job. Derek, what’s the biggest challenge with Dylan? Like what’s the what’s the issues he’s going to present on the field? Very smart quarterback, man. He’s very smart. Um, I feel like he knows his weaknesses and his strengths. He’s going to use them and he’s going to make sure that you don’t use his weakness weaknesses against him. But, um, like I said, very smart football player. We just got keep them in the pocket and stop that run at the end of the day. D, what have you heard about these AFC North games and just the intensity of the rivalries? Uh, very competitive, very competitive and and teams are going to try to run that ball in this conference. So, like I said, um, this Dline got to stand up and stop that run, which we going to do. Kind of going off of that, you guys had a pretty stellar performance against the Vikings and stopping the run. Just what kind of went into that? And do you feel like this whole defensive front has kind of found their found their groove a little bit? Oh, yeah. Yes or ma’am. But it really come comes from just communication and guys being in the right place at the right time and guys trusting guy next when they’re going to be in the right spot and position to do their job. Like I said, communication and guys playing the ball to the best of your ability. You come out pretty and you know you missing a couple weeks, you know, injured. You weren’t able to practice for a while, but seemed like you were hitting a lot of your fundamentals, your hand placement, working on your hits. Guys, what goes into being able to come off come off, you know, fresh and being able to hit that hit the ground running the way you have? just doing routine things routine. That’s all we got to do. What’s it called Dumbar been saying just about your your early play? He’s been knowing me, man. Just um like he’s been knowing me just trying to coach me up to his best of ability and like I said, uh we doing routine things routinely and we’re doing a little fundamentals every day. So every I feel like his drills, like I said earlier, his drills really translate to the field. Patrick W was telling me how um energy-wise him and the other leaders they’re trying to make sure like after every play it’s like celebrate celebrate your wins, stay focused and get ready. What do you feel about the culture that’s developing with this defense with the young guys and old guys? It’s coming together, man. That first I feel like we pressure that first few weeks was really quick. It came off guys making plays. Ain’t nobody going to smack nobody hammer them. Now you see last week guys make a a small attack but guys hyping that person up. So it’s like no plays or too small, no plays too big. Like just congratulate your brother. Let’s get to the next play. Uh I think you know our medical staff is there so after that tackle right there got tackled just a kind of just a normal football player. have to go on. Oh yeah. Um, you know, just like I said, taking a day at the time, listen to the medical staff and coach and that time. Um, you know, I’m just, you know, taking a day at a time, working through it, and I know times when it’s right, I’ll be What have you seen from Roman and Isabel practice setting? Um, I’m trying to see how to answer this. Um, like what he usually does, like it’s not no like I don’t have nothing crazy, nothing different. Like Roman is very talented. He works hard every single day and when he gets the opportunity he will prove and showed up. Um he had I mean he has I’m say like I say grown but like he’s always been a dependable person for us. Even last year when we had some some injuries um he always stepped up and ready. He’s a Super Bowl winner. Um, so for Scotty, this is nothing new.

Joey Porter Jr., Alex Highsmith, Patrick Queen, Derrick Harmon, and Calvin Austin III spoke to the media on Monday, October 6 following practice.

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