Coach Tomlin Press Conference (Week 10 at Los Angeles Chargers) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Coach Tomlin Press Conference (Week 10 at Los Angeles Chargers) | Pittsburgh Steelers

[Music] Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. The Steelers getting set for the Los Angeles Chargers coming off a big win last week against the 7-1 Indie Colts. They’re now seven and two. Mike Tomlin is set to begin his press conference as we have a Tomlin Tuesday. Let’s go to the coach. Good afternoon. Um, as always, I’ll start with a quick assessment of our last performance. Um, I really have the same reaction that I had after the game. I thought a major catalyst over all the three phases of the game uh that was significant was our ability to minimize uh their outstanding running back Taylor. Um their offensive unit certainly um had been on fire. Um they had punted I think 16 times in eight ball games. Um you know their success is well documented but it all from our perspective stem from their ability to run the ball to stay on schedule um to minimize one-dimensional passing circumstances. Um it allowed them to stay one step ahead of the defensive units usually. Um it allowed them to minimize the potential of negativity in doing so. um they protected the ball. I think they’d only turned the ball over four times on the season. And so a major component of the game for us was was was altering that um making them absorb some more risk, having them be in more one-dimensional passing circumstances, hopefully uh forcing them to punt a little bit more. Um all of those things stem from our ability to minimize the run game. And so um just wanted to restate that. Um, I thought largely we played complimentary football as well once we started taking the ball away. Um, the offense started scoring. I think we put in put on two uh quick touchdowns in the first half off of turnovers. Um, it didn’t always start that that way. I thought um that our inability to score um when we when we got that turnover in the special teams game uh was a significant component early uh component of the game from a negative perspective. And so complimentary football is big. Um stopping the run is big. Uh the takeaway game obviously is always big. These are core values man that you know that we hold and and certainly work toward. Um and we saw the fruit of that labor in stadium in terms of how the game uh unfolded. You know from a health standpoint um we had a number of things going on with people. Um don’t have a lot of significant updates. I’m certain uh that I will get more clarity as we push forward through the week. Scotty Miller is out with his finger. Um we’ll see how he’s able to function um at some point this week uh with that. Cole Hulcom um is still out with his illness. We’ll keep an eye on him and see what his level of participation is. Isaac Camalo is still uh nursing a pec like he was managing at the early portions of last week and he was able to function for us. Uh Pep’s got a soft tissue injury. Uh Chuck Clark is sick. He should be returning to us. And then we have some other bumps and bruises associated with play that may limit some people at the beginning of the week, but not prevent them um from practicing and participating uh as we push forward through the week. Um as we always do, one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity. Uh we’ll get take it as an opportunity to grow and develop some others um and ready ourselves in that way. Um certainly excited about a complete week’s work with with Kyle Duggar, you know, um was really impressed by his work uh in stadium. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that again. Uh really impressed by his work in stadium. Um excited about having an a complete week of work with him uh at the safety position. not only in terms of knowing what to do. Certainly he he displayed an ability to learn quickly and and and play and and detail that component of it, but the communication component of it to work within groups. Um I thought Jaylen Ramsey did an awesome job with him, particularly as we got into the weekend last week, uh making sure that they were coordinated uh as safeties. Um but all that work didn’t mean mean anything. We still had to get in the stadium and make it happen. Um it certainly um was a challenge. Um it lacked a little bit of fluidity there early on, but I thought as those two worked and worked together, their experience in the National Football League, even though they’re somewhat new to us and whether it’s Jaylen new to the safety position, I thought their global overall experience and and talent showed up as the game were on. So excited about an additional week’s work uh with that collective. Jaylen will continue to work um exclusively at safety. Uh we value his play uh his positional flexibility. It’s an asset to us. It gives a lot of people things to work on. Uh but certainly under the circumstances um that we’re under right now. We deem that appropriate as we did last week in terms of nailing him down there. And so it’ll provide opportunities uh for guys like Brandon Eckles to step up, which he did, and and play more snaps as a nickel, etc. and even guys like James Pierre had an opportunity to get some snaps outside. We’ve got more depth at corner than we do at safety. And so, u we’re just simply pivoting and doing what’s required to keep the train rolling. Now, I’ll start on uh the Los Angeles Chargers. Um I’ll start first on their defensive side. Um got a lot of respect for Jesse Miner, man, and um his strategic approach to the game on that side. He does an awesome job of minimizing uh big plays. Um he does an awesome job of of moving Derwin James around. Um Derwin is just he’s the straw that stirs the drink for them. Uh he plays safety and base. He’s capable of playing run down nickel. Um he’s also capable of playing linebacker in passing circumstances. Um Miner does an awesome job of of of you know showing all of his talents in those ways. Uh he’s a good blitzer. Um he’s a good tackler. Um his disguise disguises are great. I think they do a nice job with veterans in the secondary like Jefferson and Dante Jackson and others um who also have to be versatile as he moves around. And I think often times we don’t talk enough about that. If if one person is moving around, it generally creates challenges for others. And they seem to to manage all of that really really well. Um, at the linebacker spot, they got a nice blend of of older and younger. Uh, Perryman, um, mixed up with Henley, man, is is a nice tandem. Uh, Perryman’s got really good instincts and experience. He’s a good rundown tackler. Henley is a challenge. Um, he’s a good athlete. He’s a sideline, a sideline tackler, former safety. I think you see that in his game in terms of his ability to cover grass and do some of the things that could be challenging to other linebackers. He’s also a really good blitzer. Um, that’s a component of his game that looks elevated in 2025 relative to 2024, but it’s a reasonable expectation to to see a young talented player evolve and and evolve in certain areas of his game. And certainly uh his blitz game is much more impactful watching this year’s tape than we were than when we were getting ready to play him a year ago. Um, their edge group is the group. Um, they’ve got talent and depth in that group. Um they play as many as four and five guys along the edge is really impressive considering that you know Bosa is no longer a member of that group yet and still is still their deepest and most talented position probably on either side of the ball. Um we got a lot of people to get ready for there. Khalil Mack certainly um former defensive player of the year is one worth mentioning and then Ooway is a acquisition from the Ravens who we have some familiar with certainly and uh he’s been a big asset to him since his acquisition I think he’s had four sacks or so in the last four games on the offensive side man it certainly starts with Herbert uh for us uh I feel like we caught a flyer a year ago he was limited from a mobility perspective when we played him. Uh I thought it impacted how the game unfolded. Um it allowed us to do some things schematically that you somewhat hesitant to do if he has full mobility. Um I think it it nailed him down in the pocket some and probably limit limited some of the things that they choose to do schematically. Uh like play action pass and changes of the launch point which is certainly a component of Greg Roman’s attack. it was minimized some last year and so as I watch tape this year I’m cognizant of that. Um Herbert is extremely talented. He can kill you with his arms. He certainly can kill you with his legs. He can kill you with both by by play extension. Um he has a complete arsenal of of people to throw to. Can’t say enough about um their receiver core. The reacquisition of Keenan Allen is kind of a lynch pin man. He’s a steady Eddie. Um he’s been around Herbert in the past. You can tell he’s certainly a security blanket. You you throw him in with the emergence of Johnson and Manki, man, they’re they’re a dangerous group. And then and in recent weeks, I’d be um I’d probably be wrong if I didn’t mention the emergence of of of Gatsson, the rookie tight end from Syracuse, who’s really um put together some big-time games. His talent is showing. Um he’s a guy that’s capable of some run after. He’s one of those unique body types. He’s almost a oversized receiver, if you will. And so, uh, we certainly have our hands full in these one-dimensional passing moments, working to minimize all those eligibles while at the same time respecting the mobility component of Herbert. I’ve talked about all those things, and I certainly hadn’t mentioned the run game, and I better u when you’re playing a Greg Roman offense, man, you better uh be prepared to stand up against the run. Um they’ve had some attrition in the back field um but it hadn’t slowed down uh their growth and progress in that area. Um they drafted the young runner from North Carolina in round one. Certainly they they acquired Naj um in free agency. Both of those guys are not available to them but there’s still been an uptick in their run game particularly in recent weeks is Vidal has has found his rhythm. I think he’s got 200 yard games in the last three weeks. Uh Patterson last week in particular is a another young guy. I think he had about 50 50 yards rushing on eight or nine carries. And so um you know there’s no rest for the weary. Um we got a big game versus a really good team in their venue. Uh one that’s talented offensively and one that’s talented defensively and in special teams. And so with that understanding, man, we’re certainly preparing with an edge this week. And we got some things to sort through in terms of player availability. I expect that to clear up as we push through the week and and us to be able to narrow our focus and and position ourselves to be our best. I’ll pause and open up for questions. Mike, did you go into the uh a game against Cold State Dugger would play all but one snap or did you just want to see how it was going to evolve? Um I I was hopeful that he could play a lot, but certainly we had direct eyes on him in case um it wasn’t unfolding in the in the ways that we would like. Um we’re just getting to know him. Uh we certainly respect uh the fact that he’s a veteran player and he certainly displayed uh signs that he was capable in our practice sessions leading up to Sunday. U but stadiums are somewhat different and so um we had a plan, but we were certainly light on our feet um if that if that wasn’t moving and moving in the right direction. What did you see while he was playing that was either satisfying or comforting to you? Um, I I didn’t think there was any lack of fluidity in his movement, whether it was pre- snap adjustments or things that happened at the snap. And I think often times that’s an indicator of understanding. Uh, I certainly didn’t expect him to be a hub of communication. uh communication was probably going to be one-sided, but just in general just in general in terms of putting eyes on him, his a flu his fluidity of movement adjusting the pre- snap shifts and motions and and the hair trigger that you saw um at or or just instantly after the snap gave me an indication that he was comfortable, he knew what he was looking at and that he was going to be okay. Jaylen’s versatility. What what what traits make him a good safety? you know, it’s just his relationship with the game. I I think some of the things that you talk about when you first talk about the safety position are are intangible qualities or are not necessarily things that you measure. He’s got really good instincts. Um he’s got really good passion for the game. He studies the game and I think those are some things that really enable him to play back there and that’s such a major component of that position. uh his talents are obvious, you know, um his tackling, his range, uh his physicality. Um but the more subtle things, the intangible things, I think are the things that are that are exciting for us. Um because as he gains more experience back there, it’s reasonable to expect uh some of those talents to show up more frequently. Like a number of the defensive players talked about simplifying the defense last week going into the Colts game. How much of that was a byproduct of having new faces like Kyle Duggar, Jaylen playing a new position, and how much of it was because you weren’t getting the results you desired in the first part of I think it’s both. I think it always is. Um I think all the decisions that you make in terms of menu and menu size are usually about your yourself first and and what you’re going through and then what’s required to to strategically match up against opponents. You anticipate keeping it simple again this week? New week, new issues. We’ll see. To that same vein, there definitely was seemed to be a schematic change in terms of like too high versus not blunting as much. Was that primarily of how you wanted to attack the Colts or is that also a reaction to what you’ve been seeing in recent weeks? Week in and week out, we make decisions based on on the variables of that week and so certainly the things that we did last week were relative to the Colts and and our circumstance. Did you do or not do anything to try to ease Duggar’s uh transition into to playing so much schematically for your defense? you know, there’s only so much you can do. Um, he’s deserving of a lot of credit and that’s why I mentioned him directly after the game. Um, there’s only so much you can do. Um, he absorbed a lot of defense in a short period of time. Um, and and displayed knowledge and understanding. Would you like to, Mike, if possible, uh, to add some help or depth at safety to allow Jaylen to be more position flexible? Are you happy with him being in the back third? It it really depends on player availability. is certainly an asset of his. Um it’s something that he’s open to doing. It’s something that he’s capable of. Um but as I mentioned when I was talking about Derwin James, those things don’t happen in a vacuum. Um they involved others and others movement as well. And so we’ll make those decisions based on what’s available to us. Mike, along those lines, you said last week you guys would be buyers at the trade deadline. You already bought one. And and Kyle Duggar, do you anticipate shopping around a little bit more before? We’ll see what happens. You know, I like shopping. Mike, along those lines, last year around this time, you referred to the trade deadline as an arms race. How have you seen in recent years teams become more aggressive when it comes to inseason trades? You know, um I don’t know that I look at it in terms of trends from that perspective. I just know that, you know, if you’re trending in the right direction, if you got a desire to to be in this thing as the road gets narrow, um, usually you’re you’re open to adding talent, um, that can that can assist you, whether it’s, uh, attrition based or whether it’s just areas where you fall short. And that’s something that I think some of the competitive teams are interested in year in and year out. It’s just a natural component of this thing. You announced uh, the team announced that you got Valdez Scandling signed. Um, you doing any more shopping at wide receiver or has he addressed what you needed to address there? Um, you said 4:00. 4:00. So, uh, we got a few more hours. We’ll see what happens. What about him as a player? How does how does he help you? How might he be woven in? He’s just a practice squatter right now and so we’ll we’ll get him in the fold and and get him working and check his overall level of conditioning, how he learns, and some of those things. Um, it is not the Duggar um discussion. Um, he’s just a practice squad guy. How much did Aaron kind of advocate for for bringing him in just with his familiarity? He did not. Mike, just to clarify, did you say Scotty and Cole are out this week or out to begin the week? Um, no. We’ll we’ll see um if they’re able to participate and then the quality of that participation will be our guide in terms of whether or not we include them. When was the last time you had like an illness run through the locker room that kept these guys off for this period of time? Co, you know, is the only thing that kind of comes to mind. Um, but you know, it’s a National Football League, man. That’s why you better have a hardcore plan and be light on your feet. I’m certainly thankful that that we acquired Kyle Duggar, man, and and he’s a quick study. Mike, at at the wide receiver position, how have you seen guys behind DK Metaf like Calvin Austin or Roman Wilson continue to grow and develop and and how much more would you like to see them continue that process? You know, I think it’s been a a steady improvement in terms of their quality of play. Um, particularly Roman of late. um other than that boneheaded uh lack of ball security uh late in the football game. Uh generally there’s been an uptick in the quality of his play. Um but again, we don’t look at um our eligibles as as wide receivers. Man, we feel really good about our tight end group as eligibles as well. And you can’t talk about the passing game without talking about the contributions that we get from that group. Uh we’ve been very open about that as well. uh when we acquired Johnu at the very beginning of the journey, we talked about, you know, that we have eligibles uh regardless rec I still think we feel the same way. Uh we certainly need growth and development from individuals within our collective like the two that you mentioned. Uh but we’re comfortable with how we’re distributing the ball and our utilization of people and our divisional labor to this point. Going off of that kind of on the defensive side, Peyton Wilson obviously a big showing on Sunday. just how have you seen him grow and develop this season? You know, he’s one of those secondyear guys that that gained a lot of in in in helmet experience last year. And so when you get that, it’s reasonable to expect uh those guys to move forward and take off. Uh certain guys that don’t get a lot of inhelmet experience, we we have that same expectation. Roman, uh Troy Fanu, for example, and so uh Peyton got logged a bunch of snaps last year. Um, you know, he’s playing really good ball, but we expect him to, he expects himself to. Um, he’s got a really good relationship with the game. He’s professional. He studies. We’ve asked him to stand in for Miles Kilibru uh as a special teams captain. Um, and so, man, there’s a lot of things trending in the right direction u from a career standpoint for him. Certainly. Mike, you guys consistently took away the the Colts first read to make David Jones put onto the ball. what did you see in the preparation that led to that being a more consistent factor for your defense compared to the other previous two games? You know, his first option is to turn and hand that ball to Jonathan Taylor. And so, um, that was the first order of business and I think it all kind of kind of went on from there as I mentioned. When you guys as a staff, you and the rest of your defensive coaches evaluate the creation of turnovers. Are you looking at it from the standpoint of like a turnover is a turnover, like a win is a win, or do you look at it from the standpoint like Cleveland for instance, you’re in position to make a lot, they just didn’t get them? Um, the two games that you had against the division leaders in the AFC, you had 11. So, do you kind of look at yourselves as we had a better turnover game strictly by the total or is it more about the position you put your guys into? You know, we’re ball searchers and so, you know, forget how many we get. Um, we have to consistently display intent um, where appropriate. Um, as we talked some last week, sometimes it’s not appropriate when you’re the first hitter, for example. Um, but we routinely work on when it’s appropriate. Uh, we have to be ball aware first. We got to be ball searchers second, and when you do those things, you generally get the results that you that you desire. Mike Beanie Bishop was one of those ball searchers a year ago. You guys make the decision to move on from him with the practice squad. How did you kind of come to that? You know, I’m not getting into practice squad decisions. That’s just too far down the totem pole. I’m more interested in what we need to do this week and the guys that on the 53 we’re preparing to play. Mike, what does this defense have to do to build off of the momentum that you guys set last week against Indianapolis? Simply come back to work. Um, you know, as I mentioned, post game, man, it’s a fine line in this business between success and failure. um in this week in and week out. Um the teams that are really good, the units that are really good, uh the individuals that are really good have a certain level of consistency to their performance. And so that certainly is a challenge for that unit that you asked about. Mike, what do you see out of Patrick Clean in from the standpoint of his ability to communicate to defense what Terrell wants, getting the checks out, and how he’s operated as you guys kind of quarterback? PQ has been awesome in year two as our defensive quarterback. um he’s really really owned the responsibility of being a hub of communication is something that’s somewhat new to him. Although playing is not um being that defensive quarterback is and I like the trajectory of it in year two. Very banged up at running back and on the offensive line, but they still average 4.8 a year a carry. Is that Greg Roman or is there something else they have going on that makes them so good at running the football regardless of the personnel? I think just there’s a commitment from Roman and company. Um, you know, we’ve competed against him a lot over the years. I think that’s a signature of his football. Uh, I think it’s going to be evident regardless of who plays running back and who plays in the offensive line. All you got to do is think about his time in Baltimore. Um, there was always some emerging runner when faced with adversity. Uh, Gus Edwards and others that were running through people. Um, and so I think the same remains. Mike Aaron told us after the game that Jaylen talked to the team Saturday. What kind of impact do you think that had on the group and what do you think about a guy that’s been around seven games willing to go up in front of the group? You know, I asked him to um but he’s not the only one. Um but generally I I’ll keep those conversations between us. Um he’s got a lot of experience um NFL experience, world championship experience. Um and I’m thankful that he was willing to share that uh with his teammates. Talked a lot of training camp about you bringing a bunch of veterans together and and trying to mold them together as a team. That two-game losing streak was the first time that togetherness was really tested. How do you feel like they came through that ordeal? I don’t think that was the first time it was tested. Um, it gets tested every day. It gets tested continually. Um, I just think that’s the nature of this journey that is a season. Um, you know, I’m not overly concerned about about that component of it. Um, we’ve done our due diligence in terms of the men as individuals. Um most of the people that we acquired um we we coveted them when they came out in the draft. Uh they’ve passed our smell test. Um they’re good football men and usually adversity brings the best out of good football men as opposed to the worst. Mike, what did you guys have to do to be cleaner in the run game? You guys got it done short distance in the at the goal line. Uh you Jaylen Moore was held in two yards per carry. You know, um sometimes it’s you got to tip your cap to your opponent. Um, and and I think that’s the first place to start. I thought, excuse me, I thought that Indie did an awesome job. Um, I thought particularly that that veteran front tandem of Buckner. Um, and Stewart are a problem. Uh, we knew that going in. We talked about that in here a week ago. Uh, they confirmed that. Um, it it minimized our start to be quite honest with you. Uh, thankfully we were able to catch fire and move on from there. Um, but I probably just like to compliment those guys. Um, as I mentioned, when you got veteran guys that have been together like those two, coupled with a guy like Franklin, uh, who’s grown up in that system, um, in the safety tandem, um, as well, Nick Cross, uh, in his fourth year drafted, Kenny Moore, um, longtime Colt at the nickel spot. When you got people down the middle of that defense like that with that level of not only individual experience but collective experience, there going to be some challenges. Anyone else? All right, thanks guys. All right, that’s Mike Tomlin getting set for a trip across the country to the Chargers. Bob Pompiani back with Missy Matthews and u interesting because this is a game that features two really high powered teams in different ways right now. the Steeler defense coming off that performance and the Chargers uh they have a lot of weapons at offense although they are going to miss their two starting tackles. So that is an interesting part of this matchup. Yeah, it feels like a little bit of a different team for both sides than when they m met last week or last year, excuse me, um here in Pittsburgh, but Justin Herbert is still there. He is healthy this time. Last year he was not. Um and he’s a guy he has a lot of guys he can throw to. He also was their leading rusher last week against Tennessee. So quarterback mobility is something to watch for as well. Yeah, he has over 300 yards rushing. Most people don’t think that. You know, they lost Omar and Hampton. Naji Harris is out. Uh but they keep plugging in guys and they come up with big numbers. And Videl, who’s now the guy, a sixth round pick, has a couple of back to or two 100yard rushing games. And again, they plug and play and they’re having a a good opportunity of that. I just wonder as we go deeper into this about the strategy that Mike Tomlin and uh the defense will employ trying to attack, you know, backup tackles. And conversely, Harbaugh has to worry about that as well. Yeah, absolutely. And Greg Roman uh will, you know, really take that on for sure. And I think, you know, for TJ Watt and those guys coming off the performance they just had uh, you know, a few days ago here at Acer Stadium against the Colts, they’re probably thinking, let’s keep that momentum going. Um, but easier said than done, I think, though, losing both starting tackles or schematically can take advantage of, and we can see, you know, more sacks, more turnovers, the things that we were missing for about three weeks. We saw a lot of them last week, no doubt. um the biggest amount of turnovers for since 2010. Six of them and then five sacks on top of that made life miserable for Daniel Jones. We’ll see what happens this coming Sunday. When we come back, we’ll revisit what some of Mike Tomlin says and also talk about specifically the Chargers, what they are doing, what the Steelers have to do to slow them down on the road on a Sunday night. We’ll do that when we continue right here on the Mike Tomlin press conference every Tuesday right here on KDK Plus and Steeler Digital platforms. Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers Pro Shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the terrible towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. Well, we started off pretty slow. I mean, it was pretty ugly on offense for a decent part of the day. Uh had a lot of chances. Um but our defense played incredible, you know, after getting blasted for last week. Um, really proud of him. Thought the energy was great. Thought there was a good message last night by Jaylen and I think the guys responded well. Following up on that, Aaron, after the muff punt, I think you scored on every one of the next four that you got, the turnovers. What did you like first of all about your execution and the play calling as well that came in in those situations? Oh, I love the play calling. I thought the execution was pretty bad. You know, we we got to look in the mirror and play better on offense because that’s not good enough uh any phase. me the run game catching the football um defense played incredible and we got to put game like that we got to put 3542 on the board and and close the game out. So good tape for uh coaching staff when you win a game and you got a lot to a lot to work on. Specifically with TJ when when he makes that play what kind of wave did that give I think that was you know that was a turning point in the game for sure. Seven nothing they were driving. Um we ended up turning that into seven I believe. Um so that was good. It wasn’t a pretty drive. You know we had a fourth and one conversion but that changed the game 100%. From that point forward I thought the pass rush was outstanding. I thought we covered well on the back end. Got to give u you know Kyle a lot of credit for coming in here and playing the way he did. But I felt like Alex and seemed like Alex and TJ and Nick were super active and their inside guys were good and seemed like BQ had a good game and Payton had a big pick. So everybody on defense played great. [Music] Our fans are here. Give something to cheer about today. The crowd at AAR is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ, this defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at Acer Stadium. Here we go. [Music] Um, I I didn’t think there was any lack of fluidity in his movement, whether it was pre- snap adjustments or things that happened at the snap. And I think often times that’s an indicator of understanding. Uh, I certainly didn’t expect him to be a hub of communication. uh communication was probably going to be one-sided, but just in generally just in general in terms of putting eyes on him, his afflu his fluidity of movement adjusting the pre- snap shifts and motions and in the hair trigger that you saw um at or or just instantly after the snap gave me an indication that he was comfortable, he knew what he was looking at and and that he was going to be okay. The trading deadline in the NFL is today at 4 pm, but the Steelers already uh took care of one thing they needed last week when they brought in Kyle Duggar. You heard Mike Tomlin talk about it. He often talks about jumping on a moving train. Uh but he did. I mean, that train was going fast. He only had a couple of days to get this in. And to see that he took place uh on the field in 77 of 78 snaps says a lot about just his experience, but on a very, very short week to get it done the way he did was impressive. Yeah, I think Kyle said after the game it was really Friday when he realized he was probably going to be playing a lot probably due to some of the injuries like uh Chuck Clark who did not play due to a sickness. Um but you know, Coach Tomlin doesn’t talk often about what happens inside the locker room and different conversations, team meetings, but he did let the media know that Kyle Duggar uh very well deservingly got a game ball after that performance of jumping on the moving train like you said. And you could just tell during the game um the off conversations off the field between him and Jaylen Ramsey, even TJ Watt talking to him a lot that they were very impressed by what he was able to do and how much he was helping them. And speaking of Ramsay, I mean, he hadn’t played safety for an entire game. I don’t know when the last time. It was probably a long time ago, but he was there. He’s been willing to adjust. He made a big hit in that game, and he’s just one of those guys that you can put him in a lot of different places. And how valuable is that given all the injuries they sustain in that secondary? I think too, you know, coming off of the performance that Tucker Craft had against the Steelers defense. Um, clearly, you know, injuries play into it, but it felt like it was something that was starting to become a trend. And I think having him back there, uh, you know, going into that game, you also knew with Tyler Warren that that could be a potential to kind of explode. You’ve seen what he’s been able to do as a rookie so far um, in the National Football League. But I think, you know, as coach said, Jaylen Ramsay is going to stay exclusively at safety. It seems like work there u moving forward. And I don’t think that’s a bad idea until they can maybe figure things out. And also Kyle Duggar will finally have a full week of practice of preparation. Um, and knowing what team he’s playing for and who he’s playing. So that will be good to see as well as they head to LA. And they really did an excellent job after that first possession of just limiting what the Colts typically do, and that’s run the football and then from that throw the ball down the field to so many eligibles they have. It starts with Jonathan Taylor. They did a good job. Although I thought Indie kind of ignored him on that first drive. He only ran the ball two out of 13 plays, I think. But after that, he wasn’t going to have success. They clogged it up and they allowed their edge rushers to get after. And that’s pretty much the formula you want from the Steelers, shutting a run game down and then allow those guys to go uh and attack the quarterback. Yeah. And I think, you know, Cam Hayward challenged the defense heading into the game. Aaron Rogers let everybody know about Jaylen Ramsay uh speaking during the team meeting, challenging the entire team um as well. And I think, you know, having the Super Bowl 40 crew on hand to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that probably didn’t hurt either. But I think in terms of stopping Taylor, you also have to give, of course, Cam Hayward batted two passes in one drive uh which was just ridiculous. And you know, for Derek Harmon, he recovered a fumble. Keanu Benton, those young guys uh in the middle there, they they really stepped up, as you said, to stop the run, letting the guys like Alex Highmith and whatnot get around. But it was um it was definitely a defensive performance I don’t think many saw coming. I don’t think many people even picked the Steelers to have a chance to win the game, let alone to make, you know, the the NFL’s number one offense uh look like it is the complete opposite of what you had seen for eight weeks. Yes. And you saw Alex Heismith doing his thing there. That was his best performance of the year. He’s been bothered by injury, but when those two together are on the field, and I thought interesting also, Missy, that Indianapolis chose not to give the tackles any help here. They were pretty much on an island each of them against Watt and Heismith. And once the run game was stopped, uh that was a matchup the Steelers were going to exploit and boy did they. Yeah. And some of their, you know, their wide receivers had over 100 yards, but I think when you look at, you know, playing opportunistic and getting those splash plays, you can kind of let things like that happen. The bend don’t break. Um, but they really did make Daniel Jones not look like the Colts version that we had seen prior to that game, but more like what he looked like last year with the Giants before they traded him. The other thing the Seals did, and they had missed a lot of tackles the previous week, they did not miss many tackles this week. Uh, shut down, yards after catch. That’s what Indie has done very well. When Pitman gets it, uh, Pierce, any of those guys, they normally turn shorter plays into longer plays, and the Steelers didn’t allow too many of those. I think also penalties. Uh you know DK kind of talked after the game about not biting uh and going after different guys at different times and sometimes that hurt the Colts which you know set up a field goal drive uh for Bos on that one where DK kind of just walked away. Um so it was good to see that that was another thing that they cleaned up as well. Yeah, that’s a veteran knowing exactly that they’re going to look for retaliation. You’re not going to get it from me. We’re going to take a break here. Come back with more of Mike Tomlin’s press conference. What he had to say in case you missed it all next. Stick around. Our [Music] [Music] fans are here. Give us something to cheer about today. The crowd at Acure is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ. This defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at Acer Stadium. Here we go. Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, I’ll go to to God for the win. Um, I think we just came out and, you know, we we did what we know we can do this this week. Um, you know, we came out and we obviously we stopped the run. That’s where it starts. And then our culture came alive. You know, we had what, five turnovers, I think. Um, six. So, I think when we do that, man, we’re we’re an amazing defense. And so, we just got to put more performances like that together. And I’m confident we’re going to continue to stack this and play like this um every week from here on out. So, we just got to continue to play like that. One thing you guys did really well was looks like take Jones’s eyes away and bat the ball a few times. You’re often very good at that, but it sort of waned these last couple weeks when you’re getting beat with a quick passing game. Was that a point of emphasis this week? Yeah, absolutely. We knew that uh if we stopped their run uh when they were in second long and they were going to try to get the back on schedule, rhythm, rhythm passing, quick game. So, I think we did a good job of getting our hands up, you know, um one of them led to a pick. So, uh I think we just did a good job of just, you know, recognizing when they were in those uh quick game formations and then uh you know, executing, you know, getting tip balls, um you know, relating to guys in those zones. So, I think we executed that plan. How much does it fire you guys up when you’re getting so many contributions, so many splash break plays from guys across the board defensively? I mean, it’s awesome and we know that um whenever we are creating turnovers, whenever our culture comes alive, everybody feeds off that and I think these last these last couple weeks, you know, we hadn’t got any turnovers and um you know, we weren’t really feeding off of each other. But we know that to be a great defense, you know, you got to be defense that plays with energy, plays with passion and so we did that today. Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers Pro Shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the Terrible Towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. [Music] You know, he’s one of those secondyear guys that that gained a lot of in in in helmet experience last year. And so when you get that, it’s reasonable to expect uh those guys to move forward and take off. Uh certain guys that don’t get a lot of inhelmet experience, we we have that same expectation. Roman uh Troy Futano, for example, and so uh Peyton got logged a bunch of snaps last year. Um you know, he’s playing really good ball, but we expect him to he expects himself to. Um he’s got a really good relationship with the game. He’s professional. He studies. we’ve asked him to stand in for Miles Kilibru uh as a special teams captain. Um and so man, there’s a lot of things trending in the right direction u from a career standpoint for him certainly. That’s Mike Tomlin talking about Pton Wilson. What a game he had last week. Uh he’s been up and down this season, I think, honestly. But this game, he put it all together. 14 tackles and of course uh an interception and then he batted one to Jack Sawyer. All of that in one day. That’s a lot of work. He was definitely hard at work on Sunday against the Colts. uh which was great to see and I think he did come in with a certain level of confidence after his rookie season as he you know reported to training camp even during the off season and you saw that kind of carry over uh to the regular season as you said some ups and downs but I think they also were kind of figuring out the inside linebacker situation also with just so many new pieces on defense. Um I thought things settled down for him when they were bringing Cole Hulkcom in a little bit. Obviously he was not available for this game. Um, but Peyton Wilson was everywhere and anywhere on that field and you know it was TJ Watt who really got the party started I feel like with the strip sack and you know you not only could you just tell by the team but the entire atmosphere changed. Um, and it just felt like they were going to come in bunches and they certainly did. And I think for Payton he also had an opportunity during the preseason uh for some of the games you know to be the green dot because Patrick Queen didn’t play a lot. So they are definitely trying to fasttrack some of his um ability that you know they saw from him before they drafted him into the National Football League and it has certainly helped uh the Steelers defense. Yeah, a lot of people had worried about his injuries coming out of college. The Steelers did not. They knew that if he was healthy he could be this version of himself. Hopefully that’ll continue. And the fact that Mike Thomas says he’s now contributing special teams. I mean he’ll do whatever it takes. He’s one of those kinds of players when you talk to him. You know him pretty well. That’s what he does. It’s all about his team. Yeah. And I think, you know, he was deeply honored the fact that he gets to be special teams captain since Miles Kilibru is out for the year. And it was Kilibru who actually suggested to Danny Smith that Payton take over so that there’s somebody to represent special teams for the coin toss and whatnot and to just, you know, do the extra stuff in Saturday meetings and whatnot. But as a young guy, that’s a that’s a pretty big honor. Um, and I think he is certainly somebody who works hard and as coach was saying in that sound by the love of g the game. Um, so his attention to detail is very thorough. Yeah. And he makes Danny Smith maybe not chew as hard on that bubble gum he has in his mouth throughout the course of the game. He’s more relaxed now knowing that Pton Wilson has taken that role and he’s done well with it. Um, you know, the other thing about that TJ Watt strip sack. It was interesting in the game because they had scored on a 13 play 79 yard drive and then they stopped the Steelers after that botch punt u by Downs. They were in position to score and they couldn’t. Indie starts to drive again and it’s, you know, turnovers are turnovers, but turnovers are key times. I thought that timing was huge for them because it just thwarted them and and made the Steelers go the other way. And I think too, even I know they scored on that really long drive, but they had to go for it on fourth down twice. Like the Steelers defense was making them earn it, which gave me some hope in terms of what we might see. And you know they turned it on quickly after that in terms of uh making their life you know not as uh glamorous it had been in recent year or recent weeks for them. You know only team still to score at least 20 points in every single game. I was really hoping they wouldn’t get to 20 on Sunday just to kind of break that streak for them. Um but you know putting up 30 for the Colts coming in was not out of the ordinary and they definitely had to you know claw to get as many points as they could and just playing from behind is something new for them. Yeah absolutely. In fact, that’s one of the things we talked about going into this game. They’ve been in front of every game, it seems. They’ve also played in their cozy confines of their dome. That’s right. And so, put them to the test. See what happens when they fall behind. And I think the Steelers got to that. And when that happened, uh, they played right into the Steelers hands. Another guys playing well is Derek Harmon. You know, you don’t necessarily notice him on a day like today or this game because there were so many turnovers. He did recover a fumble. Mhm. Uh, and it’s good to see, you know, first year players like him and Jack Sawyer come in and they’re getting more and more opportunities to do it and it just increases the depth, which as we know in a long NFL season, you’re going to need it no matter who you are. Yeah. I mean, Derek Harman, you know, not only is he a first round pick, but they pencled him as a starter. Uh, it wasn’t like a we’re going to wait and see how does he do um in the early portions of, you know, the team building operation, but I think too stopping Jonathan Taylor, he played a very, very large part in that as well. Uh he’s, you know, he’s kind of like a a Cam Hayward, a mini Cam Hayward. You just see the different things that uh you know, Cam has done throughout his career and Derek Carman has some of those traits. And who better to learn uh about it than from Cam himself. And I think also um Cam Benton’s had a role in this too. I don’t know, you know, he’s a young player. He can identify with Derek Harmon. And I think Mike Tomlin was happy that he put him on the line with those two guys, with Cam and also Kanu Benton. And I think they it’s sort of helped him along the way as a first year player. So there’s a lot of good stuff going on with the Steelers defense. And it’s interesting because uh I think Aaron Rogers term this is a roller coaster ride and it is any NFL team has it. You’re going to have your ups and downs, but the Steelers now have taken on two teams, three teams that are seven and two and they’ve beaten two of them. So it bodess well for them moving forward. But you’re only as good as your last performance and they have another one coming up this Sunday night. We’ll talk about that assignment of the Los Angeles Chargers who are six and three. their minus some key people, but they keep on turning along. We’ll break down that match up when we come back right here on Steeler Digital Platforms and KDK Plus. [Music] Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers Pro Shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the terrible towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. Obviously, there’s a game here there, but feel like we put a lot of things together. Uh, still a lot of room to improve, which is honestly the scary thing, but we just have to keep putting that product on the field. Like Cam said last week, we can’t ride this wave that we’ve been doing. We just have to be consistent and we have to execute and that’s what we did today. Still room to improve though. Payton, you guys haven’t had a turnover in three games and today you have six, you know. How does that happen? Uh I think a lot of it is just the energy that was in here today. Um feel like we really I mean we always put an emphasis on it, but it was in our demeanor today from the time we left this locker room to that’s a part of the Steeler. That’s that’s how you become a Steeler, you know, turnovers, big hits, big plays like that. And that’s what everyone in this locker room wanted to get back to. Obviously, we were just excited that we can. We just have to keep doing it every week. TJ felt like you guys were obviously more aggressive and that was one of the keys here today. I feel the same way. Yeah. I mean, I feel like feel like we really honed in this week. Uh kept it a little simple and guys were just flying around and being aggressive and it it was fun to watch. It was fun to be a part of. You mentioned the different energy today. Is that something you felt all week long that was different? Yeah. And it and it and it sucks because you don’t want it to be like that. You know, you want that every single week and that’s what we have to continue to do. We can’t be, oh, we got our butts kicked two weeks in a row, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and then we’re like, oh, now we come to play. You know, we have to do this every single week. And like I said, there’s still so much to improve on that, I mean, we’re going to get back in the lab, and we’re going to continue to get better and continue to play. [Music] Our fans are here. Give us something to cheer about them. The crowd at Acure is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ. This defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at AAR State. Here we go. [Music] Herbert is extremely talented. He can kill you with his arms. He certainly can kill you with his legs. He can kill you with both by by play extension. Um he has a complete arsenal of of people to throw to. Can’t say enough about um their receiver core. The reacquisition of Keenan Allen is kind of a lynch pin, man. He’s a steady Eddie. Um, he’s been around Herbert in the past. You can tell he’s certainly a security blanket. You you throw him in with the emergence of Johnson and McCunki, man. They’re they’re a dangerous group. Yes, M Tomlin talking about Justin Herbert and their offense because they do still put up numbers even with the injuries and it’s difficult to move on with two tackles out, but they’re going to have to do that. We’ll see what that does to their strategy and how they uh employ their personnel. Uh but it is an advantage for the Steelers. You would think uh as they play that game knowing that if they do that, they’re going to have to, you know, compensate some of their pass game because you’re going to have to have guys snap in. So I think that’s something they can certainly use to their advantage. But talk about Herbert because he does I don’t think people realize. We talk about Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes when he scrambles, some of these other guys, but he’s very good at doing that when need be. Yeah, obviously uh a little different than Daniel Jones. Um but you know, this is a guy they did play last year. As we said earlier, he was hurt, so he didn’t even make it throughout the entire game, but um in terms of using his legs, it is 100% something um that they will have to have somebody whether you have a spy, whatever, however they want to draw this up to know what he’s doing at all times just in terms of being able to get out of the pocket. you know, some of the crazy throws we see even from Aaron Rogers able to break out, throw it across his body. Justin Herbert is capable of that kind of stuff. Um, so definitely something the Steelers defense will have to pay attention to. I don’t think their numbers, you know, it wasn’t number one in every category like the Colts, but they are still an offense, uh, with all of the weapons that they have and even the injuries that they’ve had to running backs, not just those two tackles is crazy in terms of what they’ve been able to do. So, another tall task for the Steelers defense. Uh, you also have to go to LA. Um, but definitely going to be a good matchup and a good Sunday night football matchup. It will be. Uh, another guy Mike Tomlin pointed out was Aronda Gatston, their tight end. He’s been involved in this. Couple of touchdowns, but they spread it around. Missy, you got Lad McConi with three touchdowns. Keenan Allen, who Mike called him the lynch pin, four touchdowns, and then Quinton Johnson has six. So, even though they’ve had some, you know, roster changes from here and there, the one constant so far has been Justin Herbert and his ability to spread it around. At one point they had 11 different receivers in one of their games. So he knows how to do that and and look for open guys. And now you’re seeing his rushing ability and again he doesn’t do it often but when he does he’s very capable for a quarterback very fast. Yeah. Also that run game you mentioned no Omar and Hampton no Naji Harris but they do have this sixth round pick uh Kamandi Videll who has an average of 4.7 yards per carry. Now, you don’t expect, you know, sixth round picks to come in out of necessity and have those kind of numbers, but they’re not going away from the run game. No, absolutely not. I don’t think they would. I, of course, uh, you know, they were building this offensive line to protect Justin Herbert, those injuries at the tackle position on both sides. Very unfortunate, but I still think as a unit, um, they are doing exactly what Greg Grman as an offensive coordinator wants them to be doing. So, um, still a tall task even with injuries. This isn’t, you know, you can’t just say, “Okay, TJ Wad and Alex Highmith and Nick Herbick are going to go crazy. It’s they’re going to come up with a plan to try to eliminate them and not let them get to Justin Herbert.” Yes, indeed. And when uh you know, he was in Baltimore, they had the same situation with Stanley being injured and they had to compensate for that over there. So, there’s a lot of stuff going on with Greg Roman. When we come back, we’re going to talk about the trade deadline. It’s 4:00 today. There’s already been an amazing amount of moves, including one blockbuster. We’ll tell you about that when we come back right here on Steelers digital platforms and KDK Plus. [Music] [Music] Our fans are here. Give us something to cheer about to them. The crowd is so loud. There’s nothing like game day in Pittsburgh. Oh my TJ. This defense is swarming. It is kicked off. What a catch. Wow. Guess who? Touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers. We’ll see you at AAR State. Here we go. Is your is your head spinning after this week of coming here and playing as quickly as you did playing the full game? Nah. We we got a win and that’s all that matters all I’m thinking about. So yeah. At what point in the week did you know that you were going to be out there as much as you were? Uh I think maybe Friday. It was pretty early on. Um so yeah, standard standard. How do you kind of compartmentalize maybe to be able to go out there and and play as much as you did on just really two practices? Uh, I think it had everything to do with my my coaches, the coaches in the team, um, and my my teammates. Uh, you know, kind of making things, uh, kind of the terminology as far as like what I used to play and just kind of matching it up and marrying it up for me and just kind of simplifying it in meetings. Um, and then communicating on the field in practice. Uh, every rep counted, you know, and just put in a ton of work. Um, and talking to them every play and things like that made it simple for me. saw Jaylen talking to you out there on the field and then when you went to the silent Juan would come over and help you. How did those two guys kind of really help you pick up this defense quickly play? It was everything. Um like I said earlier, my teammates and that’s kind of what I was talking about. Um every play talking practice was the same way. Uh talking, communicating, explaining things, play to play before I snap, we get the call, we going over, you know, what we got to do and things like that. And communication is is, you know, the key to great defense and great team. So now that you’ve uh played a game with these guys, what’s your thoughts on on this defense and your new team? Oh, it’s a special defense. I’m I’m ecstatic to be a part of it. Uh seriously. So um yeah. Yeah. I’m just happy to be here. Get all your Steelers gear direct from the team. Shop the Steelers pro shop in store or online for all things black and gold. You can get jerseys, hats, authentic memorabilia, custom gear, and exclusives. you can’t find anywhere else. And of course, get the ultimate Steelers game day accessory, the terrible towel. Steelers Nation shops here. Get your gear in store or online at shop.steelers.com. [Music] When asked about the deadline today at 4 pm, Mike Thomas says, “I like shopping.” We’ll find out what they do. A lot of teams have been shopping so far, Missy. Jacobe Meyers, a wide receiver a lot of people wanted to see end up here in Pittsburgh, goes to Jacksonville, fourth and six. And Rasheed Shahed, another one, ends up going to Seattle. They’re going to be a tough team, but a blockbuster you want to tell us about here in the AFC. as soon as we got to break both of our mouse drops. Sauce Gardner is going to the Colts, which clearly they were, you know, in their secondary looking to add some pieces there. But two first round picks for 2026 2027 and a player yet to be named. But as details are coming out as we’re getting closer to the 4pm deadline, uh, you know, I think crazier things are going to start happening. Well, there are a lot of teams think they can win now and this is how you do it by making these kinds of trades. That’s going to do it for us for Missy Matthews. I’m Bob Pompei. Have a great day and we’ll see you on Sunday and then next Tuesday back here for another Tomlin Tuesday. [Music]

Coach Tomlin addresses the media ahead of our Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

#PITvsLAC 11/9 at 8:20 PM ET on NBC

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