Watt & Rodgers Postgame Press Conference (Week 10 at Los Angeles Chargers) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Watt & Rodgers Postgame Press Conference (Week 10 at Los Angeles Chargers) | Pittsburgh Steelers

that neck. [Music] So, how do you explain this game from a consistency standpoint, especially coming out? Inconsistent as it could be, too much up and down, not enough Steeler football. Um, I mean, we can’t continue to live and die by the turnovers as a defense. We need to get off the field. We need to stop the run. um critical third downs we need to do better job of and um no excuse for it. Need to play better. You guys block feel like defense down a bit. I don’t know. I’ll have to look at the film of that. Um could definitely feel a lot of plays, but we need to get off the field. That’s our job is to get on and off the field as quick as possible. Good defenses spend a lot of time on the bench and we haven’t been doing that enough in totality this whole year. What did you feel like you guys were doing well especially in the first half first quarter early on felt like you were shutting the bound? Yeah, I mean we felt like we were stopping the run early. Felt like we were creating some pressure. Um getting off the field um just weren’t able to sustain it enough to make an impact tonight. put your finger on for these five time games. That’s real less important. Something we’re going to have to take a look at for sure cuz that’s the third one this year to lay an egg time after time again is unacceptable. We need to look at everything. Say you can’t rely on the turnover. Did you feel like there were a couple maybe you guys could have had earlier in the game? Could that change the way things go? Absolutely. And I mean, we’re an advantageous group. We we feel like we have the opportunity to get a turnover in every play and um we’re punching at the ball. We’re doing everything we possibly can, but we just weren’t able to get the ball out. Um but on those days you’re not able to get the ball, you need to blow up on those big time third down situations and then get off the field and we weren’t able to do that. How much does moving pieces of the secondary effect? I mean, they were just running the ball. I mean, they were also able to obviously get the ball out, but um I don’t know. There’s no excuse for moving pieces. It’s the next guy up mentality. We’re all professionals at the end of the day. We’re all in the same meetings. We’re all at the same walkthrough. So, whoever’s out there needs to perform, and that’s myself included. Do you feel the wear down factor at all with the lack of third down conversations to go back out there? I mean, yeah. I think we just touched on it is it’s just getting off the field is important. And when you’re not able to get off the field on defense, you’re not able to rotate like you want to. You’re playing more snaps than you want to. and it it’s just unacceptable. A lot of injuries on the offensive line. Do you think they were able to do anything schematically to try to give those guys extra help or make playing volley more difficult for you? No, I mean I think we were affecting the passer when we had those opportunities. I thought we had him on the run. We obviously had a couple escapes through the B gap which aren’t acceptable at all, but I feel like we were able to affect him in the pocket a good amount tonight. Just obviously would have liked more. Looked like had some big holes to run through on occasion. Disguise being out of the gaps. Uh we’ll have to take a look at the film, but um yeah, obviously I he had just right around 100, which you never want to have. So um need to take a look at it for sure. On top of a lack of fight before or after you feel like that was an issue tonight or did you guys as a defense have No, I just think it was a bow up issue just not getting like I said just critical moments we need to get off the field and we didn’t do that good enough tonight. Anything else? Thank you guys. anyone what wasn’t working today. What was going on? A lot of stuff wasn’t working. You know, we were bad on third down. Uh I was just a little bit off. You know, I missed DK early. Could have been a big play. A little high to Jonno. Um but yeah, we didn’t uh you know, didn’t run the ball super effectively in the first half. I missed obviously some throws for sure. And then uh yeah, we weren’t getting uh getting guys open and just put it put it all together. You know, times the guys were open, I missed some throws I usually make. Yeah, missing those throws. Was it something that they were doing to affect you or was it something that you felt like you were just off tonight? I just missed a couple throws. [Music] What were they doing? Classing our guys. [Music] What would you say was some of that your struggles tonight? Uh we didn’t run the ball as well as we usually do and then we didn’t get open and I didn’t play as well as I usually do. And you started running the ball in the second half and you guys change something or anything? No, we changed a couple of the runs, but now we just, you know, Jaylen made some really nice plays. He’s a talented guy. We got to get him more more touches. What’ you say in the play that was all in the seat? I didn’t really see anybody open and I felt like when I stepped up I saw Mac and I I didn’t realize that he had kind of lost touch with uh with Troy. I should have just thrown the ball at somebody’s feet there. Aaron, good to see you, sir. Um yeah, uh inconsistency in the last four games. You played so well in that one game against India and then lost three of four in between. Any things stand out at all when it comes to that? Our defense played really well tonight and offensively we were pretty bad. So we got to find a way to uh get open on third down. I got to find a way to hit him and because that was just uh some bad ball. How do you move forward from this as an offense? We’re five and four. We’re leading the division. You talked about some unforced errors holding you back. You had a couple where there was I think a holding penalty in one and then um I don’t know it was a bosch play or something where you had to throw it in speed on the other where you kind of wasted it down and some How frustrating are those plays especially when on the whole it’s been a frustrating day. Yeah, it’s all frustrating. But I mean, I guess it’s self-inflicted nature of those more. So, I mean, that’s that stuff happens, you know. Uh, the one play I threw at Jaylen’s feet, that was a run call. I was looking at the backside. We had a huge cavity to throw it to DK and they just, uh, for whatever reason, the guy dropped out right in the window. So, we had nothing. Um, you know, kind of live with those plays sometimes. Usually, they work for big games. comparing the other sacks. I mean, just trying to step up too much. Is it what? But the other sacks other than the safety one, but two, you’re trying to step up too much. Meaning, you just try to take off on those. What were you seeing? Yeah, I got to watch the film. I mean, I can’t take off like I used to. Um, you know, I felt like I was moving okay in the pocket, but maybe I need to sit back a little more, but I’ll look at that. You were You took off more often earlier in the season. Did your mind feel the same that it did then? Do you still feel as loose as you did at that point? Yeah, I feel good. I feel good. As as the game unfolded, did you feel like you guys were making some changes schematically or doing some different things to try to score themselves offensively? Schematically. [Music] Uh we’re always making changes schematically. Yes. Anyone else? Did you feel like you had a good look with DK on our fourth time pass? No, I probably should have thrown the other side. He was He was doubled. I should have thrown him more back shoulder or maybe worked the other side. This could be your last game in California. God thinking about that at all. Southern California. Yeah. What’s that? Southern California. Yeah, could be. Was I thinking about it? No. Do you think you was even the meaner thinking that maybe some of the younger guys will see one and see how you react to your game overall as a team? Yeah. Yeah, I think I need to. Um, you know, I expect to play great every single week and this was not my best performance. I got to play better than this for us to win. Whatever it takes, I got to make a, you know, if it’s if it’s better checks, if it’s better throws, whatever it is, I got to play better. I will, you know, but we got to bounce back. We got a division opponent next week. We’re five and four. We’re ahead by a game in the division and and uh we got to play better on offense for sure, but you know, this is part of the season. There’s es and flows. There’s ups and downs and we can’t uh can’t ride the wave. You know, I felt like uh our energy and it’s it starts with me. It wasn’t as great on offense. I felt like we were just kind of uh struggling a little bit and couldn’t get a play to get going. We always say we just get a first down, we usually score on that drive. and we had so many three and outs and and we hurt ourselves with a couple penalties and I you know I didn’t play very good at all so I got to play better but we also got to realize listen we we got four division games left to play it’s a long season and you know it’s a good opponent and we didn’t play very good tonight. Did you have a sense that the energy was off for us an offense even before the game during warm-ups or throughout the day? No. No, it’s just sometimes in the game when you’re just not going. It’s one of those days where we just couldn’t quite get over the hump and get get some first downs. All right. Be safe.

T.J. Watt and Aaron Rodgers speak to the media about the Steelers matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10 of the 2025 season.

Like our content? Want more? Be sure to subscribe to the Pittsburgh Steelers YT Channel: https://goo.gl/nAd4J2

Are you craving even more Steelers content? Head over our official home on the web: http://www.steelers.com/ or if you want your #Steelers content to-go, download the official Pittsburgh Steelers mobile app: https://www.steelers.com/fans/official-steelers-mobile-app/

To get the latest Steelers content, news and analysis be sure to follow us on social media!
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steelers/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/steelers/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steelers/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@steelers
Get the App: https://apple.co/2GDRLDT