Heyward, Jones, Porter Jr., Howard Media Availability (Nov. 13) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Heyward, Jones, Porter Jr., Howard Media Availability (Nov. 13) | Pittsburgh Steelers

TJ said last week that you guys can’t live and die by takeaways. How does a defense do you be an effective defense when you’re not getting those turnovers or do you have just be efficient and everything else? Stopping the run, getting your hands on balls, not you know getting off on third down. That’s really our biggest goal right now. Just get off the field on third down if we’re not making turnovers. I mean, we all want to make turnovers and make plays. But if that’s not working, then what’s the next solution? And that is just playing upright defense. Rely too much on turnovers. No, I mean, but I mean like who doesn’t want turnovers, you know? So, we just got to keep working, you know? Everybody wants a turnover, so that’s never not going to be our case. We just got to just play great ball overall. Joey, as you watch that Bengals tape from last game, what was it that really stuck in your mind about what was missing from you guys? Just not getting off the field and uh I feel like just giving too many easy uh yards and points. I feel like it just wasn’t our best our best game. We wasn’t really playing around how we wanted to. Like everybody was expressive about that. So, it’s the second time around. We play these guys two times a year every year. So, we got another swing at it. How along those lines as a competitor, how much do you look ahead to the possibility to kind of redeem yourself after winning by last time around? I mean, it’s great. You know, we get that bad feeling out of our mouth, that bad taste out of our mouth that we get to spin again. So, we just got to be up front. We just got to stand tall. This is how there’s a couple guys are different in the secondary than last. They don’t really realize what Jason and Higgins were able to to do. Say that one more time to me. Cow and potentially James in the starting lineup compared to a month ago. Yeah. Has that helped them? Do you have confidence in those guys to come out there and Definitely. I mean, we’ve been saying it from the beginning. We we got we got horses and we believe in all our horses that could really go up there and run with the best of them. JP came in and he bowled out last game. So, uh we we don’t think nothing different from him and what what he capable of. So, he’s going to be ready. Joe, you mentioned that stability. Does that help communication? Where does that really help? especially with having Ramsey kind of set. I mean, it’s helped. I mean, that’s been our main focal point all year, just communication and just be ready to fly around and everything like that. So, it just shows how we was able to put different pieces to the puzzle and still be able to be up front and still be able to communicate at a high level. So, especially with five back there, he’s a communicator. He’s a talker. So, he’s going to get the guys in the right spot. What’s Kyle done for this defense adding him back here? I mean, he just been the the really just the piece to the puzzle, you know, just the glue, you know? He been keeping it all together. He’s been making his tackles, making his plays, communicating a lot. We got to meet right now, man. Right now. Right now. All right. We got, you know, he just he just been that uh that that piece that we that we needed. You know, he he came in on a moving train and was communicating right off the rip. And that’s what we that’s what you want needed. What’s that feeling like for you? Yeah, you know, it’s a it’s a really really it’s a blessing. Um, and I’m really thankful that that they made the decision to to elevate me and to activate me because, you know, it’s not necessarily, you know, we have Aaron. It’s not necessarily like I’m coming up to play, you know, but it’s more for my growth and development. And, you know, that that means a lot that they were willing to do that for me and I just don’t want to make them regret it. What do what are you able to do out there and what do you think you can show during those opportunities? Yeah, you know, I like I said earlier, I mean, it’s limited opportunities, but you have to maximize them. um just going out there every day and you know whether it be you know the limited reps I may get on offense or um you know whether it’s one rep a week or or just scout team that week you know whatever it is maximizing it making it like real game reps as much as I can whe you know if it’s reading the card defense and and and saying hey this is what like this concept and trying to treat it like a real game as much as I can. Um, but it’s just good to be out there and and seeing real live reps, live bullets, especially going against our defense, you know, that front and and all the different looks that they show in the back end. Like it’s it’s been great for me and um I just want to be able to give them a good look so that, you know, we can have success on the weekend. Can you notice in the last couple of weeks that you see like see improvement? For me personally, yeah, I would say just more comfortable, you know, kind of knocking the rust off, I would say. You know, that that first week it was weird. I was like, man, feels like I haven’t played football in forever. You know, it was the longest I’ve gone, I’m sorry, without playing in in a long time. So, um, you know, it was definitely like knocking the rust off, but I feel like I’m getting better every week. And I feel like I’m about back to where I where I was and and want to just keep going like this. What What’s the perspective like, I guess, of, you know, observing the way that you’ve observed in the, you know, time that you’ve been kind of sidelined with all of this. Have you picked things up from that perspective, too? It’s very different. you know, when you’re when you’re working from that, you know, kind of outside looking in almost approach, but you’re still kind of in it. Um, you know, it’s different, but you get to see things from with with a different lens. You know, maybe the pressure wasn’t as much on me. Um, the onus wasn’t on me yet, but, you know, I’m able to just sit back and kind of just I mean, I literally have like a word document of just like nuggets that I get from Aaron every day. you know, just if I if there’s something that he tells me or something he says in meetings, I just try to write it down. You know, just have a little bank of the things that I’m learning. And um you know, and during that time, I like I said, I was doing a bunch of, you know, film projects and um keeping myself busy and and trying to stimulate my brain in in other ways, you know, not just um you know, being out there on the field, but um obviously mental reps. I think I I think, you know, we we I tried to maximize that time as best as I could and um looking back at it, I don’t think I changed anything about it, but again, I’m just thankful that they made the decision to activate me. It means a lot to me and um I I can’t take it for granted. Are there a couple of those nuggets that really stick with you? Um nothing like it’s nothing. It’s all pretty minutia, you know, like fine details of of plays, you know, whether it’s, you know, check into this play versus this look or hey, if I, you know, get my eyes on the mic in the quick game, like that’s something that he does all the time and always has. And you know, that was a little tip that helped me and and just, you know, picking what side to go to if I’m not really sure, you know, and and little things like that that he does that he’s even whether it’s like out there on the field that he’s like trying to get me to do some, you know, pump fakes that he he does and um you know, add adding things to I’m just trying to take things, you know, from him that he does, make it my own and and add it to my artillery because I mean, he’s one of the best to ever do it. Will you say you learn a lot from him, but obviously one of the best things about him is his mechanics. Thought about that. One of the best releases ever. What have you learned about him just in terms of mechanics, things that he does that maybe you could add to the game? Yeah. Um, you know, mechanically he is different and he’s unique and that’s hard, you know, because I feel like what you know, one of the things that he’s best at is his mechanics and like his arm strength and his arm talent, but not a lot of people can do that and not not a lot of people can throw the way Aaron Rogers throws. So, I kind of try to filter the, you know, the the mechanic stuff um and really just, you know, whether it’s where he’s getting his power from. He’s he’s big about getting his power from the ground. He’s kind of he jumps out of the ground a little bit. That’s not necessarily me, but you know, like something I can take from that is just how much force he generates from the ground may be a little different that I’m the way I’m doing it. But just little things like that, like trying to pick up and, you know, I talk a lot about Aaron, too, but Mason’s been great, too. He’s, you know, he’s the he’s the lifeblood of that room, man. He he’s the he’s the glue and um he’s funny as hell and he’s he’s taught me a lot too because he’s played a lot of football and um and it it’s just I’m really really lucky to be in the position that I’m in. Well, can you generate competitive juices and those opportunities that you get? Absolutely, man. It’s, you know, for me, this is my Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are my games, you know. So, I’m I’m out there trying to make every rep as competitive and as real as possible. And, um, you know, I think I’ I’ve done a pretty good job of it so far, but just got to keep going. And, uh, and, you know, it’s a dayby-day process. And, you know, I know Rome’s not going to be built in a day, but, um, you know, just if I can get a little bit better every single day, that’s that’s all that matters. How much were you able to do today? Uh, I pretty much was able to do everything. I just wasn’t in probably as much. Is it the same thing from camp? Yeah. That you’re dealing with pretty much. Okay. Basically, yes. How do you feel like the O line has kind of fared you specifically over the last couple weeks? Where do you feel like you guys are as a unit? Uh we got to be better. Um just as a whole, as a team, you know, I don’t think it’s one specific group or, you know, one specific person or one specific side of the ball, you know. In all three phases, we got to show up, you know, offense, defense, and you know, special team always got to come and make plays. So, um, you know, I feel like everybody just got to lock in, you know, we got to be on one accord, you know, we just got to come with that fight. What’s the relationship been like with Aaron when you know, you guys take a sack or something? Like, is he tough on you guys? Is he usually trying to pick you up? Is he like good cup, bad cup? What’s that been like through It’s really It’s really mostly you beating up yourself when you give up a sack. um as a alignment. Um of course you’re worried about him, but it’s it’s more so of you not getting into your own head. Um and I feel like he he’s pretty good with that. Um it’s a funny story, I ain’t going to lie. One time it was Seahawks game, I think. Uh and he went to like try and escape and Zack like jumped in front of him because of a linebacker or something and he got sacked. He’s like, “Zack, get out the way.” And Zach’s like, “Where were you going? And it was just funny cuz I’m thinking about it like like interactions like that even though it’s like you know not good but it I feel like it helps us you know just build a bond and a connection and you know things like that is just good for us as a whole. Um you know we cuz we know who who has each other’s back. Everybody has each other’s back. Um we know what eight’s capable of. So we just got to keep them up right. Were a couple of those like that were a couple of those sacks from um Yeah. kind of like that where he’s trying to escape, but also you guys are trying to pocket, you know. Yeah, it’s always it’s always something. Everybody just got to be on one accord. Um, you know, if that’s us making a giving him a firmer pocket or um him, you know, just sitting in the pocket or, you know, however it works, you know, we just got to figure it out. Cam, after the Chargers game in the law firm, you were kind of talking about how maybe there isn’t trust among everybody kind of down in down out. How concerning is that? And is that fixable? Is that correctable? Right now, I’m the wrong person to ask that question after a game. You know, I I I take uh losses very hard. Um but I think, you know, there’s just hesitation there a couple times. It’s not uh necessarily trust. It’s just, you know, trusting that everybody’s going to be in your gap. Um and doing that play in and play out. You know, sometimes you feel like there’s just a step where we’re we’re thinking too much. Uh you got to get that out of your system. you got to know this guy’s going to be in this gap so I can be in this gap and because of that we’ll have a stronger defense. Um, you know, I think it’s it’s minimal and it it’s precise but when you do that you become a better defense. How do you practice that? I mean do you do the trust follow exercises? No. No, I you practice it by you know executing your assignments. Um, execution this level is is so key and it’s a difference between winning and losing but you know it’s repetition. It’s about doing it play in and play out. Um, and knowing what you got to do around you. How have Derek and Wyatt taken to trying to having to learn that so quickly, you know, rookie season, week after week, new game plan, new game plan? I I I think the thing they show the most is their questions. Um, they’re very advanced. Um, you know, you know, one example is just you watch Derek Harmon, he’s getting um double tight ends to the side and you see him swim out of the gap. Sometimes he would say, you know, as a beginner, stay in that B gap, but as you get more comfortable, you can play both gaps. Um, and we talked a lot about that. And the same thing with Wyatt, you starting to see him use more extension. Um, and it’s making more of a dent in the line of scrimmage. Cam, in film you’ve watched the last few games, is Joe better than when you saw him last time? Um, they’re just putting up a ton of points. Uh, I think Joe has a a better understanding of what the Bengals offense is. Um, you know, he’s able to get it out to Jamar. he’s able to go out to T. Higgins. Um I think he’s really starting to take advantage of having Chase Brown back there as well. You know, a couple dump offs here and there. Um you know, and they’re not living and dying by Jamar and T. Higgins, but um he’s got a real command of the offense right now. They have the least amount of rushing yards per game in the NFL, but they have the eighth highest explosive run rate. What do they do well when they do pop off runs? Um Chase Brown hits the hole uh very hard. I think he does a good job of being patient and then when that hole opens up, he’s able to, you know, really crease it and um you know, he’s running through arm tackles. Um that’s the one thing I I was pretty disappointed with our last performance uh against them. We didn’t tackle as well. Uh and you know, versus this guy, you know, a two- yard gain could be a 20 yard gain if you’re not careful. So, uh got to run your feet, got to have multiple hats to the ball. Being a guy that’s been around for a while, uh when you lose that divisional opponent the first time, what kind of motivation is there going into the second time? Um there’s always motivation. Um it’s a divisional game. Um they know us, we know them, but uh you know, it comes down to the execution again, I think. Um you know, it’s those those little mistakes that really cost the team. Cam, they’re retiring Aaron Donald’s number on the other side. What do you appreciate about him as a player? Uh what’s not to appreciate about uh Aaron Donald? Um you know, not just a guy from Pittsburgh, a guy who embodied Pittsburgh. Um never for about Pittsburgh. Um and then you talk about his play. Um you know, he was an energizer bunny for his group. He, you know, had all the pass rush moves. Um, you know, the premier pass rusher of our generation as a defensive tackle.

Cam Heyward, Broderick Jones, Joey Porter Jr., and Will Howard spoke to the media on Thursday, Nov 13 ahead of the Steelers Week 11 game against the Cincinnati Bengals

#HereWeGo #Steelers #NFL

Watch more on Steelers.com