Tomlin Talks About the Win Over the Titans

Coach Mike Tomlin: It was a good bounce-back week for us, coming off of a loss. It was an appropriate response. I thought we played together today. We played hard in all three phases. We made the necessary plays. We weren’t perfect by any stretch but under the circumstances, you have to like what you saw. From an injury standpoint, we had a number of in-game injuries, which were insignificant. I think the guys are going to be able to come back. I don’t think this will inhibit them from participating this week. That group is James Farrior with a shoulder injury, Heath Miller with a shoulder injury, Maurkice Pouncey with a right knee injury, he’s fine, Hines Ward has a chest injury, but he’s fine; and Isaac Redman had leg cramps. There was only one worth mentioning, and we will look at moving forward and that’s Marcus Gilbert. We will keep an eye on him and see where he is. Again, the guys played up to the standard. That’s what we expect. It’s a good win for us. Hopefully it will provide momentum for us as we move forward. It was a good football team we played today in the Tennessee Titans. It was good to come back and be victorious against a team such as that.

Re: Fake punt:
We weren’t going to leave any bullets in the gun. It was important that we started fast and competed. I saw an opportunity there, and I took advantage of it.

Why though did you try the fake at that time?
Again, we weren’t going to leave any bullets in the gun. It was appropriate that we got off to a fast start like I said.

Re: Max Starks’ performance:
It’s something that revealed itself to us over the course of the week. I think the first thing is that you have to give credit to him for coming back in the ridiculously good shape he’s in. that’s a prerequisite. He’s a quick study. He got more and more comfortable with what he was capable of doing as the week wore on. Quite honestly, we needed it. We had some men that were partially wounded in some other areas, Jonathan Scott and Marcus Gilbert. He was able to provide what we needed.

Could Max have done as good as a job if he was out of shape?
He’s in good shape today.

Was there a sense of urgency this week?
There needed to be.

Did Gilbert injure his same shoulder?
It is. So that’s why we will continue to monitor it. It’s probably going to make him uncomfortable in the beginning of the week. But we’ll be optimistic, be inclusive from a mentality standpoint about his participation this week. It’s something we are definitely going to have to look at.

Re: Running game:
I am satisfied with the win. We will look at the tape and analyze the quality of the work. More than anything, we weren’t going to get too detailed in terms of some of the things we were looking for. Under the circumstances, we knew it might not be ideal but there needed to be a win. And that’s what it was.

Where did this performance come from?
We expect to play well.

Re: Not using Rashard Mendenhall:
We didn’t need him. The thought there was, if we can get out of here not utilizing him, it would benefit him in the long run, and for us it would be better. Thankfully we were able to do that.

Was Ben more patient today in the pocket?
You guys can characterize it however you want. He had to make the necessary plays today and he did.

Re: Ben being hurt, yet he threw for five touchdowns:
We expect him to play well. He’s an A-player. He’s got to play A for us, in order for us to do well.

Re: Defensive line play:
I thought they did some nice jobs, especially under the circumstances. We had some young men in there. We had a small group of guys working. We only had five guys dressed. Several of them are young. They did a nice job.

Re: LaMarr Woodley’s play:
He did a nice job today. We needed the performance that he gave us. I think he understands that, as do we.

Re: Not being happy with the win:
We won. I am ready to move on.

Re: Previous players being injured:
We will assess those guys. I will have more information for you on Tuesday in regards to some of those guys. I am not ready to characterize it at this juncture. Hopefully they will continue to work, as they have, in terms of getting back to us.