12PM - The Mike Tomlin Press Conference and our reaction 1-6-2026; Brian Batko on Joey Porter Jr., Tomlin reaction, Rodgers' play
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What were the main highlights from Mike Tomlin's press conference?
man i was just thinking how different this week would be if that ball goes through the uprights good lord we'd be in misery the whole week we'd be talking about cliff kingsbury we'd be talking about is the coach on his way out this week that's what we'll be talking about was that the nail in the coffin is aaron rogers done all of that would be topic uh topics on the table instead We're getting ready to hear from Mike Tomlin for a playoff game, and it's a mighty interesting one. And when I hear somebody as football learned as Nick Farabaugh tell me that the Texans' offensive line is, quote, putrid, man, that just makes me like the Steelers' chances. It really does. If they can keep C.J. Stroud from popping a few big plays down the field against those safeties...
and that's the position that might worry me more than anything going into the playoffs here, then I think the Steelers have a great chance to win this game.
We'll see if the coach agrees. Good afternoon, quickly, I'll give a quick assessment of our last performance. As I told the team yesterday at our two o'clock meeting, we did some things in game that were really awesome.
How do the Steelers plan to handle the Texans' offensive line?
And we did some things that were JV to be quite honest with you and not only from a playing perspective, but I just thought from a strategic perspective. There was growth opportunities there. I thought that's why it was important that we get in here yesterday and analyze the tape and learn from it. It always provides a good foundation for our next plan. And so that's what yesterday was about. In review of the game, quickly I'll assess the phases. I thought in general in all three phases we had appropriate physicality. Certainly physicality is a component of the rivalry. And I thought particularly as the game were on, we had the necessary physicality to produce victory. In the special teams game, I thought penalties slowed our efforts.
What did Mike Tomlin say about the team's physicality in recent games?
In the kickoff return, I thought we were really good from a field position perspective, but we had one ball out beyond the 40. They got negated by a penalty. We had a penalty on our punt team as well. Thankfully, on the re-kick, Corliss did an awesome job on the re-kick, and that doesn't always occur, and so we're thankful for that. But if we're going to... continue on in this tournament as the road gets narrow. We certainly can't be penalized in that phase of the game, and particularly from a return perspective, negating the chance of any field flipping plays or any significant plays that way. We just can't run the risk of that. I've been pleased with our punting and gunning in the punt phase. There's been minimal return yards, really over the course of the season.
What are the injury updates for the Steelers ahead of the playoffs?
We've had minimal return yards. I think we got 170 return yards in the punt return game in 17 games. And that's certainly solid. And I think Sunday night was reflective of that as well. On defense, I thought largely down in and down out, we did what we needed to do to minimize the impact of Derrick Henry. It certainly didn't start that way. He broke that big run early. That's a credit to him. It's a credit to them strategically in terms of identifying a schematic that they wanted to assault us with. But I just thought down in and down out.
How does Mike Tomlin view the challenges posed by Aaron Rodgers?
We did what we needed to do schematically in terms of allocating our guys and planning the appropriate front structure. And I think in turn, our guys did what was required of them. We put a lot on our men up front. We create one on ones with our bigs up front. We require our bigs to win those battles. And I just thought guys like Benton and Hayward and Harmon, did a real nice job of winning those one-on-ones, shedding tacklers, I mean, shedding blocks and getting in on tackles, not giving him clean access to the second and third level, which oftentimes is a recipe for disaster when facing the big runner. We certainly took some schematic risk in an effort to minimize Lamar's talents in the game. And I think we suffered the consequences from that at times.
We overplayed maybe some design runs and we put ourselves in some thinned out coverage circumstances.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What were the main highlights from Mike Tomlin's press conference?
0:00–1:12
2
How do the Steelers plan to handle the Texans' offensive line?
1:12–2:00
3
What did Mike Tomlin say about the team's physicality in recent games?
2:00–2:47
4
What are the injury updates for the Steelers ahead of the playoffs?
2:47–3:28
5
How does Mike Tomlin view the challenges posed by Aaron Rodgers?
3:28–4:26
6
What is the significance of Joey Porter Jr.'s potential extension?
4:26–5:05
7
How has Keanu Benton improved throughout the season?
5:05–5:51
8
What are the expectations for the Steelers' performance in the playoffs?
5:51–49:48
Speakers
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