Mike Tomlin Praises Offense, Talks Preparation For Sunday's Matchup With Jets
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - In his weekly news conference, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin discussed Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison's performance this past week while looking back at the game against the Baltimore Ravens and looking ahead to Sunday's game with the New York Jets.
Tomlin ruled out safety Troy Polamalu (knee sprain), inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (ankle sprain) and safety Shamarko Thomas (hamstring) for Sunday afternoon's game at the New York Jets. Backup safety Ross Ventrone (hamstring) is close to returning to action. Cornerback Ike Taylor (forearm) will be limited in practice and will be further evaluated later in the week as well as backup.
Ike Taylor has not played since their Week 3 game against the Carolina Panthers.
In his news conference, Tomlin discussed how things clicked with the offense so well for Ben Roethlisberger over the last two games when he became the first quarterback to throw for six touchdowns in two consecutive games.
"We are making plays. We are gaining cohesion," said Tomlin. "We have a decent division of labor. Guys know what is expected of them. It's getting cleaner from that standpoint. We should be a group on the rise, but obviously, I am not discounting what he is doing right now."
Tomlin discussed how 36-year-old James Harrison has found a fountain of youth during the past few weeks. Harrison had his second consecutive game with two sack performance against the Ravens last Sunday night.
"I'm not surprised by James," said Tomlin. "I think that the longer I'm in this business, I've come to expect unique results from unique people. There's no question that James doesn't fit the norm in a lot of ways and his play is probably chief among them. I'm not surprised when he does things that are seemingly against odds and so forth."
Tomlin added, "James is a guy that was cut three times early in his career and went on to become a perennial Pro Bowler and NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That's seemingly against the odds. So I think that kind of defines his career and how he goes about playing football. I think he's really charged by that and rejuvenated by those types of challenges and being able to prove people wrong and do things that he seemingly is unable to do."
It wasn't all positive in his news conference though. Tomlin put his team to task on a critical special teams mistake that came from lack of focus on Ravens' kickoff returner Jacoby Jones 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter of the Steelers win over the Ravens.
"We let the moment get away from us," Tomlin said. "Guys dancing around and so forth before the ball is kicked and then get one run back on them is unacceptable. You won't see our kickoff team dancing anymore before we kick the ball off. The music's playing and the bottom line is we looked ill-prepared, and that's unacceptable."
Tomlin also acknowledged that his team should be able to get up for the games that they are "supposed" to win such the game against the 1-8 Jets who are on an 8 game losing streak.
Tomlin said, "Quite frankly, that's what we have to guard against. The ability to move forward to the next challenge will define us. Teams have to move on." Tomlin also added "An element of it is human nature, particularly when you have a young group, like we have a young football team."
He finally added that "there are no homecoming games. There are no I-AA opponents, if you will, in the NFL."
While on the subject of their next opponent, Tomlin praised the Jets despite their record by saying: "The veteran players who have played enough football, who have played in the NFL for an extended period of time, they know when you step into a stadium on weekends that anybody can win. That it's a level playing field. The Jets are a 1-8 football team, but if you look across them positionally, they've got Pro Bowl caliber players and established, highly respected coaches just about at every turn. There are a myriad of reasons why a team continues to struggle, but every time you step into a stadium you have an opportunity to rectify it."
Tune in to the Cook and Poni Show every Tuesday at noon as they carry the Mike Tomlin press conference live.
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