STEELERS - BENGALS POST-GAME QUOTES
Sunday, September 24, 2006
at Heinz Field

STEELERS QUOTES - BELOW
ADDITIONAL STEELERS PLAYER QUOTES - CLICK ON THE LINK
BENGALS QUOTES - CLICK ON THE LINK

 

HEAD COACH BILL COWHER

Just like I told our football team, those guys never quit playing, and I'm very proud of that. Obviously the two big turnovers in the fourth quarter was the difference in that ballgame. We turned it over five times, and you're not going to win many football games doing that. As crazy as this sounds; there were some encouraging things that I saw out there. I told them that. The answers are in that room. We're going to come back in Wednesday and put things in their proper perspective. We have a tough journey ahead of us. We just have to take it one step at a time; that's what the approach is going to be. It was a disappointing loss. There were a lot of good things and there were some things you can't do. We'll sit back and assess that, and go from there.

 

Why did the passing game struggle?

 

It was not real conducive to throwing the ball. I don't think either side threw the ball affectively for the most part. We got the running game going and that was encouraging. We did pretty well on third down. Ben (Roethlisberger) would certainly like to have that one back in the first half. We gave ourselves a chance. You can't (single out) the passing game; we turned it over five times.

 

Why did you put Ricardo Colclough in for Santonio Holmes at punt returner?

 

We've been going with Santonio inside the 10-yard line because we feel good about his hands. Ricardo just misjudged the ball. No one feels worse about it than he does. Unfortunately we couldn't recover it.

 

Did Roethlisberger still look rusty?

 

I don't want to sit there and assess his play. Certainly, there are some balls that he would like to have back. To me, there were a lot more encouraging things than discouraging things. It's never good to lose to a football team, at home, (that's) in our division. It's a game that we can look within. A lot of the answers to the questions are on the football team. It's something that we're going to have to live with because we had an opportunity to win.

 

Why did the team have so many taunting penalties?

 

I will accept responsibility. That will not happen again. That's on me. It will not happen again.

 

With Coclough's hands, why did you use him at punt returner?

 

There weren't any problems in the preseason. It hasn't been the smoothest but I felt good about him. You can put that one on me as well.

 

Do you alternate Holmes and Colclough?

 

That's the way we structured it for the first two games.

 

Was Mike Logan's taunting penalty stupid or selfish?

 

Both. Stupid, selfish, both of those. Just like the celebration. There is no reason for those things. Like I said, it will not happen again.

 

How did Willie Parker play?

 

 Willie Parker ran well. Defensively, they had a couple of drives in the first half but I honestly felt pretty good about our defense. I thought we did some good things. We turned the football over a little bit and could have had a couple more balls that bounced up to them. I thought defensively, against a very potent offense, we did some good things, and Willie did run the ball well.

 

On Roethlisberger's deep pass that was intercepted, did the wind take that ball?

 

It's hard to say.

 

Are you concerned with the dropped passes?

 

I hope that this doesn't continue. It's something that we have to continue to work on. There was a third down that we had a critical drop. Give their defense credit. They knocked some of those out at times, but we have to hold on to the ball. There's no question about it.

 

Can you remember coaching a game like this?

 

I'm not trying to reflect on any bad games. When a game takes place, those are things that you put out of your memory. It's a game that when you look at it, as I sit here right now, it's going to eat at you for a couple weeks because there were a lot of self inflicted plays out there. It was a situation of a lot of self inflicted wounds and that's what happened. Things that you can control, decisions that you'd like to have back, but when you do that against a good football team then they are going to make you pay, and they did. They hit the two turnovers and to their credit they scored on both of them. You have to hold them to field goals in those situations and we didn't do that.

 

Why did Parker take himself out before the fumble by Verron Haynes?

 

He got speared.

 

Was your defense trying to control their offense?

 

I don't know if you're ever going to control them. We were trying to contain them. It's a good offense. You start the game and feel good about it; then they put together two pretty good drives at the end of the first half. Defensively, in the second half, we did a very good job outside of the two plays that they hit after the turnovers. I'd like to see us hold them to field goals there. In that third quarter, once we got the interception and went ahead, we got the ball back a couple times we didn't get first downs. We had a couple three-and-outs in a row. We held them defensively. I thought those were big stops. The momentum was clearly on our side before we muffed the punt.

 

Will Willie Reid be active for the next game?

 

We'll assess it. We have some time to do that.

 

How are you injury-wise?

 

I think we got out of it pretty good. There's nothing that I'm aware of.

 

 

QUARTERBACK BEN ROETHLISBERGER

 

Do you remember any other games with as many turnovers and momentum shifts as today?

 

There were a lot of them, and that's the way games are usually lost -- the team that turns it over the most, or makes the most mistakes, and we obviously did that today.

 

Was the windy weather a factor today?

 

The wind made it tough.  No excuses, obviously, but there were a couple throws – one specifically that I threw to Cedrick Wilson – that I threw as hard as I could, but the wind just knocked it down.  But for the most part, it was just mental mistakes and not making the right play. 

 

Did they make a lot of changes after the first drive?

 

I don't think so – you would have to ask them.  It seemed like we saw the same things from them the whole game.  We just stopped ourselves a couple of times, and didn't make the plays when we needed to. 

 

What did you see on the interception of the intended pass to Miller in the end zone?

 

It was almost like they knew it was coming.  We had run the ball all the way down the field, and were on the four- or five-yard line, and how did they not expect the run to come?  I knew Heath (Miller) was coming across, and I knew he wasn't there yet, and I saw him come out from behind the linebacker and was expecting him to come out the other side.  As he was coming out, I didn't see the guy coming the other direction. 

 

Do you still feel a little rusty?

 

I'm working in to it.  I feel that even though it wasn't a great game today, I feel like today was a big step for me.  I felt like we were really clicking on offense with the receivers. 

 

Were they doing anything in particular to take Ward out of the game?

 

There were a couple of times they doubled-up on Hines, but they were really trying to take away anything to the outside – running guys underneath our patterns.  That kind of threw us off, we weren't ready for it.  Give them a lot of credit.  They're a great defense, and they really threw a lot of things at us. 

 

There were a lot of dropped balls the last two games.  How do you deal with that out on the field, and is it tough to get past that?

 

No, because I've had a lot of bad throws.  I tell those guys, 'Keep your head up, I'm coming back to you.'  Even if they drop a ball, I tell them, 'Listen, I don't think any less of you – I'm coming back to you, so be ready.'  Sometimes, they're open and I make a bad throw, so I tell them that we're even. 

 

 

 

 

Does the wind appear to be a particular issue in this stadium?

 

It is, and it's kind of weird because it doesn't go one way or the other.  I was talking to the kickers before the game, and we were trying to figure out which way the wind was coming.   We knew it was coming from their bench to our bench, but we couldn't figure out if it was coming from the closed end or the open end. 

 

You asked for more of a role in the offense after last year.  By asking for that, and receiving it, does that put more pressure on you?

 

I put the pressure on myself to produce, and right now I'm not doing that, so I'm going to continue to put more pressure on myself to play better.  I need to find that happy medium, without trying to do too much.  I have to come out and be smart, and make better plays.  A couple of plays tonight were negatives on our part.  The interceptions – on one, I stepped on Marvel (Smith's) foot, and I had Cedrick (Wilson) wide open, and unfortunately I couldn't get it there. 

 

Was that the interception over the deep middle?

 

Yes,  I had great protection, the line gave me a lot of time, the safety drove on Hines (Ward), and I saw Cedrick (Wilson) going deep.  I let it go, and when I did I stepped on Marvel (Smith's) foot. 

 

In regards to your rehab, does this bye come at a bad time?

 

It's kind of a double-edged sword.  It's good to have the bye to rest up, and to look at the things that I need to improve on, but I'm starting to get back into it now and it'd be nice to keep going.    We'll see how we respond out of it.