Q. The last time we sat down, one of the things we talked about was how you were going to handle the team following a tough loss in Cleveland. This week I want to ask you if it's difficult to re-focus a team following an emotional win like the one against the Ravens?
A. I think there's a topic for discussion, if it were the regular season. But I think everybody understands the gravity of the single-elimination tournament. You quickly get your feet back on the ground, individually and collectively, because there's just so much riding on this one. Everybody understands that, and so it's probably less of an issue under these circumstances than it would be if it was a significant emotional win during the course of a regular season journey.
Q. In assessing the performance vs. the Ravens, you said that running backs Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell were "impactful in the check-down game." What does that mean, and how does it happen?
A. We absorb very little risk when you dump the ball off to a running back in the checkdown game, but it's potentially a big reward. Early in the game, Kenny Gainwell converted two third downs on checkdowns, a third-and-6, a third-and-7. We dumped him the ball. He split some defenders for the necessary yards. It's significant. Jaylen Warren in the red area caught a swing pass on second-and-7, got 6 yards to put us in third-and-1. Those little wins oftentimes don't get a lot of significant attention, but when you can dump the ball down to a running back and he can make it a significant gain, he can move the chains, he can win a possession down, he could put you in third-and-manageable from second-and-long. That's winning football. And certainly we've got a running back tandem that we feel real good about in that area, the ability to win one-on-one matchups, and then avoid, elude, run over would be tacklers in those circumstances. It's a subtle yet significant point in football.
Q. The game against the Ravens came down to a field goal attempt on the final play. Generally speaking are you an ice-the-kicker guy?
A. I'm not. Generally I'm not. You make them live it out. Usually procedurally, particularly at the professional level, kickers have a mode of operation. They practice for it, they train for it, they almost anticipate it. And oftentimes, if you just study a kicker, a holder, a snapper, when they get iced, they immediately fall into a routine, procedural things. I've just learned over the years, sometimes when they anticipate it, it's kind of less effective. I just assume, let them kick it if they're anticipating being iced. Make them work in real time without the benefits of procedures and things that they plan for in anticipation of being iced in those circumstances.
Q. Back in August you were talking about what you liked about this team as it prepared for the regular season, and you said, "It appears that we have a collective that really like each other and really are working to get to know one another and help the young players, etc. It's a good vibe from that perspective." What do you like about this team now as it prepares to enter the playoffs?
A. Certainly there are a lot more tangible things that I like, because I got evidence of it born out of the journey and shared experiences. But I think underneath it all is that original assessment. You have a chance to accomplish something special when the relationships are special, when what people are willing to do for the collective is special, what they're willing to give of themselves for the growth of individuals within the collective, or for the benefit of the collective. And I just sense that about this group, and certainly it's easier to develop when you have people in leadership roles at the stage of their career, like Cam and Aaron, for example. They've just seen everything that this game has to offer. It's the reason they still play – the pursuit of excellence, the pursuit of championships. They own the responsibility of helping nurture and develop young players. They're just in that giving stage of life and in their careers, and I think that helps it all. I still think a unique component of this group is that. It's unique togetherness, with the veteran players and the more experienced ones being willing to help the less experienced ones, and not only less experience regarding the league, but less experience regarding our organization or our team and how we do business. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that. We've got a lot of guys on this roster right now who weren't on our roster when you and I had that conversation back in Latrobe. And it's a credit, not only to those guys getting on a moving train, but it's a credit to our leadership, embracing them, training them, teaching them how we go about our business. About what's expected here. If you look at that team picture downstairs in the hallway of our facility, a lot of guys playing a significant roles right now on this team aren't in that team picture. But as I reminded them, we'll have an opportunity to take another team picture on the Tuesday before the Super Bowl, and so we've got some business between now and then for those guys to get etched in history.
Q. What changes do you notice in the players when things switch from regular season football to playoff football?
A. It depends on the player. With the more experienced player, you see very little change. The less experienced player, whether it's years' experience in the league or playoff experience, you're capable of seeing dramatic changes. And the bottom line is, if you've been there and done that, you've learned to have a sense of urgency over the course of the journey that's reflective of it. I'm urgent every week because I see it through that lens. I've been doing what I've been doing so long that I understand that things that happen in Week 1 have big-time bearing on what transpires, or whether you even get to the playoffs. That comeback win in New York against the Jets, I knew it was significant in Week 1. And I just think when you lack experience, you lack that perspective. And so then you rev it up, and you get into playoff mode. If you lived a little as a player or coach, you understand how significant it is that there's a limited number of opportunities in our game and in our business. And so there's very little difference in people who have been there, done that.
Q. Tonight's opponent is the Houston Texans, who come into this game having won 9 in a row, their last loss having come on Nov. 2. What is happening within a team for it to win 9 straight?
A. The No. 1 thing that stands out about this Texans collective is that they're No. 2 in the league in ball security offensively, and they're No. 3 at taking the ball away defensively. They've got 29 takeaways, and so when you're taking care of the football and you're taking it away, you're positioning yourself to win a lot of football games. We have a similar profile. We're tied-for-third in ball security on offense and No. 4 in taking it away. And so it's two trains on the track. We've been able to win four out of our last five. They've won nine in a row. Generally, there's a turnover component to those discussions when you're stacking wins. And so that's going to be a critical component of this game, and probably a lot of games. There are a lot of teams in this tournament that master that component. That's how you get in the tournament. And so the turnover game is big. We better preserve and protect the football. And we certainly better take it away. But I'm sure that's their agenda as well.
Q. When C.J. Stroud is in a tough spot – either a critical possession down, or under pressure from the pass rush – where does he like to go with the football?
A. It really depends on circumstances. Obviously the surface level answer is Nico Collins. He leads them in catches, has over 1,100 receiving yards, and he's certainly a dynamic guy. He's a big, strong receiver who wins in one-on-one circumstances, etc. But again, you tell me the moment. Christian Kirk does a lot of things for them in certain moments. They've got young, talented receivers, they do a nice job of making themselves a moving target based on circumstances. I certainly have a feel for some of the things that they do, but I'm probably going to keep that to myself. But they do a nice job spreading it around. But on the surface level it's Nico Collins.
Q. One of the Texans' key defensive players is CB Derek Stingley Jr., 6-1, 195, a third overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft from LSU, and he has 15 interceptions and 51 passes defensed in 54 career games. What do you remember about him from the pre-draft process, and what have you noticed about his development as an NFL player?
A. Forget the pre-draft process. I'm at an LSU Pro Day during his senior year in high school. He's an LSU commit, and he's at their Pro Day. I get introduced to him, and he's 17 years old, and I'll never forget it, because I looked at him and he had the same body then that he has now. He was a grown man at 17. He goes to LSU that fall, his 2019 season, they win the National Championship, and he's a significant contributor to that team as an 18-year-old freshman. That's what I think about when I think about him. He's been in that grown man's body for a long time. It's worked for him. He's got experience beyond his real age, because he's seen a lot. He played a significant role as a very young guy on a National Championship team. He has that experience in his back pocket, and I just think it shows in his play, down in and down out. Things happened fast for him as a young guy. He matured early. He has absorbed the benefit of that. And what you're looking at is a guy who is seasoned and talented and on top of his game.
Q. Early in your coaching tenure in Pittsburgh, you had a tandem of outside rushers named Hames Harrison and LaMarr Woodley. In Houston the names are Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. Are there any dynamics between players that are common in successful tandems like those?
A. It requires good ingredients to have a good tandem. There is some component of nuances that you develop from playing together. One guy goes behind the quarterback, the other guy never goes behind the quarterback, in terms of having a balanced rush. Right side, left side. Some of those nuances develop over the course of a relationship, and that tandem in Houston is displaying that. But I think largely it starts with two really good individual rushers, and that's what these guys are. Individually, they're dynamic and special, and so they have the makings of a dynamic collective in the understanding that you gain throughout the course of a journey or working together, and the nuances of how to complement one another, understanding the other's game, understanding issues relative to the potential quarterback that you face week in and week out. If you've got a guy who's not mobile, then you can edge rush and both guys can end up behind the quarterback and work their way back. If you've got quarterback mobility, somebody has to be sensitive to never being behind the quarterback. And so there's a nuance to it, or a cohesion that's developed over time, an understanding when you've got a tandem. But certainly it starts with two really talented people, which is what they have.
Q. Since being hired by the Steelers, you have coached 19 playoff games. In terms of your job, how are playoff games different, or are they?
A. I don't know that they're different, specifically strategically relative to what I do. There are some things that make it easier, quite honestly. Officiating crews are larger in the playoffs, and there's always a guy assigned to your sideline who's in continual communication with you as a coach. I'll have it. DeMeco Ryans will have it as well. It's in every playoff game, and it's useful to have that fluid communication about how the game is being officiated and administered. It helps you significantly in some of your on-time, decision making and so forth. And so as oddly as it seems, coaching in the playoffs, in some ways, is a more fluid endeavor. You have more resources at your disposal, particularly in terms of information, relative to how the game is being officiated and administered.
Q. Where will tonight's game be won? In what area or areas of play?
A. I just think for us – and it's not specifically about this night, but it's about how we're constructed – we've got to win games inside and up front on both sides of the ball. We've invested a lot there. We've got quality players in our interior offensive line, and we've invested a lot and drafted guys and developed them, and it's the same thing on the defensive line. And there aren't stats for that. You can't look at targets and tackles and things of that nature. But at the very infancy of this journey, when we put together our 53-man roster, you and I talked about how we constructed that roster, and I said when in doubt, we kept extra bigs. We kept extra bigs in the offensive line. We kept extra bigs in the defensive line, because we realized that in terms of a mode of operation, in terms of a formula, it would be significant for us. And it certainly has been. We've dealt with some attrition on both sides of the ball. We kept Andrus Peat, who hadn't been exposed to us long, and that ended up being beneficial to us. And we kept Dylan Cook on the practice squad, and he was in the program and we were able to elevate him when we needed him. And certainly, when you look at the defensive line and you think about the guys who are not playing for us this weekend, guys like Dean Lowry and (Isaiahh) Loudermilk and Dan (Ekuale), we fortified ourselves. And not only invested in terms of the acquisition of people, but even at the 11th hour when we were determining the 53-man roster, we kept additional people. There's a scarcity of big bodies on the planet. That's a component of football that we value, and we thought that we had an opportunity to distinguish ourselves. And so I'm not going to change my tune now. We're on that hill, and we're going to live on that hill.
