Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens: Coordinator’s Comments

The Pittsburgh Steelers have won two games in a row for the first time all season after beating the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday.  For the third straight week the Steelers will play at Heinz Field to take on the Baltimore Ravens for the second time this season on Sunday night.  On Tuesday Mike Tomlin gave his weekly press conference, in which he commented on the matchup with the Ravens, injuries, and he said obviously 27 times.  NPC’s Kim Myers gave an overview of the presser in Tomlin Tuesday.  On Thursday both Dick LeBeau and Todd Haley gave quick interviews about how their unit is looking and what they expect come Sunday.

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Last week the Steelers offense took most of the headlines, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing for 522 yards and all, but the Steelers defense scored a touchdown of their own, recorded a safety thanks to Andrew Luck falling, had two sacks, and forced two turnovers.  Dick LeBeau was asked about what the Steelers can carry over from facing Luck to going against Joe Flacco.  LeBeau said that the defense has to continued to improve and they have to keep working hard, but he did mention that the defense’s good plays are becoming more frequent.

LeBeau was then asked if he felt the defense played better than the final numbers suggested, as they allowed 34 points and 448 total yards.  LeBeau said that the Steelers did make some impact plays, including the William Gay touchdown, and he mentioned the consistent pressure on Luck.  He did however say that the defense is young and that they are working on getting to where they need to be.

LeBeau was than asked at what point will he be concerned about Cortez Allen‘s confidence.

"“Well, having been an old corner myself, a corner learns to live alone.  He has to believe in himself and just go out there and play and work on everything he’s doing.  You have to believe in yourself to play corner and I think Cortez does.  I have a lot of confidence in him.  He’s just got to produce and get out there and make some plays.” -LeBeau"

The next question asked attempted to have LeBeau compare Allen to William Gay and how Gay struggled at times early in his career at Pittsburgh and then didn’t produce in Arizona but now he seems to have figured some things out.  LeBeau did not really make a comparison between the two but he focused on Gay by saying he has always been a good, smart player for the Steelers.

After a huge offensive week a majority of the questions directed towards Todd Haley were about the wide receivers.  The first topic was Martavis Bryant, who two games into his NFL career already has three touchdowns.  Haley commented about how when Bryant wasn’t playing to start the season he was preparing and working hard.  Now that he has been on the field, Haley acknowledged the big plays he has already made but he also added Bryant is far from a finished product.

Last week Haley was asked about the need of other players to step up to compliment Antonio Brown.  Haley started off by saying that its a week by week process to get better and better but then he went on to talk about the performance in the Colts game.

"“Against a good defense on Sunday, each group, starting with the quarterback, and obviously he played a phenomenal game.  He was on his game as good as I’ve ever seen anybody be on their game at that position.  The offensive line, the receivers, the tight ends and running backs, everybody played at a high level and executed.  They made plays for the most part when their numbers were called.  And I do think we have the type of group that when we do that, when we go out and execute like that, that we will have good results.” -Haley on the offense"

Finally Haley was asked about how the team is utilizing Darrius Heyward-Bey, Markus Wheaton, and Lance Moore.  He said that over the past few weeks with all the different personnel groups they have been using it has allowed the offense to know what receivers have certain strengths, which will be valuable in the future.

You can listen to both Haley’s and LeBeau’s interviews right here.