Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Tennessee Titans: Coordinator’s Comments
The Pittsburgh Steelers are on a three game winning streak is a thing of the past after losing to the Jets last week. The Steelers will remain on the road in to take on the 2-7 Tennessee Titans. On Tuesday Mike Tomlin gave his weekly press conference, in which he commented on the matchup with the Titans, injuries, and he said obviously 16 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 Monday.
The first topic of conversation for Dick LeBeau was about rookie Daniel McCullers, who is likely to start in place of Steve McLendon (shoulder), since he has missed practice on both Thursday and Friday. LeBeau had only good things to say about the large rookie.
"“He’s learning the techniques necessary to play in the National Football League. He was the biggest guy in the draft so size has never been a problem for him. He’s got a lot of strength and I think he’s got a good future. He’s a good, hard-working young man. We’re pleased to have him.” -LeBeau on McCullers"
LeBeau was then asked about the performance of the Steelers defense against the Jets. LeBeau said that once the game got going the Steelers played some good defense. The problem was that they started slowly and that wasn’t good enough. He said that as a team they came up short on the scoreboard.
LeBeau then talked about rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
"“He’s got a real strong arm. He’s big so he’s got real nice vision of the field. I haven’t seen a ball that he can’t get there. Watching him in college he was definitely a winner there at LSU. He had a lot of big, deep throws. He throws a wonderful deep ball. We’ll have to be on our p’s and q’s to hold him down.” -LeBeau"
The next question was about LeBeau’s impressive 18-2 record against rookie quarterbacks since 2004. LeBeau was quick to point out that his record was due to the fact that he has had a ton of good players over the years to help him achieve that record.
The first question for Todd Haley was about the Steelers starting slowly against the Jets. Haley started off by saying you always want to start fast and that you never want to have negative plays or turnovers in your first two offensive series. He said that as a team the Steelers need to do a better job of starting quickly and that in the future they have a lot of room for improvement. He also said that they will have to play better this week against the Titans.
Haley then talked about the teams running performance over the past two weeks.
"“If you lump the last two games, in the Jets game we didn’t play very well as a group. We need to play better. But the Baltimore game, they were obviously trying to stop the run. We tore them up in the air. So we are alright with that. We just can’t’ have games like last week where you turn it over and not throw it or run it efficiently enough. It’s going to be a poor result usually.” -Haley"
The final question for Haley was about Titans defensive tackle Jurrell Casey, who off a 10.5 sack year in 2013 already has four sacks this season. Haley commented about how Casey can be a factor in both the base defense and the nickel package.
"“He’s a factor in both. You will see him get on tight ends and destroy them. He is a good football player. He has very good hands. He looks like he is really smart. He is very active. He is a guy that is a really good and disruptive football player that makes a lot of plays. He is definitely one at the top of the list as far as us having to handle him.” -Haley on Casey"
You can listen to both Haley’s and LeBeau’s interviews right here.