Head Coach John Harbaugh:Obviously, this was a very disappointing and bitter loss. It was a great environment. It was a great football game. We give the Steelers credit for making the plays to win the game. I thought in the fourth quarter, they went down the field and scored three touchdowns. It is just a tremendous job by them. They made big plays and got the ball in the endzone. Obviously that was the difference in the game. We give them credit, and we wish them all the best in the playoffs.
Re: Not being able to get enough pressure on Ben Roethlisberger:
The Steelers did a good job of blocking us. You can't just run all blitzes against them with the guys they have. We ran pressures. I think when we got pressure, he bounced out a couple times. He made some plays on the run. Roethlisberger moving out of the pocket and making plays was probably the difference in the fourth quarter. It was more about that than it was about pressure or not pressuring.
Was there anything that stood out in the fourth quarter with your defense allowing three touchdowns in a row?
There is nothing specific to point to. They made great throws. They made catches. Ben got out of the pocket and made a couple plays. I think it was just playmaking. You have to come up with plays against him. We came up with interceptions early. That's what you need to do. We were unable to do that in the fourth quarter. That was the difference in the game. They made more plays than we did. They made one more play than we did.
Re: The Steelers' pace on offense in the fourth quarter:
They didn't change personnel groups too much, so it wasn't like we were going to change packages too much. They kept who was on the field on the field. We actually made some substitutions. They did a great job with their tempo. They were pretty much in their two-minute offense. They were going fast like we were expecting them to, and they executed. The pace was good but the execution was the thing. They executed very well.
What has been the change in the performance of your run defense over the last few weeks?
I'll look at that. The ball bounced a couple of times on us on the edge. The first drive was the worst drive. After that, I think we got it under control pretty well. We lost the edge once or twice, and they ran a couple draws on us in the fourth quarter. You'd like to be able to get off blocks there and make those tackles.
How disappointing is it to be so close to controlling the division?
I don't measure disappointment. How disappointing is it? It's life. It's what you do. You fight like crazy. You try to win the game. We work really hard at what we do. I'm proud of our guys. I love our guys. I think our guys are great competitors. Our guys want to do really well. We are very close to being a very good football team. We can be a great football team, but we're not there yet. We haven't gotten there this year. We have to get there. We have to do what we have to do. Our focus right now is going to be on Cincinnati. It's not going to be on measuring disappointment. That's not what we do. That's not what we're about. It's going to be going to Cincinnati and playing the best football game of the season. That will be our goal. That's what we just talked about in the locker room. Everybody buys into that. That's what our guys want to do.
Is it tough to balance scoring and not leaving too much time on the clock?
Yes. It's tough to balance that. We're trying to score a touchdown. If you're saying we should have sat on the ball and then kept our fingers crossed to score later, I would say that's not a strategy I've seen attempted too often. They had a lot of time left on the clock and it's our job to get them stopped. It's our job to get them stopped. That's what we didn't get done.
Re: Looking like you were going to call a timeout before the last Steelers touchdown play:
I just wanted to make sure the defense was right. We felt like we had a good defense for it, and they got it in the endzone.
QB Joe Flacco:I figured you guys could tell. There were a couple of plays left out there. Probably five or 10 points left out there. They could have made a difference but you can say that about every game. It's tough to say that. It comes down to what it comes down to at the end of the game. You are given your opportunities.
Re: Game coming down to last seconds
I become a fan at that point. It's tough to tell. We went down there and did all we could. Like I said, you usually go on the sideline and become one of your guys. I have all of the confidence in the world in our defense and it just didn't happen.
How disappointing is this game for you?
It's disappointing. I don't know what else to say besides that. Disappointed is disappointed. We had it right there. Obviously we still have to go play next week. We had to win here tonight and then win there, too. It wasn't all right there but we played good football today. It is football. It's just football at the end of the day. You play 60 minutes for a reason and sometimes you just can't get it done.
Re: Third time in four years not making playoffs
I don't think about the past three years really. I don't think about the past eight years. All you can really think about is being in the moment. When you think back to all of those years, I mean we usually had to win the last game of the season to get in the playoffs. We were able to do it. It comes down to the last couple of games and this year was no different. I think next week will be the truly meaningless games, in term of playoff implications, that I have played in.
C.J. Mosley:
Re: Play at the goal line:
Just a matter of effort. I hit him and he had the extra effort and reached out. He made the play and I didn't on that one. They made a play that they needed too. They have a good quarterback and their receivers made the plays. They got out of bounds. At the end of the day, they made the plays that we made.
Re: Run Game
I don't know really. I think we did pretty good in the running game. They are great players in the NFL. They are going to make plays. It is what it is, and we have to get ready for next week.
Re: Emotions when offense took the lead:
We felt pretty confident. Our offensive did a great job with clock management. The second half, they made plays that they needed too and at some point we made our plays. Like I said, it's another day, they made more plays than we did and went down and scored the last touchdown.
On the last play was that something you saw on film or were you watching Ben Roethlisberger?
No, I just dropped my coverage. I saw what they were doing and I just dropped the route.
* *
FB Kyle Juszczyk
Re: Scoring a crucial touchdown:
The play before was my first time ever running the ball from the shotgun like that in a designed run play. I was happy that my running back coach had the confidence in me to leave me out there and get the job done.
How tough was the swing of emotions at the end of the game?
It was a huge swing of emotions. After we scored, in my mind, we have the best defense in the NFL, so it's a wrap. I thought they're going to go out there and make a stop. It's a big swing.
Is it hard to comprehend how suddenly your playoff hopes have ended here?
Yes. We woke up this morning and in my mind, we were going to the playoffs. As a player, you never doubt that. We're so sure we're going to come in here and win and play next week. When the game finally ends, and that's not the reality, that's something you have to deal with. As a football player, these things happen. You don't want to get used to it, but it's something that you do.
Did you feel like you executed your offensive game plan?
I don't think you ever do exactly what you want to do, but I do feel like we executed our game plan pretty well. Like Joe Flacco said earlier, I do think we left some points out there on the board. You always feel like you can execute better.
* *
TE Dennis Pitta
Re: Season ending like this:
Yeah it's tough. We fought hard and we need to keep our heads up. The resiliency that we showed in this game I was impressed with. We did not play our best football early. We had a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter. We played well enough to win, we just did not get it done.
Did you feel like your lead should have been more?
Yeah, we needed to capitalize on some of those missed plays. We had an opportunity on a couple touchdowns that we didn't get, but any way you look at it we did not close out the game.
Re: Mood of the locker room:
Nobody wants to say a lot. It is just tough. I've never been in a position where going into the final week there is just nothing to play for. Our goal is to get to 9-7 and the Bengals will be our next test. We want to win that game.
CB Lardarius Webb
What was the difference?
They made the plays that needed to be made. I thought it was a hard fought game. I thought the defense, we fought our butts off. They came up with the plays that they needed and they came out victorious.
Re: Lack of pass rush in the fourth quarter:
You can't just say pass rush. We mixed up the calls. We played coverage sometimes and we blitzed a couple times. Hats off to Big Ben also. Bell had some yards but that's on the whole defense. He's a great running back and he's going to have his yards. But you cannot have him going off, busting out big plays.
How disappointing is it to be so close here in Pittsburgh and come up short?
Very disappointing. We worked our butts off all year to be at this point and have a chance. It hurts. We fought hard but we just came up short in the end.
Re: Confidence on that final drive:
I knew we were going to win. I thought we put it on the defense to win the game. But Big Ben did what he does. A big time quarterback made some big time plays.
