Tomlin started out his talk by acknowledging that we had a win in all 3 phases of the game last Sunday, and that it was good to get a win at Hines field in front of our fans.
Tomlin then talked about injuries…
Lots more after the jump!
Brett Keisel has a grade one PCL sprain. His participation will be limited as they move forward this week and he is questionable at best going in to next week’s game. If he does not play, Tomlin says Ziggy Hood will start, but he says they’ve also liked what they’ve seen from Heyward thus far, and he’ll get a chance to play as well. McFadden and Cotchery are still both battling hamstring issues. McFadden has been limited, and for the first time we saw a lot of Keenan Lewis last week. Tomlin said that Lewis did a “solid job” stepping in on third down situations and critical situations and that he “played a lot of routs close, and finished plays.”
Keenan’s development is something all of Steeler Nation is quietly watching. If McFadden’s injury doesn’t get better soon, we may see more of Keenan Lewis in the secondary. It’s promising to note his success in last week’s game, but make sure you keep it in perspective. We were playing Tavaris Jackson and the hapless Seahawks…
Tomlin says that Chris Carter’s hamstring injury is behind him, and that this week is a big week for him and Jason Worilds, who will be the guys simulating Mathis and Freeney on the Scout Team Defense this week.
Tomlin noted that the Colts are a great football team with continuity in many positions including the coaching staff, and that guys like Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, Jeff Saturday and others are leaders of this team. He says they’re really a better team than their record shows, and although they’re going through some transition time without Peyton Manning, Kerry Collins is a veteran QB who will be able to help the Colts get back on track.
"“They’re gonna be better than what we’re looking at on tape”"
Tomlin says that they’ve now got an opportunity to get a road win against another AFC team, which they haven’t done yet, an obvious reference to the Ravens game two weeks ago, and that they’re going to “sharpen [their] sword for it.”
Most of the questions in the beginning had to do with how the Steelers played last week in relation to how they played against the Ravens. Tomlin simply said that people read too much in to all this stuff and that it all comes down to whether or not you show up to play and make plays every Sunday. He did a nice job of getting the topic of conversation back on the Colts, where it should be at this time.
Tomlin was asked about the noise control in Baltimore and how they may encounter the same type of problems in Indy. He said:
"“If we perform better initially, that will help us with the crowd control”"
Nothing shuts up a crowd like an opening drive TD, I guess.
When asked about how Mike Wallace is doing thus far this year (for the record, he’s on pace for over 1700 yds), Tomlin jokingly called Mike a “one trick guy.” I have a feeling no matter how much Mike diversifies his portfolio, he’s never gonna shake that jab from Tomlin.
When asked about the play of the offensive line, Tomlin said that they controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half, but they were dominated at the line in the second. He said the run game did not go well after the first half and he is not sure if that is because the guys on the line are used to smaller roles, or if it’s conditioning or what, but that both Foster and Gilbert played “above the line” overall. Not sure if I agree with that sentiment, but you’ll read my opinion on that in my Friday article.
Tomlin talked about how Kerry Collins was able to easily move the ball against us a year ago when he came in relief for Vince Young. He pointed out that Collins was able to read the coverage easily, and even scored on a drive, but that turnovers kept him from leading a comeback. All that, how Collins has played thus far, and taking in to account his growth within the Colts’ organization all came in to play when evaluating him for the coming week.
Some idiot asked Tomlin what kind of wine he was drinking after the game against the Seahawks because of Tomlin’s grape squashing quote. Tomlin replied,
"“We’re not thirsty yet, we’re still squashing grapes.”"
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