Mike Tomlin Press Conference – Week 4 – Texans

Injuries: Chris Carter played, experienced soreness, Marcus Gilbert looks like he’ll be OK and will be practicing and playing next week, Arnaz Battle has a swollen knee and will be limited in practice, Brett Keisel is recovering from his PCL sprain and will be coming back might be practicing this week, Doug Legursky (shoulder) and Jonathan Scott (ankle) can both be characterized as questionable. Tomlin the addressed the Offensive line that has been slowly melting down.

"“We are open to looking to maybe bring someone in. We haven’t had any definitive plans in that regard as of yet”"

Cotchery will likely practice and play this week, as will McFadden. Mike Wallace suffered a rib cartilage injury in the Colts game, but it shouldn’t keep him from playing.

Lots more after the jump!

Tomlin says the Steelers are very much a “team that is still in development” when he addressed the performance against the Colts.”The important thing is that we do enough to win games while we go through this process.” Tomlin was encouraged by special teams play, particularly the return game. He said we came up with a turnover at the moment we needed it the most with James Harrison’s strip/sack and Troy’s awareness to grab it and get in the end zone.

Tomlin then went and named just about every single player and coach on the Texans. Makes me laugh when Tomlin does this every week. Does he spend all night memorizing every player? He brings a whole new level to “know thy enemy.” It’s more like “know thy enemy and be able to recite their positions and strength, there will be a quiz.”

Anyway. Tomlin called Andre Johnson the greatest receiver in the world right now, and talked about all the good players on the team. They’re coming off of a loss to the Saints and will be looking to rebound, and the Steelers will be going on the road to try and get another AFC road win.

Tomlin says Trai Essex will start on the Left side, if J. Scott is deemed healthy, he will play LT. One of the things Tomlin is talking about when he says that the Steelers are a team in development is the run game. They’ve been struggling and Tomlin says they need to get better in that area in a hurry. He was, however, encouraged by our ability to convert on 3rd down.

If they bring in any offensive lineman, it will be for practice purposes only, not someone who could come in and start in any way shape or form. So…not Flozell, basically.

Tomlin talked about how they are open to utilizing Troy in different ways, and letting him sort of do what he does. That is what makes Troy such a special, multi-faceted player. Tomlin also says that Ike Taylor has been really good as well, and that there are certain players playing at a very high level. Tomlin also says that he has room for improvement as well. He says he didn’t realize they had lost a timeout when J. Scott went down, and he needs to get better in that regard.

In conclusion:

The Steelers have a tough opponent in the Texans. They’re a good team with a scary offense. The Steelers Defense will need to step up in volumes in comparison to how they played last week against the Colts, and the offense, particularly the offensive line is going to have to play better. If we can get points on the board fast and often against the Texans, we are going to be in big trouble. This is sure to be a high scoring game on their side, regardless of how well our defense plays. It’s going to be a tough week if a lot of things don’t get better in a hurry, in my opinion. That will largely depend on the coaching that happens this week, and then when they get down to Houston. My Friday article will go in to more depth on where I feel we’re at as a team right now, and how we can move forward in a positive direction.

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