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HEAD COACH TODD BOWLES
(On if LB Devin White was supposed to cover Steelers RB Najee Harris on the opening touchdown of last week’s game)
“Yeah, he had two busts on the first drive.”
(On White’s performance last week and this season)
“Nobody played good enough last week against Pittsburgh. Any time you get a penalty and a blown assignment on the first drive, you don’t come back and play well. Overall, I think he’s had a good season. It’s still early – we’re getting our kinks out. He’s not the only one [who had] a busted assignment or a [mental error] here and there. We don’t want to rough the passer – we had a chance to get off the field. But he’s been playing well for us – he’s active, he’s healthy, he’s running around fast, he’s making plays. We’re happy with him.”
(On the 12 men on the field penalty last week)
“It was a miscommunication and we’ll correct that during the week.”
(On if the sideline should have called a timeout prior to the 12 men on the field penalty)
“It was a miscommunication and we took care of it.”
(On how the absence of S Logan Ryan will impact the secondary)
“He’s the most vocal back there, but we still have guys that communicate – Keanu [Neal], Mike [Edwards], [Antoine] Winfield. He had experience to do most of the things since he’s played in most of the spots, but other guy`s – Dee [Delaney] has stepped up some, obviously we’ve got Nolan [Turner] as well. Guys just have to take more onus on it.”
(On why TE Kyle Rudolph has not played much so far)
“He’s healthy. The young guys have been playing well. The young guys have been playing well. There’s nothing wrong with Kyle, he’s going to help us this year – we want him to help us, he’ll help us this week. With Cam [Brate] healthy and Cade [Otton] coming on and Ko [Kieft] coming on, you have an influx of guys. You kind of have to wait your turn.”
(On his assessment of S Keanu Neal’s performance)
“He’s played very well – he’s a physical presence out there. [At the] beginning of the season, he was just coming off of a bicep [injury] as well, so he wasn’t really practicing as much at the beginning of the year. We didn’t really need him there and he had to get healed up, but now that Mike [Edwards] went down, Keanu has started in this league a long time. [He’s] very smart, very tough, a heady football player – he brings a physical presence for us. We love what he’s doing.”
(On how S Mike Edwards is progressing)
“He practiced fully today – he didn’t do anything last week.”
(On the reason for the lack of explosive plays on offense this season)
“I think they’ve keyed in on some of the things – we may have to change some things up here and there. Sometimes it’s the [offensive line], sometimes it’s the route progression, sometimes it’s the quarterback – but we’re changing some things around and we’ll adjust to it. It’s not about the explosive plays, it’s about sustaining drives. You want the explosive plays but you also want longevity of the drive and then finish it off at the end.”
(On if he has considered asking Senior Advisor to the General Manager Bruce Arians for offensive ideas)
“Well, this is my team, not Bruce’s team – but we talk all the time. You don’t jumpstart by asking a former coach what to do. We have our own things to deal with and we understand that. We’ve been with Bruce long enough to know what he wants, but they’ve been with me to know what I want. We’re working towards that and we’ll get through it.”
(On if he differs philosophically from Arians in regard to explosive plays offensively)
“No, we want to score, I want big plays too – but you don’t chase them just to chase them. There are parts within the game in which you have to take them and hope they come through. Obviously we have different players than we had last year and we’ve got to approach things a little differently and find out what works best for us this year, not last year and two years ago. [The] lineup is completely different – ‘Gronk’ (Rob Gronkowski) is gone, ‘AB’ (Antonio Brown) is gone, [Ali] Marpet is gone, Ryan [Jensen] is down. We’ve got different people to adjust to different things so you can’t really compare and say, ‘We’re going to do what we did last year, this year’ when the guys are different.”
(On how to manufacture explosive plays and get more speed in the offense)
“It’s up to us as coaches to make that happen and design plays to make that happen. The players have to play better, but we have to coach it better. We understand we’re different and we’re making the adjustments – we’ll be fine as a staff making those adjustments going forward. It’s really not anybody’s idea or thing that we’re not doing, we just have to come together and understand who we are and that we’re not [the team we were] last year because of the people being different. We have to find different way to get explosive [plays] – that’s a coaching thing and then that’s a playing thing. I think we’re working in the right direction and we’ll be okay with it.”
(On if he was surprised at how many times G Luke Goedeke went one-on-one against Steelers DT Cam Heyward last week)
“Luke is a big boy, he can take care of himself. At the same time, we have to help him as well. I don’t think you can line anyone up against Pro Bowlers and go most of the game and play one-on-one – I don’t care if you’re an All-Pro guard. At the same time, he’s got to use his hands more and at the same time, we’ve got to help him. We’ll do that going forward.
(On the report that the team is expecting C Ryan Jensen back in November)
“As far as I know, he’s still limping [and] hobbled. I can’t tell you how he’s going to heal – he’s walking better and that’s the best I can tell you. I don’t know when he’ll be back.”
(On if there has been more progress with Jensen’s recovery)
“Other than him walking around without a brace – that’s all I’ve seen. No more progress than I’ve seen before.”
(On if there was more miscommunication than usual against the Steelers)
“On two plays there were, yes.”
(On if the miscommunication is on the players or the coaches)
“It’s on everybody – it’s something we take care of in the meeting.”
(On the team not executing well in high-leverage situations like third downs, red zone and short yardage)
“I think it’s more than that – it’s more than third down, red zone, short yardage. I think it’s first down – there are plays within that that cause those things, there are penalty setbacks that go along with that on both sides of the ball. Then we’re not executing at the end and we’re putting ourselves in these situations – we have to get out of these situations, we have to learn to get out of these situations. We have to coach them out, they have to play their way out. We’ve discussed that going forward and there are things we’re doing in practice to try and correct those things.”
(On how often QB Tom Brady calls audibles at the line and how much authority he has to do that)
“I think as a quarterback, everyone has plays to audible [to]. You never get one play – there’s always five or six plays within the play, based on what they do defensively. Byron [Leftwich] knows about it, the offense knows about it, everybody knows about it – we’ve just got to execute better.”
(On if G Luke Goedeke has received enough help this season considering the quality of interior defensive linemen the team has played)
“He gets help – it’s not just him getting beat, we get beat at different places at different times. He’s a rookie – he plays well, he’s going to be better, we’re going to help him be better and we’re confident in him. We’re going to play it from there.”
(On if veterans like OLB Shaq Barrett and CB Carlton Davis III need to step up)
“We’re 3-3 and it’s early on. Big players make plays in big games – there will be a lot of big games left to play. We’re confident in our guys – different guys have to step up at different times.”
OUTSIDE LINEBACKER SHAQUIL BARRETT
(On what led to the Steelers sustaining their last drive of the game)
“We just [didn’t] make the plays that we had been making the entire game. [They were] mental lapses – that’s how you lose a game in the fourth quarter – missed tackles, mental errors, people [were] out of position. We didn’t make the [plays] we were supposed to make. We’ve got to be better.”
(On if he feels like the defense needs to step up until the offense gets rolling)
“No, it goes both ways. There are times when we struggle and they pick us up, times when they struggle and we pick them up. That’s what makes us a great team – we can feed off of each other. I know they’re going to get it together, [there’s] no added burden. I always want [the defense] to lead our team and I know the offense wants to lead our team as well.”
(On if there’s a raised sense of urgency following the 3-3 start)
“Yeah, I would say so. We just want to address the problem, fix it, then start seeing better days.”
(On if it’s discouraging to have mental errors and miscommunications on defense)
“It sucks – it takes a toll on you. Especially [in] a game like that where we felt like we played well enough to win [for] a majority of the game and to not come out with a victory. It hurts a lot – you get frustrated for sure. As a team and as coaches, we just come back and figure it out and get it together so we won’t suffer the same consequences in a game like that again.”
(On preventing third-and-long conversions)
“Well, if we get pressure on the quarterback we can force a bad throw, so it starts off with us getting pressure and affecting the quarterback in the pocket. Then the guys in the back end just being where they need to be and making plays when they get the opportunity to make the plays.”
(On how to stop Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey)
“Just doing our jobs – staying [sound in our assignments]. We know he likes to bounce so if you’ve got the edge, keep the edge. And whoever is in their gaps, keep your gaps because he can take it anywhere in a split second. Just do your job, maintain your gap and pursue to the ball because he’s good at making people miss.”
(On still being tied for first place in the NFC South)
“Yeah, we’re ultimately in the position that we would like to be in but we’re just not playing the way we want to play. Once we start playing the way we want to play, we’ll be in a better position.”
WIDE RECIEVER MIKE EVANS
(On what he can do as a leader to help right this ship)
“Just play better. Play better and keep doing what I do – balling hard and staying positive.”
(On what is missing in terms of explosive plays)
“We’re just not as good right now as we used to be, I guess. I don’t know – [we’ve] just got to figure it out.”
(On if the team needs a speed receiver to take the top off)
“I don’t know – I just have to be better. Everybody has to do a better job of making plays.”
(On how to get more targets in game situations)
“When the ball comes my way, it’s my job to make the play. I obviously want the ball as much as possible, but if it doesn’t come my way, I can’t control that. I just run my routes super hard. I feel like I’ve been running them pretty [well] this year. So, I’ll just look forward to getting the ball this weekend.”
(On how he would describe the team’s attitude coming off of a loss to the Steelers)
“Optimistic. We’re still – are we tied first for the division? We’re still optimistic. I mean, you can’t stop playing. We’re all professionals. We’ve got a division game coming up this week – we’ve got to win it. It’s a must win for us.”
(On what is slowing the offense down)
“Penalties… just teams beating us. They’re just beating us. I mean, the Steelers were more physical than us last Sunday – got to be more physical and clean up the penalties.”
(On being prepared for the Steelers)
“I mean we were all prepared for it. They just beat us. They did a good job. They played a lot of two-high [safety], they made us run the ball and were really physical with us. We didn’t score touchdowns in the red zone except on the last drive.”
(On what needs to happen in order to score touchdowns)
“[We’ve] just got to be better.”
(On if there is a sense of urgency heading into this week’s game getting the offense to click)
“There’s always urgency to me. In my opinion, there’s always urgency. Hopefully, we can turn it around soon because we know what we’re capable of.”
(On what he’s looking forward to about facing Carolina)
“Hopefully getting a [win]. I mean, we need a win badly here. Just got to do everything we can to get this win.”
(On if he is encouraged by the talent on this team)
“Absolutely. It’s a super long season. I feel like we’re just trying to stay as healthy as possible and get it right, right now before it’s too late.”
(On what his message is to his teammates)
“I already told them, and I’ll keep that between us.”
(On the silver lining of being tied for first in the division)
“Yeah, we’re just looking at the positives, but we don’t want to underachieve. That’s what we don’t want. We’ve just got to be better and soon.”
CENTER ROBERT HAINSEY
(On getting the offense going)
“Yeah, the most encouraging thing is we’ve played six games and I think we’ve yet to play to our capability. There’s a lot ahead of us and when we execute, when we’re on the same page, and offensive-line-wise when we see everything through one set of eyes – there’s a lot of room to grow and to continue to improve. That’s exciting.”
(On the message he got from QB Tom Brady during the game against the Steelers)
“Improve, get better. Everyone can call it what they want, but I want nothing else than a quarterback [like] that – a guy who’s willing to tell us what we need to do and step up, [as opposed to] just sitting over there and not getting us going and not trying to help us. He wouldn’t be who he is today [if not for that]. I love that from him and I know we all love that from him. It might look weird on TV, but that’s football – it’s a team sport and that’s what you want from great teammates and great leaders and he’s the best there is.”
(On if the message from Brady was positive)
“Absolutely – always improve. Always improve, do the best you can, give him time, let’s make plays, let’s go win the game.”
(On his relationship with Brady)
“It’s pretty cool – he’s an awesome dude and I love learning from him. He’s got so much knowledge of the game so any time I can pick his brain and kind of figure out what he wants and how he sees things, it’s a really cool opportunity for me. I enjoy that a lot.”
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