I said to him (Alexander) that if I were to put him back in the game and he were to get hurt, I would never speak to him again. I told him that, and he said, 'No, I'm OK. Don't worry.' I'm really glad that we could do that and he could score. |
I said, I need everyone to pitch in because we're short receivers, you know. And (Williams) goes 'I'll help you. I'll help you today running routes.' Right after I took his job away from him. That's been this season. |
I saw Ray this morning. I went over to his home and he's very, very upset that he can't make it to the game. Do we miss him? Sure we do. But we're going to do the best we can without him. |
I start to grind. It is frustrating as a play-caller. You have to be careful not to try to make it all up at once. You have to fight the urge. |
I talk about that a lot. I think if you asked one of my players, they'd probably tell you I kill them with that stuff. Just being careful. It's the last thing I told them Sunday night after we broke from the stadium after the game. After this incident, it gave me another opportunity because they were listening. I mean for the guys who kind of tuned me out before, now I had everybody listening and we talked about it, which, I think, is my responsibility as a coach. You know these guys are my family, and it would be like talking to your own kids, you don't want bad things to happen to them so let's try to help them a little bit. |
I talked to a number of players on the team -- including our offensive linemen -- they really wanted to do this for him. That's all healthy stuff, that's all good stuff. |
I talked to him Saturday morning, and he was walking and moving. And he felt pretty good about it, |
I talked with (defensive coordinator) Ray Rhodes and we both agreed that that was as fine a game executed as we could remember, all around. They were better than good. They were really good. Physical, smart, and they made key plays. They just set their mind to it and did it. |
I thanked him for allowing the coaches to build something. In such a volatile industry, you don't always get that. |
I think (Thursday) guys were tuned in, and we had a very good, crisp practice. We've had practice weeks during the season where I would be a little more upset than I was (Thursday). So I felt pretty good about how we did. And I think the practice week has been fine that way. |
I think [the game against the Cowboys] helped us. I think their styles of play and what they ask their players to do is quite different. Dallas has a very fine defense, but their 3-4 is different than the Steelers' 3-4. They don't zone-blitz quite as much. They crowd you a lot on the edge with their corners. Pittsburgh doesn't do that quite so much. There are some differences. As far as your count system and how you are going to protect against a 3-4, that preparation has helped. |
I think any time you can achieve some balance on offense, it creates problems for the defense. As soon as you become one-dimensional, then any defense can focus in and get you stopped. |
I think getting sick scared him. |
I think he brings some stability to that group. The linebacker group is a very, very young group. He is kind of the elder statesman. He's rather quiet, he's not a big vocal guy, but they do have questions and he's been there. |
I think he feels more comfortable with it all the time, ... Some guys it is easier to do that than others. They get used to looking at the ball a certain way. He is doing fine. |