Featuring postgame quotes from the following:

Head Coach Mike Tomlin

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Opening Statement:

Certainly, a disappointing home opener. There's a lot of things that we can do better in all phases and in coaching and we will. I compliment those guys on a winning performance. You know, it was still a ball game, man. There's a lot to be desired, certainly, but it's just interesting. We were in a close ball game last week and a special teams play broke it open in our favor. This week we're in a close ball game and a special teams play broke it open in our opponent's favor. I just think that's life in this business at this level. I have a desire for us to be cleaner so you can't point to singular plays as pivotal points in the game, etc. So, we have a lot of work to do and that's just to put it succinctly. Had some injuries, [lsaiahh] Loudermilk had a high ankle. [Alex] Highsmith had a high ankle. Patrick Queen had a rib injury. Payton Wilson was just heat-related, fatigue. He missed a block of time. A couple other guys went in and out and were capable of returning, James Pierre kind of being one of them. But really disappointed. We'll get better, we have to. We'll begin that process tomorrow. Questions?

What happened on that kickoff that they recovered?

Poor judgment by a young player.

Is that's something you specifically work on in practice?

Every day of our lives.

Seattle seemed to go at you pretty aggressively across the middle. What happened there? What more could have been done?

Early in the game or just in general?

In general, yeah?

You know, they made some quality plays at different points in time. We absorbed some attrition that probably limited our communication and thus our call sheet, but that's just a part of the game. That's what you do. You complement them.

Is it injuries that are catching up with the defense?

We were down some bodies going into the game. We absorbed some attrition in-game. Many of those guys are new so it's a challenge. We certainly are capable of better than that so we'll keep working.

You had fourth and one or less than one at midfield late in the third quarter. What was your thought process of kicking it there?

It was a 14-14 game. Neither offense was lighting it up at that juncture. AsI mentioned, we absorbed some attrition on the defense and so I wanted to protect that group and keep them on a long field.

How concerned are you about the protection that [Aaron] Rodgers is getting right now?

You know, I'm concerned about a lot of things. We didn't perform to the level that we desired not only in that space but in a lot of spaces and so certainly there's a lot that has my attention leading into this upcoming week.

From a layman's perspective it seems at times the offensive line didn't hold their blocking long enough and also at times, Aaron [Rodgers] didn't get rid of the ball quick enough. So, could that come to a happy medium in terms of maybe correcting that succinctly?

Certainly, two things are capable of being true.

Coach, you had 59 yards rushing before that last drive. What is needed to get this running game going?

You know, we have to possess the ball more. Certainly, we're capable of running it better but time of possession, our lack thereof and our opponent's ability to has been a component of that equation or that discussion the last two weeks.

Anything stand out on why other teams seem to be having a lot of long runs against you?

No, we just got to be better. And we will be.

What did you feel was allowing them to be so successful, those big chunk plays, especially on third downs?

You know, we didn't eliminate some known eligibles I thought, particularly early we didn't do enough to minimize 11 on possession downs. I thought we improved in that area. That's why we were able to settle it down. They went down the field and scored on the first drive, but, it was pretty nip and tuck after that for the remaining two quarters until the game got broken open.

Can Jaylen Warren handle an even heavier load?

I'm certain he can. I know that he had a good week's work. I know that he felt good going into today and he expressed that and so I see no reason why he can't.

Your rush defense, in terms of last week and this week, two back-to-back 100-yard rushers. Was there that much difference between the Jets and the team you saw today?

You know, I haven't made my comparisons. As I sit here today I'm digesting what transpired in stadium today and we got to be better.

What do you feel like teams are doing to minimize T.J's [Watt] impact and what can you do to get him some more looks?

When they're successfully running the ball, they minimize their one-dimensional pass and circumstances. I assume that you're asking about his ability to impact the game from a rush standpoint and so it's obvious what it does when they're on schedule and running the ball effectively. You minimize your opportunity to get one-dimensional pass rushes, individually and collectively.

QB Aaron Rodgers

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What were they trying to take away from you that was effective or difficult for you?

I mean, they're sticky on the outside. Good coverage guys and played a lot of two-shell and we just couldn't run it effectively enough to kind of get them out of it. On tape, there's been a lot of pressure, a lot of different personnel rooms. Now with 'Spoon (Devon Witherspoon) being out, they played less, different groupings, less pressure, much less pressure and more two-high.

What wasn't working for you on third down? I believe you were 5-of-15 on the day.

Everything. I wasn't on target. We weren't getting open effectively enough and they were getting some good pass rush.

There were times in the game you looked like you were pretty spirited out there, maybe a little bit disappointed with stuff that was happening, whether it was with yourself or... is this starting to get a little frustrated?

No, it's Week Two. Come on. Come on. It's Week Two. I mean, like, it's good for us. Last week probably there were some people feeling pretty good because everybody outside the building was talking about how great we were on offense. And 34 points. That's the League, you can't ride the highs or ride the lows. You have to refocus every single week and be a professional and it starts with the practice and the preparation and so we just get a chance to reset. Take a look at what we did last week, what worked, what didn't work from the preparation standpoint? Do better next week.

Sometimes when you're in the red zone and you get to a certain point and you end up with a field goal, is it harder to motivate, especially some of the younger players you get off to the sidelines and tell them to just keep on pushing?

No, not at all. I look at myself first and if we have a field goal, I probably wasn't effective enough in a situation. But I feel like we had a good couple drives, defense is playing good in the first half and we just came out and just couldn't do a whole lot in the third quarter and obviously the play that took a lot of points off the board was the interception there on the three-yard line or whatever.

What were you looking for on that interception?

Pat Freiermuth. And Cal (Calvin Austin III) is the best kid ever, but he probably should have just stayed in the flat there. He knows it. He was kind of stealing it from Pat or catch it and put it away. Score a touchdown. But Cal's the best kid and, you know, it sucks because he's such a great kid, but unfortunately that whole sequence took points off the board.

The offense was not effective enough on first down.

Yeah.

So, what do you need to do to get that turned around? Because that's so important being effective on first down.

Yeah, we have to run a little better. I have to be a little more effective at throwing the football. We have to do our job. I think if you go back and watch the film which we will tonight and tomorrow, we were close in a lot of plays, and it was probably one person. Sometimes it was me, sometimes it's somebody in front. Sometimes it's the perimeter. We just got to own our mistakes and be very accountable to each other and take this kick in the chin the right way and be a professional about it and come to work this week and move on and get ready for New England.

I just want to ask you about the performance that Jaylen Warren had, a couple of monster plays, obviously, for you. It looked like a number one running back in the NFL.

What do you mean?

Well, his part here has never been really a feature back before.

Yeah, Jaylen's a great player, man. He's a great player. That was an awesome catch and run. He brings a lot to the table. Might have to keep giving him more opportunities in the pass game. Every time he touches it, something good happens.

What's the concern level of the amount of hits you're taking? Was today, like you alluded to more coverage than it was protection.

I have to look at the film. I'm not trying to take a lot of shots. I feel like I was moving a little bit better today, but, you know, we got to protect it. Get the ball out, get open on time. Sometimes the coverage dictates holding on to the ball a little bit longer. But it's on all of us. I got to get rid of the ball, we got to get open, got to hang on up front.

You had a lot of crossing routes last weekend to different players. What do you feel like disrupted you from that aspect of your offense this week?

I don't know if we called a lot of crossing routes, but they played a lot of zone coverage two high, so that's good against a lot of that stuff.

What would be your advice to Kaleb Johnson after his missed play and on special teams?

Kaleb's a great kid and this is a 'what have you done for me lately league' and when you have success early on, you have to learn how to handle success and when you deal with adversity, you have to learn how to deal with adversity the right way and you can't let this get your confidence down. You can't hang your head. This is a professional league, and we expect greatness. But we also understand there's going to be mistakes. They happen. We're human. You must move on and get better but he's a great kid and I know he'll come to work on Monday and Tuesday and keep his mind sharp. He's always asking me, hey, what do I got to do better, and I tell him things, and he works on it.

Hate to see it, but this is professional football, and we got to get him to raise the standard of his game without losing that confidence and understanding he can't ride the wave. There's going to be great games. There's going to be disappointing games. They're going to love you when you're riding high. They're going to try to crush you when you get beat. So can't let it crush you, crush your spirits. Keep your confidence.

On the touchdown drive and two-point conversion, you used two combat balls to DK (Metcalf) and Darnell (Washington), and they won them. How can you maximize more of that in the red zone to be more consistent in finishing when you have that kind of size advantage?

It's been two weeks. Last week we were 100% in the red zone. So, this week we weren't, so. I think we need to take it easy. It's a small sample size. That was two nice plays on 50/50 balls by two big guys. We had a chance, you know, I think probably a touchdown to Pat (Freiermuth) that makes it 21-14 and change it is whole scope of the game. So, we got to understand this is the league and things happen and we're not trying to crush anybody on our team. Just what happened, happened. Disappointing for KJ (Kaleb Johnson), we love KJ. Cal's (Calvin Austin III) trying to make a play. We love Cal. We just got to be 100% with our assignment in order to win some of these games. It comes down to one or two plays. It could be in the first quarter. It could be this the fourth quarter.

LB T.J. Watt

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What do you see going on with the run defense? They had a number of long runs against you guys. ls part of that tackling? What's happening?

I don't know, man, we're going to have to look at it and break it down. Clearly, it's the same issues that are rearing their head from last week and in the NFL, you don't have time to go back after each and every game and make the adjustments. You need to make the adjustments before they happen and if they happen in-game, before they're allowed to continue to snowball like they did today and like they did last week. So back to the drawing board. I'm sure there's a multitude of different reasons why this is happening but we're way too talented. We have way too good of schemes to allow this to happen week after week.

Did you come into this game thinking you fixed some of those issues in practice?

I was definitely confident. I think each and every week we feel confident going into the game. You never go into the game thinking negative thoughts, but clearly it wasn't enough.

What was allowing them to have so much success on those chunk plays? It really felt like on third down they picked up a lot of big yardage.

Yeah, we weren't able to pressure the quarterback as much as we'd like. There was a good amount of max protection. We just need to be able to get home and help the guys in the back end to reduce those big plays, even third down and long, some of those were runs too. We need to do a better job of stopping those plays, so they're not allowed to have those fourth and ones and be much easier to convert.

Do you feel teams are maybe now these last two teams are going through the middle in part to avoid you?

I don't know. I mean, I'll let you guys speculate all that stuff. I'm just trying to help as much as I possibly can any way that I possibly can.

Does it affect the mood and psyche of the defense sometimes? You have the offense and you're going down but they're kicking field goals. I'm not saying it has to, but does that sometimes have a negative effect on the psyche of the defense?

Not at all. Just trying to control what we can control. We have enough problems on our hands than to be worrying about the offense.

Going back to Baltimore, we know the struggles, the playoff game, the run game and then these two first weeks of the year. Is that the transition the emphasis on stopping the run doesn't seem that it's happening. You talked about it but is there anything from last year to this year that you thought you guys had fixed or at least you thought you might have set?

There's always an emphasis on the run. The first note of every single week is smash the run and you guys have heard me say for nine years we're always trying to smash the run and it's not a look of trying. Schematically, effort, I don't know, we'll have to look at the film, but we need to be better, and we need to look in the mirror and we need to turn over every stone we possibly can because this can't continue to happen. Otherwise, you're just going to continue to see what we saw today, not really able to pin your ears back. Teams aren't able to get into one-dimensionalsituations. You have to wait until a two-minute drill potentially to be able to get after the quarterback like we do. Yeah, it's not fun football right now. We need to get back to doing what we do best and that's stopping the run first and foremost to create those longer down and distances.

When that's number one priority, stopping the run, how deflating is it, then, when you don't do it?

Very deflating, we're sitting here talking about it the whole press conference.