It was a tough ball game. We knew that was going to be the case coming out here. I know everyone was asking me throughout the week “coach are you going to be crisper?” But the fact of the matter is that when you play against this team. The number one defense in the league. A veteran team. Throws the kitchen sink at you. And a team that has been able to dictate on defense and therefore take advantage of it on offense. They’re good on special teams with good kickers and cover people. That’s the great formula to win. To come here, in Pittsburgh, and really the Steelers have been able to get a 5-1 record by coming out in the second half in a lot of close games and they’ve been the deciding factor. Our third quarter did not look real good. Let’s face it. We hardly had the ball and we had terrible field position. A lot of penalties that were driving us crazy. Give the credit to the players and the coaches for hanging in there. For playing tough. For finding a way to win. Winning the fourth quarter, which is what we did. When the situation started to turn and we really started to get pressure on the quarterback he didn’t have a lot of time to maneuver the ball down the field. We got over some big plays and some penalties. We did not get the ball in the endzone at point-blank range but we didn’t let that discourage us and I think that was a key thing.

Re: Pressure
Throughout the game, but especially in the fourth quarter we had excellent pressure on the quarterback and he didn’t have a lot of time. We also did some good things with our disguises and making them think we’re coming in one direction and then not coming in that direction. You have to talk about our protection too because our quarterback was not sacked. Against this football team, they were the No. 1 leader in the league with 21 sacks. We came in here and played them here and they did not have a sack.

Re: TD pass to Boss
It was a goal line situation. We had been down there before. We had run a running play from that particular shift which was successful in that it gained a yard. I mean, it’s like running into that wall over there. We didn’t have much with the ball. That play came off of that look at obviously a really good time.

Were you aware their long snapper was hurt?
Definitely. That’s why we brought the pressure. When the second snapper came in at that vital time in the game with the score 14-12, we went with the rush. I don’t know that it disturbed him but the snap was high. Tough situation for that guy to be in. Let’s face it, all the time that the long snapper works with the holders and punters and kickers and then to have something like that come up. You try to keep your backups involved but that’s a tough situation.

Frustration getting FGs instead of TDs?
No. They were No. 2 in the league in turning people away with field goals in the green zone/red zone. We knew it was going to be very hard. We knew it was going to be tough. It is kind of frustrating especially when we were at the one-inch line to be that close. I wasn’t worried as much about the frustration as I was about finding a way to get into the end zone.

Flags not thrown on offense. Team resiliency?
You have to. For a while there, everything was going against us, then we did get a couple of flags our way but we hung in there. That’s the best thing about this group. They’re a tough group. They stayed together and hung together in difficult times and found a way to win it in the fourth quarter. That’s what we always talk about.