(on last week's game)"It's pretty simple, we turned the ball over. You look at the game and we punted five times and they punted five times. We scored one touchdown they scored one touchdown. We were thirty percent on third down; they were twenty-one percent on third down. If you're in an 11 or 12-possession game and you turn it over five times, I don't care what else you do your not going to win."
(on David Carr getting sacked)"It was a number of different things; I think there was only one that was attributed to our offensive line. The tight ends, the backs they had a little to do with it. The one time David could have thrown the ball away. We knew when we were going in that we would have our hands full with Buffalo's defense, just like this week against Pittsburgh's defense, the two best defenses in the league last year. We get the opportunity to open up with the two best defenses."
(on if playing David Carr as a rookie helped) "I think it helped him. It's easy to look back and say, well he got sacked but he gained a lot of experience, the guy was tough. He has improved every year. He has gone last year from a sixty-nine rating to and eighty-three rating quarterback. I anticipate that he will be better. We were not pleased with the start we had gotten off to last week. I have confidence that David will rebound from that."
(on if it is better for a high drafted rookie quarterback to play rather than sit back and watch for a year) "I think that if you had the perfect situation you would like to bring them in and sit and watch. I think every situation is a little bit different. If you are in an expansion situation, having gone through this twice now (the first time at Carolina was quarterbacked number one having sit and our rookie quarterback sat and watched we had a couple veterans. That lasted for three games) Then you start to say let's put him in there and grow with the team. We just made that decision from the start with David. I you have an established team, If do not think that probably happens."
(on why more teams are going to the 3-4 this year) "You look at Pittsburgh and New England, normally this is a copycat league. When teams are having success people are always going to study what they are doing. I also think things go in cycles, if you look over the last twenty-five years in the league, the 3-4 was really popular and prominent and all of the sudden you only saw a couple of teams playing it and everybody is playing the 4-3 I think it swung back the other way a little bit."
(on taking time to build the 3-4 defense) "Yes, we are still a work in progress. It's something you have to build. You know what you are looking for; it just takes time to get the pieces together. The first couple of years here we spent all of our high draft picks on the offensive side and played all of those guys, as young guys. The last couple years we have spun around and spent a few more picks on the defensive side."
(on if Seth Payne is an ideal nose tackle in a 3-4) "He does a good job. He's a smart guy. There was a lot of carry over in terms of things that we asked him to do those two years I was there in Jacksonville and what we ask him to do here."
(on finding 3-4 defensive ends) "One of the things I think is great about the Steelers organization is the fact that you have such continuity there over a long period of time. I think that there is a system in place. There are very specific qualities that you look for in terms of those positions. You're a lot more familiar if you have played something for thirteen years than you are if you have played it for three years. I think it helps the personnel department because you have references to look at in terms of players that have played in the defense and have been successful, what qualities enable them to be successful, the coaches all have a really good feel of what kind of player that you are looking for at that position. I think the consistency of doing it over a long period of time really helps in terms of really nailing down what type of guy you are looking for."
(on any significant differences in the way Pittsburgh is running its 3-4 now and are there any significant differences in yours) "I think there are a lot of similarities. There are differences in everybody's, small differences. I was there when Dick (LeBeau) and Bill (Cowher) started and I always look forward to watching them play on defense. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what they do and what they accomplished and the way they play defense."
(on if there was a debate when you came with this first staff in Pittsburgh on what defense to put in) "Not really, Bill had been in Kansas City and they run a lot of 3-4 with Derrick Thomas. I had been in New Orleans and we had Ricky Jackson. We both came from some what similar backgrounds."
(on if Buffalo did anything in particular to take Andre Johnson out of game last week) "They always had a guy up on his nose. They rolled a safety over the top to him a bit. It really wasn't as much as what they did do, as to we did not execute to the point that we wanted to. I'm not taking anything away from them; they are a good aggressive defense. They were right behind Pittsburgh last year; they were number one in the league in takeaways and number three in sacks a year ago."
(on his impression of J.P. Losman) "I thought he did a nice job for his first game. I think the number one thing he did was a job of protecting the ball. We had two or three chances where we had our hands on balls but we did not make them. He is a mobile guy, with the running game, Willis McGahee, his mobility helps him."
(on if Willie Parker is the real thing) "All you have to do is look at that one tape and say where in the heck did this guy come from?"
(on knowing much about him when he was coming out) "No, I did not know much about him. I found out in a hurry when I watched the game on Sunday. You can see his speed and his game breaking ability. He just jumped out at you and he ran like he was trying to prove something."
(on turnovers helping a defense that gives up a lot of yards) "That is always a great equalizer. For the whole twenty years I have been in this league I have kept the turnover ratio. That is the number-one thing; if you take care of the ball and you get a couple takeaways you have always got a chance. If you are minus-three, minus-four, like the Titans last week or minus-five like we were last week, it's the first time in our history that we have been minus-five. We know what we have to do; we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. We know the Steelers do a great job of it and they do not turn it over much. We can not turn it over."
(on defending any differently against a back with the style of Parker as opposed to if Bettis was in the backfield) "I think you have to be really cautious at playing great leverage because of the speed factor. They are two total different style running backs. Bettis is a big pounder and down hill guy, where Parker can come out of there and use his speed to outrun you at any point in time. He catches everybody's attention with his big-play potential."
(on if the Steelers insist change the play calls just because Parker is in there) "Yes, they do a great job of running the football; I felt that since Bill (Cowher) has been there. I know that the time I was there, the first three years we ran the ball great. I think Sunday's game was a perfect game of the Steelers philosophy. You run the ball forty-one times, they threw it eleven but those passes were big plays and gained a lot of yardage off of there play pass game. If you run the ball effectively then it opens up your play pass game. If you can combine that with not turning the ball over that is a winning formula."
(on if Roethlisberger looked in form that game) "He looked in as good a form as you want your quarterback to look."
(on if you would like your quarterback to only throw 11 passes) "That would be fine with me. If you are running it 41 times and throwing 11 times you're normally winning. If you can combine that play with the kind of defense and get four takeaways like the Steelers did Sunday you have the perfect formula. Bill (Cowher) and the team have to feel real good on what they got done in the opener because it looked like it was scripted, basically."
(on coach Cower saying that the game you played in 2002 was bizarre) "I do not know if there will be another one like that."
(on anything specific that David did coming off the off-season that you notice was really an improvement by his game) "I think he has matured every year. He knows how to mange the game better now than he did before. That was a tough start up there on Sunday, but David's demeanor, I have confidence that he has looked at it and I think he will bounce back and be anxious to get back out there this week."
