General: “Really, not a lot to say. I’d like to extend congratulations to the Denver Broncos, their staff and players. They played a good football game, of course, and did the job and won. They persevered. I’m proud of our guys and the way they fought but, obviously, we’re not in it for the moral victories, it wasn’t enough. They made the significant plays tonight, particularly the chunks that allowed them to win. We accept responsibility for that like we have through many, many legs of this journey this year. But we fell short.”
On the defensive struggles to contain Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas
“They did a nice job. I’d be remiss if I didn’t compliment Demaryius Thomas and the other guys that made the significant plays. More than anything it was some good tough challenging catches by them and some run after. Nice job by those guys.”
On the impact of the Pittsburgh injuries
“You know better than that. We don’t live in that world. We don’t make excuses in regards to injuries. The guys we put on the field were capable of doing the job and the reason we didn’t do the job is because we didn’t perform. We didn’t perform well enough from a coaching standpoint and from a player standpoint.”
On how much QB Ben Roethlisberger’s injury affected his performance
“Not significantly. It won’t be enough to be an excuse, that’s for sure.”
On the Steelers last possession of regulation
“Lack of execution by us.”
On if he had been through a second quarter like the one they faced tonight
“I have been in many situations standing on the sidelines in the National Football League.”
On the performance of RB Isaac Redman
“It was what we expected. He did a nice job. Not only him but all the guys in replacement of some guys that went down. Isaac did a nice job.”
On feeling like the Steelers took back control of the game in their final possession in regulation
“At no point did I feel comfortable, you know, there’s time on the clock. But we were in position.”
On his surprise at the number of passing attempts by Denver
“No, the number of attempts wasn’t surprising. The number of long completions was. I think they had under 20 in regulation, which is right within their personality. I think the significant difference is the number of big plays they were able to connect on. [That can be attributed to] Throwing and catching by them. Execution.”
On his expectation of QB Tim Tebow’s rushing yardage
“I thought he would potentially run more.”
On the last play of the game – first play of overtime (Denver touchdown)
“He [WR Demaryius Thomas] got inside of our cornerback. Of course we had a number of people committed to the run. He made a nice catch. He was able to break free. The catch is less of an issue than his ability, of course, to break free and the run after. The run after was significant, not only on that play but in several instances tonight.”
Source: Steelers Gab