« Transcript: Mike Vrabel's conference call with Pittsburgh reporters | Main | MNF numbers »

December 5, 2007

Transcript: Mike Vrabel's conference call with Pittsburgh reporters

What’s Ohio State doing in the title game?
Hopefully not getting blown out. They’ve got some scores to settle with that SEC.

Do you guys have the Steelers number; you’ve certainly beaten them enough times?
No, I don’t really understand that or get that. I think we’ve always played them it’s certainly been big games. It’s been in a championship game or was the opener up here. When we opened our new stadium that was certainly a big game, it was I think a Thursday night game. Just the thing that I think about with them is that it has always been an important game or it’s been a big game and we’ve made the plays in those games to win.

A lot of us saw what the Jets did to the Steelers, Mangini used to coach with you guys, and people think that you can do the same thing with better players. Is that accurate?
Well, I think the thing that you have to understand about this league, which you guys know, is that it is a copy-cat league. The film is available to everybody and you look at the film and I’m certain that’s one of the games we’ll look at. Just as we’ll look at the Bengals game and the Dolphins game and right on down the line. You have to be careful with some of those games, that’s not quite reflective of their offense. Because it is an explosive offense and sometimes playing in those kinds of conditions you don’t really truly get to see what they are capable of. But, we’ll certainly look at all the film we can.

Any advantage in being in close games the last two weeks for you guys, Mike?
I think that not that you want to have them, but there are going to be close games in the league and you have to win games in the fourth quarter. Not that it’s good or bad but there used to be a day where that’s how we played. We played games, tight games, close games and we won them in the fourth quarter. That’s how this league is. There are tight games every week. There’s teams that have a chance to win with the ball and that’s how it comes down to.

You guys made it look so easy for most of the season. Does it help you winning those close games?
Yeah, I think helps anytime you are in a position to make plays and I said this earlier in the year that there are going to be opportunities where we are going to have to make the right plays and we are going to have to perform under pressure and make the plays down the stretch to win games. We’re not just going to be up by three or four touch downs. If you make a mistake it doesn’t cost you the ballgame. We did that, we stopped them and we were able to stop them when it counted and get the ball back and the offense was able to complete the drive.

What are some of the differences with this year’s Steelers offense compared to the Steelers you’ve played in the past?
I think the running game is obviously always prevalent. The thing I think that impresses me a lot, which they have done in the past, is that Ben’s been able to get out of the pocket. He makes a lot of plays out of the pocket. He’s very consistent. I know those plays aren’t designed but as soon as he is out of the pocket, those receivers know they have a chance to make a big play, or the tight end, if they get open or uncover from their guy, he’s able to find them.

Speaking of tight ends, do you enjoy that position as much as any?
Well, it's part of what I do. Its not a big focal point, but it’s situational football that we have to do, whether its goal line, red zone, two minute, things like that. It’s just situational football and it may be comes up a couple times a game, maybe it doesn’t come up, but I have to be prepared for it.

Is this the best New England team you’ve been on?
Well, it’s the most talented. I think that nobody can say that they have the best team they’ve ever had until the season is over, until the run through the playoffs and the Super Bowl. I would look back to San Diego last year and I’m sure they thought they had a really really good team but I think if you asked them after the season they would say that it wasn’t because you have to win a championship to be considered that good of a team.

How important is it to you guys to go undefeated?
It’s not what motivates us or not what challenges us. We’re trying just like everybody else is to get ourselves in a position for the playoffs. That’s what everybody does. And obviously by winning games, the more games you win, the better opportunity you have to get home field advantage, to get a bye. So those are the things we’re trying. We won our division and we have to just keep trying to check off goals.

What was your reaction to some of Baltimore’s claims about how the referees wanted you to win?
That would be a first for me that if I ever left the game thinking that the refs wanted us to win. I don’t really pay much attention to it. We’ve been in those positions before. We need to concentrate on the Steelers.

Why was Baltimore able to have such success running the ball, and how much of a concern is that going into Steelers this week?
Well, I think it is a big concern. If we don’t get those problems fixed, I would say that Pittsburgh runs the ball on average a little better than Baltimore does. So if we don’t fix the problems that we had, I’m sure it’s going to show up again on Sunday.

Does it all affect a legacy when the league ruled you guys were cheating?
No. We’ve moved past that and I don’t think it affects our guys on this team and how we prepare or how we try to go out and play.

In some way have you used that as a motivation at all?
Well, no, I think we are past that and we are moving on to other motivating factors, playing the Steelers and the way they are playing right now and the guys that they have on their team, that’s motivation enough.

Posted by Art Martone  at 4:52 PM to Mike Vrabel | Permalink