(on if he can describe what kind of battle it was) “It was a battle. Look at the plays they made defensively, some of the throws Aaron Rodgers made. On the touchdown to (Greg) Jennings in the first half, I knew the play. I was in a coverage where I wasn’t supposed to be there and I schemed it up so I could try to get a jump on it. He just threw it right by me. They were the better team today. They executed better. They made more plays. But it was a fight. I don’t think they’re going to go away thinking that they played a team who can’t play with them. But they know they were better today. Read more [...]

(on how he feels after the loss) “It hurts of course. We didn’t come out with a win. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times.” (on hurting his shoulder) “It was just a stinger. You just have to walk it off and go back in.” (on this being the biggest disappointment of his career) “Playing all the seasons I have, you have to keep perspective on things. Even though we lost today, it was still a great season. We made it here, but unfortunately we lost. We tried to do the best we could, but we didn’t get the win today.” (on the feel in the huddle when they got the ball Read more [...]

(on the game) “It was real tough. It was a great game. We just came up short.” (on the difference in the game) “Three turnovers to zero, that was the difference. Every time they got a turnover they scored.” (on Packers QB Aaron Rodgers) I have a lot of respect for him. He is the reason they won. He is a phenomenal guy.” (on Green Bay not running the ball in the second half) “We didn’t think they would, honestly. We knew they were going to come out five wide. We expected that and they made the plays and we didn’t.” (on what was said at halftime) “We’re not dead, Read more [...]

(on the pain of losing a Super Bowl) “I don’t feel anything but pain. It is a job, it is a game, it is what we do. It was definitely not who we are, but I am going to get to the hotel and try and let some of my pain go and play with my son.” (on the pain lasting a few weeks) “I know I lost an AFC Championship game one time and the pain was there for about four to six weeks. I don’t know how long this is going to last but I hope it is over with fast.” (on the emotional bond with your teammates) “Each one of these guys is my brother and I mean that to the depths of my soul. Like Read more [...]

(on the bad start to the game) “We didn’t convert the first third down. That was huge because we are used to getting off to good starts. But it wasn’t anything they did. We just weren’t executing. Penalties killed us early, and turnovers.” (on getting into a rhythm) “Right before the half, once we got the two drives and the ten points, we were confident going into halftime. We came out and I thought we started right where we wanted to. We had a chance for a touchdown pass to take the lead, but we just missed it. It was a battle from then on in.” Read more [...]

(on what he was thinking about after the game) “We lost the game. Their offense put more points on the board than we did. We allowed them to put points on the board, and they beat us.” (on why the Steelers couldn’t put pressure on Packers QB Aaron Rodgers) “We let them out of third-down situations. We had opportunities, but whether we were jumping offsides or letting them hit a big play downfield. It started up front, and we didn’t do a good job of getting pressure up front, and we allowed big plays.” (on frustration over turnovers) “It was a little frustrating, but we had opportunities. Read more [...]

(on losing the Super Bowl) “I am very disappointed. We made too many mistakes. When you are playing in the Super Bowl, you are playing against a good team. You can’t make mistakes.” (on whether he thought Ben Roethlisberger would bring them back) “I expected him to bring us down and get a touchdown. He has done it plenty of times. I have all the confidence in the world in him.” (on if the Packers did anything that confused the defense) “We just didn’t execute correctly.” (on the Green Bay offense) “Those guys made plays and that is the bottom line.” (on his thoughts Read more [...]

(on what went wrong with the game) “It’s hard to say. I think we played a really good football team. You have to give Green Bay a lot of credit. I’m proud of the way our guys in the locker room…the heart and determination they played with, but ultimately we got in too deep of a hole to start the game and we weren’t able to climb out of it.” (on how much Rashard Mendenhall’s fumble changed the game) “I’m not sure at what point in the game that happened. If I’m not mistaken, Green Bay went down and scored to go up by two scores after that. It’s getting late in the game, Read more [...]

(on his message to players after the game) “Just said ‘thanks’. You know, they worked hard, we appreciated the effort they put in all year. They got us close to winning a seventh championship and that’s pretty impressive.” (on how he feels about the organization’s ability to recover from the loss) “I feel good about our organization. We lost to a good team and a great franchise. My hats off to those guys for what they accomplished this year. We just fell a little bit short.” (on how he feels about the team heading into the uncertain labor period) “I feel good about our Read more [...]

(on if he thought his team was going to pull off the comeback) “Yeah, I thought it was going to be one of those magical moments. Two minutes left, one timeout, we have the ball. We had a silly special teams penalty that kind of negated us, put us back, really backed us up. But we came out, we started off with (TE) Heath (Miller). We just didn’t finish. That’s something that we’ve done all year. It’s just disappointing, especially to play in a Super Bowl and get to this level. You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t do it on this stage of the game for the Super Bowl. They were the Read more [...]

(on how tough the loss was) Toughest one I’ve ever had in my life. (on Rodgers) “He put the balls in some tight places and he made some really good throws. He played great. Is he the MVP tonight? He deserves it.” (on the Packers defense) “Their defense outplayed our defense. Anytime you can force turnovers, especially score on turnovers, you know we were trying our best to create some but it didn’t work out for us.” (on thinking they would win) “Absolutely, man, it’s incredibly humbling.” (on his performance being less than usual) “I don’t know, I had some opportunities Read more [...]

(on the loss) “It was hard-fought. Obviously, it’s disappointing to lose. For me it’s even more disappointing because you feel like you let a lot of people down that stood up today to fight – people like Doug Legursky, Trai Essex, Ramon Foster, Antwaan Randel El. Personally, I feel like I let a lot of people down.” (on what the problems were early on) “You know what, you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They’re a great defense; they got after us and I turned the ball over and you can’t do that.” (on Hines Ward) “I mean, it’s hard to – people like that just play Read more [...]

(on coming back from deficit and what that says about the team) “We’re not into moral victories. We came here to win the football game, of course, and we didn’t do that. Green Bay did and we congratulate them.” (on what his mindset was going into the final drive having been in the position before) “It was just that, not anything emotional to be honest with you. We were just looking at the scenario- 1:59, I think, and a timeout and a bunch of grass. We’ve been in that situation a bunch. We practice that situation a bunch. Quite frankly, we’re probably fully capable of executing Read more [...]

Hines Ward Press Conference Transcript Thursday February 3rd Super Bowl XLV QUOTES FROM PITTSBURGH STEELERS PRESS CONFERENCE WIDE RECEIVER HINES WARD (on how he’s played at such a high level for so long) “To still be here at such a high level after 13 years, it seems like every Super Bowl I’ve got a different counterpoint opposite me. I just remember Randel-El in Super Bowl XL throwing me the ball, and then Santonio Holmes in XLIII catching that ball in the end zone. I was just ecstatic for all of them, and here I am still plugging along at it. I know one day, eventually, they’ll Read more [...]

Brett Keisel Press Conference Transcript Thursday February 3rd Super Bowl XLV QUOTES FROM PITTSBURGH STEELERS PRESS CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE END BRETT KEISEL (on how long he’s been growing his beard) “Well, it’s been going on about eight months now.” (on his religious beliefs) “I was raised to gain a relationship with God, so it’s just something I’ve always been brought up to do. When you play in the business we play in, a lot of times you can get knocked down. In order to get back up, sometimes you need a little help, and you have to be willing to reach out and get it.” (on Read more [...]