Pierre, Metcalf, Queen & Rodgers Postgame Press Conference (Week 14 at Baltimore Ravens)

James Pierre, DK Metcalf, Patrick Queen & Aaron Rodgers speak to the media about the Steelers matchup against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14 of the 2025 season.

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What do you see on that interception? Can you just go a little short? Just, you know, just like just listen to my coach, keeping my eyes on the quarterback, some of the non-stops that you had earlier in the season to be able to stop them there at the end, how big was it on the goal line? That was huge. like just to this organization, to this team, just like the mentality our defense have, like we trying to get off the field. Three plays, that’s just our our mentality. James, how important is this after last week? Does it feel like it was necessary for you guys to bounce back? Most definitely. Like each week we we try to like do our best, try to get the win. Our business is winning. J, what’s your thoughts on the on the overturn and maybe Porter staying after it there on that play? Um, you know, next play mentality, you know, no matter what, no matter what happens in the game, we just next play. You you guys had a number of injuries. Speak to the play of the linebackers with different guys going in and out. Um, you know, just next man up, we just knowing like we got to tackle hard and you know, tackling Derek Henry, you know, guys go down, so we just be ready. Next guy got to be ready mentality. Do you have interceptions and family bragging rights? N not necessar not necessarily. You know, it’s just my mom. You know, my mom going to be talking a lot about it. Have you ever intercepted him before? Um, we always played on the same team. Okay. James, was so much at stake the first place and what happened here last year? How big was the win to come here and win? Oh, it was big. Just playing last year in the playoff and just having them run running the ball on us last year in the playoff. just had that mentality like we got to see them again. You know, you helped shave some they could have when you stopped the the run 55 yard run out of bounds. He gets in that, you know, he will burn some time after that. Was that viewed as an important play? Oh, most definitely. You know, we got guys like Payton Wilson running. So, you know, I just want to match his energy, you know, just it’s just like we brothers, you know, we all want the same thing for each other. You thought you had a shot at him, huh? You thought you had a shot at him. time you need. Uh I just do run to the ball, you know, 21 21 man rule, just run to the ball. What do you make of DK Metaf’s punt gunner? How did you how did you grade that? When I seen I was like, he supposed to be I should have took it. I should have to take a rap for him. You guys good? All right. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thank y’all. We good in the back. All right. Fire away. DK, what was the what was it like this week to turn it around from losing at home to the Bills and coming on the road and seeing the Ravens? What turned it around for you guys? Uh, I think we just knew what was at stake uh first place uh for the division and you know, we we knew we were coming in facing a good team. Um, and they had just come off a loss a loss as well. So, we know we were going to get their best shot. But, I think we had a great practice all week. uh we were, you know, on all the details um throughout the whole week and um I think it came to fruition out there on the field. What were you guys saying to each other about, you know, how do we coach this game during the week? Um I mean, I just felt it. Um everybody kept talking about the rivalry, uh between the Steelers and the Ravens, and you know, that’s all that needed to be said. Uh Mike T would show old clips of uh the previous years and how the games came down to, you know, last second uh you know, plays made by um you know, our team. But um I think we just knew what was at stake and um you know that’s what h that’s what happened. Attacking right off the bat with the deep ball and then the start of the second half. Is that part of the plan to just attack him and be aggressive all day? Yes sir. Uh and then I think uh you know we all got our opportunities downfield and uh got our opportunities to to make plays and when the ball was in there we capitalized on it. It’s one thing to decide you want to throw the ball deep a lot but you guys executed a really high level. What were the details that you feel like you did right today that abled you to unlock that? Uh I think just uh us connecting at practice on uh Wednesday, Thursday um and even on Friday. Um the defense uh scout team gave us great looks. Uh we were competing all week at practice. Um and then like I said, man, we were we’re on all the details, all the checks, all the all the looks at uh practice. We were communicating all all week. So um yeah, I think it was just just a perfect storm. Um you know, for everything to just come together and for us to play a good game like that, storm. What’s it like to get a win like this for Mike Tomlin after kind of the the last week or so that he’s had that defensive? Yeah, we knew not to pay attention to any outside noise. Uh, you know, like I I’ve I’ve said this before, Coach T is a great a great leader for us. Um, and you know, he’s done nothing but take take the bullets for us. Um, you know, even when when it’s uh when we’re high and when we’re low, but uh he’s always come in every day has been steady and stayed the same. Always motivated us to always, you know, play our best ball. And um, you know, that’s that’s what he did last week. Um, and like I keep saying, man, we knew what was at stake, first place, um, in this heated rivalry. Um, and yeah, the better team came on on top. Was it satisfying for you guys to get the win though in that way in the middle of that? Oh, yeah. Uh, offense played good. Um, could still uh had a little lull at the end there, but uh, for the defense to come up big how they did was was amazing. Mike said earlier that you guys practiced a lot. How much did that first play specifically mean to you guys to hook up with that? Man, it was great. Uh felt great. Uh when I saw Aaron loaded up, I was like, “Here we go.” Um and that that was it. That’s all I’ve been waiting for is opportunities down the field. Um and we we were able to capitalize on that. Did you sense Aaron more locked in than we normally? No. Uh he’s he’s always been the same. Uh you know, every every game. Uh but this week just it felt different as a team, as a whole. Um as a offense, uh we we knew what was at stake. And like I like I said, man, it just felt different uh this week at practice, getting off the plane last night, uh getting here at the stadium, it just felt different. The meeting on Monday that you had in his house with all the skilled people, what was that? I mean, did that that serve any extreme purpose, at least helped you in this game? What was that all about? What was the impact? No, I didn’t go to the meeting. Uh I didn’t go to the meeting on Tuesday. No, no, no. I I meet with Aaron and Art on Tuesday morning, so I didn’t go to that meeting. What’s the conversation like on your sideline during the replay review of up there with the touchdown they had overturned? Did did you sort of sense that would be a return or was surprised you? Um no. Uh Joey Joey didn’t uh give up on the play. Um and we we knew that the defense is going to get a stop and we had to go back out there and and at least get a first down. We we weren’t able to do that. Um defense bow back up and got a stop uh on their two-minute drive. Do you feel like you were defended any differently today? Do you think Adam and Marquez being in there changed their approach? Uh, no. I think uh they they got a little uh I didn’t I didn’t see much sa safety help over the top today. Yes, sir. Um I think that was a big big thing of how uh you know we got to you know throw a lot of the balls down the field. You take that personal. I mean you were double team most of the year. I mean you see that happen. Okay. That’s a great opportunity. Yes sir. I’m not going to tell the defense what to do or what not to do. If they want to put oneonone on me then you know so be it. Final on that final punt. You were the you were a gunner on that play. What went into that? How much experience do you have gunning? And um how’ that kind of feel drew drew a hold on you? Um no, Skull was on the sideline saying his finger was hurting. So I told him, “I got you.” Uh when I saw him running out on the field and he went to the other side. I didn’t know that part until I got to the sideline. But uh I took one gunner rep in college. Um but no, I’m just trying to I’m trying to win. So did you go out and do that yourself? You went out there on your own. Yeah, if you want to say that. Yeah. DJ, you mentioned you mentioned the rivalry, DK. Was this what you thought it would be? Uh, at the end of the day, I look at football as football. Um, you know, they’re trying to stop us and we got to score points and that that’s how I look at it. I don’t look at any any game being bigger than, you know, the next. So, DK, what does this win from a confidence standpoint u from the team moving forward, how do you feel? Um, I think we put our best foot forward today. Um, and we still got to clean up some mistakes. Uh, we still have yet to play our best game. So, I think that’s the that’s the most confidence that we can go get out of this, clean up those mistakes and just continue to build off of this win. Uh, you know, against a good football team. You know, Aaron had the wheels like last, you know, Aaron had the wheels like that. No, I thought it was a busted play at first and then I saw him run to the sidelines. I just started cheering. Uh, yeah, my boy, my boy still is a dual threat quarterback. Good. All right, we’ll open it up for questions for Aaron. Aaron, Mike said, uh, identified pretty early in the week that you felt like the deep passing game might be a weapon for you in this one. Uh, it’s one thing to think that. It’s another to go out and execute the way you did. What went into the success in that area today? Well, I mean, I hate to sound like a broken record, but it’s all about practice. you know, when you when you go out there and execute and practice like we did this week gives you the confidence to be able to make some of those plays. And I thought it was uh our most crisp week of preparation on the field. I think off the field we’ve been really good, but I thought the energy was good. Um, not a big believer in coincidences. So, I got to think that uh just Marquez and and Adam out there, you know, made a difference from a professionalism standpoint. Not saying those other guys don’t have professionalism. I love G and Roman and all of our other guys, but just think there was an extra level of focus this week. And uh, you know, then Art wanted to be aggressive on the first play. you know, as you guys were talking about, we hadn’t completed a pass, you know, over 20 yards in a while. Um, and took a shot. DK got it and then he was kind of on one, but he was on one in practice on Thursday. Uh, and then he was on one on practice on Friday. So, love that from our guy. I think he even ran down on a punt. So, proud of DK, proud of our defense standing up there at the end and thought the offensive line dominated line of scrimmage from a pass game standpoint. We didn’t run it very well, but uh when we had to have some conversions on third down, you know, we made some plays. Aaron, what does it do for confidence when you hit that first big one? We did it against Cincinnati as well in the first third down. I wasn’t the first play of the game, but I just like Art’s uh kind of focus. He wanted to be aggressive throwing the ball. Um you know, and I knew it was going to be a lot of different guys, but once DK got going, I just kind of had to keep feeding him. And he had a couple huge plays. Then the lines, you know, in the second half, we’ve kind of sucked the first possession of the second half coming out and, you know, to start it off with a extended pass play and then DK to keep working and keep working and keep working and that big play get us down there, get a field goal and go down and score a touchdown. That was that was two good drives for us to start the half. The second half because you had some walls after halftime with kids, but you came out and were aggressive and hit those big passes. How important that was, you know, for your confidence defense. Yeah, it’s important. You know, we’ve talked about how many three and outs that we’ve had starting the second half and when you’re trying to, you know, defer that first possession of the second half is very important, especially if they went down and and got six there at the end of the first half, you know, to to be able to put it back to two scores. Now, they went right back down and scored. But then the most important drive of the game was that response that we had to get it back to 27 to 16. um which was a lot of different guys. I think I believe it was that drive where we had a second and 20 I think. Um hit DK and then had a conversion. Then they tried to pressure us and dropped two guys really. Pat was wide open. I didn’t see him. I just saw I just saw Jaylen in the flat and because Pat was side so wide open. He was the you know the convoy there to get in the end zone. So proud of our guys. Are you still feeling these? Are you still feeling this? I don’t want to use the word nimble here, but you moved around pretty well in this game. There have been other times this season. Is that Do you still feel like that’s something that you lead off when you can pull it off? Yeah. I mean, some games you feel better than others. I was just telling the linemen, you’ll understand this when you’re 40. You know, some days you feel better than than others. Wake up and there’s no specific reason why. You know, thinking like, what did I do last night? Did I sleep wrong or whatever? But some days you feel great, other days you feel maybe just good. Today I felt great. Um maybe because it got such a beautiful grass field. Um but I felt uh felt good moving around there and then to be able to run in a touchdown. It’s been been a long time there that there was in no way the play at all. It was a play to to Jonno and the whole left side just caved in. and I started running and realized I had two uh uh larger humans chasing me that I maybe was equal to or slightly faster than uh so that was nice to get in the end zone. You talked about you were you talked about during the week you talked about during the week you’re next not being sure if you’d be able to go under center today and you did. How did it feel going under center and how did that kind of open up more of the offense that was maybe missing last week? Yeah, I don’t know how much it opened up the offense, but it was important. Um, only Brook because I don’t feel like our action passing game was exceptional today. Our keepers were okay. Um, but just the threat of being under center, I think was uh was nice to not have to, you know, catch a shotgun snap all day and be able to kind of hear a little better at the line of scrimmage some of the calls that were going on. Um, that was a kind of a slightly rogue decision. um that I made starting Saturday. Uh but Gabe is a great dance partner when it comes to all things medical because him and I have a real good back and forth about what we should be doing. Uh and today I just went with a soft cast on there as the you know the bones are healing up and hopefully I can get out of that at some point. What did you see on the reception? Tell us about that play with your catch. I was trying to I was trying to bat it down. I was trying to get my hand on top of it and push it down. And when I did, I felt his whoever’s big paw was there. So, I kind of had a David Tyrie for a second and then it was a kind of a battle for the football. Um, you know, I didn’t realize at the time my knees were down. I was just struggling with it, but he was grabbing on my left wrist, which, you know, and then there was some extracurricular at the bottom of the pile and I was just pissed jogging off the field. So, I’m glad that call went our way. Will no sacks today. Um, how do you feel that your offensive line did today and pass protection? I thought the pass protection was excellent. Um, you know, AP went down and uh I thought Cookie stepped in and played uh played really well. You know, obviously we gave him a little help on a first couple of them, but proud of him for stepping in. But the line uh you know really gave me a lot of time today. There were some extensions. I kind of got out of a couple uh couple potential sacks, but for the most part, a super clean day. And that, you know, to still be recovering from my injury and to not really get hit a whole lot. I don’t know if I was on the ground one time without being clumsy and falling down. So, that’s a good day. Good feeling tonight. Um, appreciate those guys and I really felt the, you know, the rivalry today and how much it means to uh to both teams and the fans. What does it mean to get a win like this after the week that you guys have had and and the week that kind of Mike Tomlin has had too? Means maybe you guys will shut the hell up for a week. Oh, your cast’s different. Did you say? Yeah. Make a difference. Well, not on the reception. No, I mean Kabola, you can probably tell me this, but I I don’t feel like I’ve had a reception for positive yards in my career. I believe that’s three catches. Maybe three catches. Yeah, two forus. I wasn’t trying to catch the one. I promise. I wasn’t trying to catch that one. Oh, now right now, but uh I’m glad it wasn’t a pick. Two more here. Two more. We got PQ coming in. Two more. As you were watching the the replay of their play in the end zone. Did you think that was going your way or were you thinking we got to go out and put together a drive now? I was thinking we got to put a drive together and so is Mason. He keeps talking my ear off about, you know, different things that that we like and he likes and I like and and so he’s sitting next to me, Will’s on the other side. And Will and I are kind of like tuned into what’s going on in the incompletion and they move the ball back and they’re lining up for the next play and Mason can’t believe it cuz he’s been just talking my head off about these random plays and I’m like multitasking finding this out and so we had a good laugh at Mason’s expense for that one. and the defense last one defense dealt with a number of injuries. We’re on the field for I think 21 of the last 24 plays. Just speak to what they they gave you today. Yeah, great effort. You know, I think a lot of guys uh stepped up with the injuries that we had. Looked like a you know, there were three or four guys that went out. So, I’m proud of all those guys. Um, you know, and just the guys that are out there playing, you know, with JP coming up with another huge pick, uh, turnover for us and, uh, Chuck playing a lot of meaningful snaps after not playing, you know, a ton of defensive snaps over the last few weeks. Peppers was out there for us. Cole Hulcom was out there for a number of snaps. So proud of those guys. It was an incredible effort down the stretch to hold him uh on the, you know, red zone and then obviously in the two-minute uh come up big with timely uh highlight play by Alex. All right, thanks. in the back last two games here last year and you got to depend on how important was it to come in this game? Yeah. Um I don’t think last May last year really mattered to us. I think it was just more of us um coming out here and fighting for what’s at stake. Um you know everything is about the future. Um so today we just had to be present and do what we had to do to control our destiny in the future. So mind you, did you survive with this game? I thrived. No, I had a little hiccup here and there, but I made it through. Made it through. Mike said that the offense had aggressive mindset. You guys kind of feed off a similar type mindset heading into this game. Yeah, like that first play was not expecting that at all. So that definitely got us fired up. Um, you know, we we really trust our offense. Um, I was talking about it early in the year. We let them down a couple times and stuff. So, um, just we know we know we got on offense. We just got to get them the ball. Um, get them in get it to them in good field position. Um, we trust every single guy on our offense to go out there and do their job and do it at a high level. So, it comes back to us as a defense, be able to do our jobs at a high level, get the ball back to them. What does getting out a win like this do for this team’s confidence going forward? Uh, I think we just got to stack it. I don’t think um, you know, as a confidence booster. I think it’s just the fact that we just got to go out there and do it again. Um, bless you. Um, I think it’s a more of us being consistent. Um, it was flashes this game. we still wasn’t as consistent as we need to be. Um, but it’s just a whole thing. I think it’s more momentum than confidence if anything. How big was it to hold in the field goal to turn there in the secondary? Yeah, it’s huge. Anytime you can cancel out some points like that. Um, you know, it gives us a chance. It gives our offense a good chance to go down there and score and get seven. Um, so um it’ll be better to stay out those situations and keep them from getting field goals, too. But, um, at the end of the day, you know, it’s three or nothing in those situations. at one point at the end there you’re laying down on the sideline getting treated then next thing you know you’re in there breaking up a pass on a key play was that you had to get back in because you guys were leeching oil or because it’s a chance to win in Baltimore or what’s going through your head in that I’m just trying to be me get back in the game I was trying to get back in the game like two three plays before that but you can’t have both the headsets on the field at the same time Pton was in there and I trust Pton to be able to do his job at a high level and stuff so I was just waiting to a perfect time for me to be able to get back out there I ain’t want to have no confusion going on um I ain’t want us to have to waste the time out or anything. So, um it was just me waiting on uh you know a situation for me to be able to go back in there. Um that’s all that was for you to get your first win back here. Uh I think if you would asked me last year would have meant a lot. I think at this point um I’m two years in here. Um you know what was at stake was more important. Um and that’s all I care about. Um you know trying to win a division. So at the end of the day um yeah it does it feel good? Yeah. I mean, obviously so, but um the whole, you know, mess, uh I’m over it. Can you talk me through the uh that you think they score a touchdown, then it gets overturned? You got to back out on the field and then be able to think that check time and come to stop it. Yeah. Um we just as soon as that happened, you know, we sitting there, we stop, we all still sitting there talking um and just trying to realize what what plays going to come next. Um so, we knew what kind of team they were in those situations. Um everybody did their job. um we was able to get off. Um I think the biggest thing is all of us staying locked in, everybody talking, communicating with each other and trying to understand the situation and how big it is for our team. PQ Alex has dealt with a lot this year. Can you speak to the impact he made in this game today? Yeah. Um you got a guy like that. Um for us when we’re covering, it’s just all about getting those guys time to go make a play. Um you know, he’s been through so much. Um and just knowing him as a person, um how strong his faith is. Every single day he comes in and works super early. Um you know, he’s always got a smile on his face. He’s never down. Um if it is, it might be like a two second down period, then he’s back up smiling and stuff. So, um dude, dude’s an absolute dog. Comes in every single day, like I said, with a smile on his face, ready to work there early. Um and that’s something we can all feed off of. How did you feel that the defense did from a communication standpoint, especially during that last stop? Yeah, I think we was way better. Um it was every single play, guys calling stuff out. Um guys calling stuff out that we don’t even expect. Um so it was just it was a whole lot of talking. every single person on the field. Um, from JP all the way being outside coming down to pep, uh, Chuck Ram, uh, every single guy from the Dline talking about, hey, I see this, I see this, like it was so much communication. Um, and that’s what we need every single play every single game. Um, guys just communicate at a high level that gets everybody on the same page. Um, and if it’s something somebody say something wrong, then we all can make them right, you know. Um, so the biggest thing is us understanding that and just repeating it. You ran 26 more plays in the offense. Happened quite a bit this year. Why was it different today? Um, I think at the end of the day, um, you know, we don’t be looking at play counts. We don’t be looking at all that stuff. We just looking out there to go get a stop. Um, and at the end of the day, you know, they got a few runs here, bleed us here and there. Um, a few taked downs that we could have been closer to in coverage. Um, so, um, at the end of the day, we got chances to get off the field and we could, we just didn’t. So, um, that’s one thing that we got to grow on and be better at. Um, and I know we will. What does a win like this mean for you guys after the week that kind of Mike Tomlin had going back to the last game when you know fans are frustrated and they’re kind of voicing that? I mean at the end of the day it’s media media going to do stuff like that. Um any guy in the building could care less. Um you know it’s a brotherhood. It’s a family. We got each other’s back. Um all we care about is what’s in the building. All the stuff outside we could care less about. We just trying to do what’s best for us and our team. Um so just being able to get a win like this right now um is just going to create momentum. Um, I think at the end of the day, we all understand how everything went this week. Um, so we need to repeat that this week. You said you need to stack it for a month or so now. Is that the next focus? You have to hit the stretch like that. I think we just need to about stack. I just take one day at a time. Stack that day, stack the next day, stack the next day. Um, rep after rep. Um, meeting after meeting, whatever it is, just be locked in cuz you know, season flying by. Like to me, everything flies by. Um, so every single day I wake up, I try to just be present in the moment. Um, that’s how I take it. I think that’s how we should take it as a team. Just live in the moment day by day, play by play, meeting by meeting, whatever it is, just just stack it. You answered the question about Alex. A lot of the same things you said about Co. What do you say about him today down? Yeah. Um, anytime, you know, you got a guy that went through what he went through um, and battle back. Um, it’s just it’s incredible to see. um every single day he’s in meetings talking, taking notes, answering questions that we somebody else trying to answer stuff. He’s always on top of his stuff. So, um he’s a smart guy. He’s extremely extremely high competitor. Um so, we really don’t expect nothing less. Um dude’s a baller. Everybody knows that before he got injured. Um he was a baller. Everybody knew about him. So, he’s just coming back doing what he does. Thank you guys. Cool. Thank y’all. Y that is everybody.