Mike Tomlin has known Tony Dungy for quite a while, having gotten his first NFL assistant coaching job under Dungy in Tampa Bay in 2001. So when his former boss and mentor, now an analyst for NBC's 'Football Night in America' broadcast, asked him for an honest assessment of his team during a one-on-one interview to air during Sunday night's game, Tomlin gave it to him.
In spades.
"Oh, we can win it all,” Tomlin said. “We should win it all. I think that’s my mentality. I think that’s their mentality. But I’m less concerned about that and more concerned about what are the things that we’re going to do along the way to make that happen.”
OK. Nothing wrong with that. But Tomlin continued later in the interview to speak of a certain team that beat the Steelers in last season's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers host New England Dec. 17 and, while plenty of fans and media have pointed toward that game for a long time, Tomlin hadn't mentioned it -- until now.
"I’m going to embrace the elephant in the room,” Tomlin said. “There’s going to be fireworks. But it’s probably going to be Part One. You know? You’ll burn more fuel trying to pretend like that doesn’t exist than just to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Man, that’s going to be a big game. But probably if we’re both doing what we’re supposed to do, the second one is really going to be big and what happens in the first is going to set up the second one. It’s going to determine the location of the second one. You know?”
When asked about that statement following his team's 31-28 win over the Packers, Tomlin called it a candid moment between two friends.
And he was adamant it wasn't bravado.
"You know, I've got respect for this process," Tomlin said. "We've got a good football team. I've got a great deal of confidence in them. Everybody in America knows that's a big game. We couldn't deny that if we wanted to. You guys are going to ask us about it between now and then, so I stand by my statement."
Now, it's up to his team to back it up -- in three more weeks.
"New England? What?" Coty Sensabaugh said when informed of Tomlin's remarks. "I'll let Coach speak to that. We're in Cincinnati next week."
"Of course. I don’t think there’s a doubt in my mind about that," Le'Veon Bell said when asked if the Steelers think they can win the Super Bowl. "I don’t think there’s a team in the league that can beat us besides us. I’m always confident. I’m sure everyone in this locker room is confident. The only team that scares us is us."
But, Bell also cautioned that the Steelers aren't looking past their next two opponents, Cincinnati and Baltimore, knowing if they lose one or both of those games, the game against New England would take on a different meaning.
"I’ll worry about the Patriots when we get there," he said. "I know we’ve got an AFC divisional opponent next week with the Bengals. That’s going to be a tough one. I’ll worry about those guys first. When we get to the Patriots, I’ll worry about them."
INJURY UPDATES
Ryan Shazier injured his right ankle in the fourth quarter after a routine tackle, and he lay on the ground for nearly two minutes in obvious pain. But he returned to the game and, afterward, told our site it's no issue.
"It's fine, really," he said. "I'm fine."
He had nothing supporting the ankle in the locker room and walked as easily as he played.
Tomlin cited two injuries after the game -- referring to both as "bumps and bruises," for what that's worth -- the other one being to Alejandro Villanueva's ankle. He, too, finished the game and afterward declared himself to be fine.
HEYWARD'S SACKS
Cam Heyward recorded a pair of sacks in this game, giving him nine this season. No defensive end with the Steelers has reached double-digits since Keith Willis' 12 in 1986.
It was part of yet another generally excellent showing by Heyward, who also finished with six tackles -- second-most on the team -- two of those for losses, and three quarterback hits. He led the way, in particular, in the second half as the Steelers applied much heavier pressure to Green Bay's backup quarterback, Brett Hundley.
"The second half really settled things down more," Heyward said. "It wasn't ideal, the way we played, but as I got in a rhythm, I thought it got a little better."
The highlight came in the third quarter: Heyward and L.T. Walton both had sacks after the second of two interceptions by Ben Roethlisberger to move the Packers back to the Pittsburgh 39. Mason Crosby then missed a 57-yard field goal that would have been the longest in Heinz Field history.
"We were doing our job, honestly," said Walton. "There were points in the game where we could have played better defense, obviously, but when you win, you win."
HELLO? ANYONE HOME?
Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy will be second-guessed for a good while for his decision to try the 57-yarder. The Packers were up, 21-14, and had the momentum. But Crosby's easily forgivable miss handed the Steelers the ball at their 47, and Ben Roethlisberger took them right down the field to tie.
A reporter asked if McCarthy had known no one had ever kicked a field goal here that long.
"No," he replied. "I don't know if you've ever called plays. You have 40 seconds on the clock. You don't have time to check records. You go off your pregame. We had a mark for going north and going south. That was right on the fringe. I obviously have a lot of faith and trust in Mason."
The Packers were kicking toward the north end zone, not the once-and-former dreaded open end of the stadium.
MARTAVIS RETURNS
Martavis Bryant returned the opening kickoff 38 yards up the left sideline, marking the first kickoff return of his NFL career and the longest by anyone with the Steelers all season.
"Not since college, man," Bryant said with a broad grin of his kickoff history at Clemson. "That felt good. I liked it."
Bryant also made four catches -- on six targets -- for 40 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter, as he was more involved with the offense with JuJu Smith-Schuster out for a hamstring injury:
"Awesome," Roethlisberger called the play. "What a great route. He had the look, and we practiced that route. Once he got outside, he was even. I know when he's even, he's leavin'. I threw it out there and let him run under it."
TAKE A DAY
The Steelers announced after the game that the players will have the day off Monday. No work, no media availability. They have an extra day to prepare for next Monday's night game in Cincinnati.
THE FINAL SEVEN
• The Steelers, riding a six-game winning streak, have won at least nine of their first 11 games for the seventh time in franchise history, the first since starting 10-1 in 2004.
• Le'Veon Bell's 12 catches were the most by any running back with the Steelers in the Super Bowl era. Franco Harris, who was in attendance, had 11 on Sept. 19, 1982, against the Bengals.
• Chris Boswell's winning 53-yard field goal matched the Heinz Field record -- the Cowboys' Dan Bailey booted one of that length last November -- and was the longest by a Pittsburgh kicker here.
• Roethlisberger led the Steelers to a game-winning drive for the 41st time in his NFL career, 37 of those coming in the regular season.
• The Steelers have won eight consecutive Sunday night games, beginning Dec. 15, 2013, against the Bengals, and they're 24-7 in prime-time home games since Heinz Field opened.
• The defense's four sacks raised the season total to 38, which is the team’s fourth-most in the first 11 games of a season since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. The most was 41, which occurred in 1994 and 2001.
• Green Bay's opening-possession touchdown drive ended the Steelers' NFL-long streak of not allowing one at 27 games.
Dejan Kovacevic contributed to this report.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Packers, Heinz Field, Nov. 26, 2017 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS