By 
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t get a single offensive touchdown on Sunday against Cincinnati. With the way the defense played, they didn’t need one. The Steelers’ defense gave up a touchdown on the Bengals’ opening drive, but didn’t allow them to score again the rest of the way and even scored a pair of touchdowns itself as a unit in a 23-7 victory. The win kept Pittsburgh in the driver’s seat to win the AFC North. However, as Ryan Clark says in the following interview, based on the way other teams are playing, and especially the Patriots, the Steelers are going to need some offense. Ryan Clark joined 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh with The Morning Show to discuss his attendance at a Justin Bieber concert, shutting down the Bengals, Pittsburgh’s offense not finding the end zone, Troy Polamalu’s pick six, an emotional conversation with Chad Ochocinco, his time away from Twitter, Mike Tomlin’s lack of excitement following a victory and calling Antonio Gates and Hines Ward slow.
On whether Justin Bieber came out with a Steelers jersey on when he went to see his concert:
“No, he had a Terrible Towel, but also Sean Kingston was before him and he had this whole set where he DJ’d … and the first song he played was Black and Yellow. … They played to the crowd, they did a good job.”
On shutting down Cincinnati after the first drive:
“We stopped getting penalties. I think that was the thing that gave us confidence and that didn’t make us get down about the drive: It was self-inflicted wounds. You think about you stop them on third down and get an offsides penalty to continue the drive. That’s not the Cincinnati Bengals, that’s the Steelers beating the Steelers. You also get a pass interference that puts the ball on the one-yard line. … After that, we were fine.”
On whether there’s reason for concern with no offensive touchdowns:
“Not on my part because, you know, I don’t really play offense. I can’t pay attention to that. We have enough problems stopping people from scoring, so it’s not my focus. … We know there’s going to be some games where we need them to score some points. You can’t beat New England and not score a touchdown … but that’s why it’s a team.”
On the Troy Polamalu interception for a touchdown:
“Troy hasn’t been practicing on Wednesdays and Thursdays, trying to give him the opportunity to heal that leg up, so the fact that he was limping, it concerned me, but he limped the last two weeks and continued to play in the games and finish the games. … It’s a great play. I’m no longer wowed by Troy anymore. I just feel like that’s what he does and that’s what he’s supposed to do. … Clearly we need him healthy. A lot of the big plays that have been made that have allowed us to win games are from Troy. … I feel bad for Carson Palmer. I don’t know if Carson Palmer didn’t pay his rent one time when they were in college or if he stole Troy’s Nintendo 64 when they moved or Carson just likes to throw him the ball, but he tortured him.”
On Chad Ochocinco nearly being in tears when they talked before the game:
“Honestly, dude was almost in tears. He was like, ‘Ryan, man, I just want to win. I want to know what it feels like to come into camp and know that I have a chance to win the Super Bowl. I want to know what it feels like to come out every week and feel like we’re the team that’s supposed to score more points.’ … That spoke volumes to me about the person and the public persona as opposed to what they really want to do. His words were, ‘I would be a number three option if I could get to the playoffs and I have a chance to win the Super Bowl.’”
On why he stopped using Twitter:
“Are people getting to me? No, they don’t get to me. It’s just not fun. I do it to talk to the fans and just get different updates … but I don’t curse, first of all. So any medium where people can curse, I’m not really good at that. People say ignore them. The best way for me to ignore them is just to not be on there. … There’s only so many words you can call me and be cool with it and not show a different side.”
On what Mike Tomlin was peeved about after the game:
“I don’t know, man. From what I remember, the game didn’t end as games should, so maybe that did it. Coach is kind of the same way all the time, though. I don’t think you’re ever going to get him in a press conference, no matter how we played, and he’s going to do backflips for y’all. He’s not going to be a show pony. If you show one of his clips, a soundbyte from him, you’re going to really have to search for it. … I’m not really sure what was going on with him, but it’s coach, y’all should be used to that.”
Comments