Highlights

TODD HALEY: “Afternoon everyone. As you know, Dwayne Bowe is suspended for four games. Appreciate that you all are curious about it, but this is now officially a league matter and there’s nothing I can speak out on.

“That being said, our receiver group must step up now. We lose one of our better receivers for four games. I’ve said here for the last couple of weeks I feel like our receiver group is improving as a whole. It will be an opportunity for a Bobby Wade to get back into the mix. I know he’s been waiting for another opportunity and he’ll get one this week. But as a whole, this group needs to step up and fill the void.

“The Steelers have a lot of experience. They’re a very talented team and well coached team in all phases. Offensively, they can run the ball. They’ve got a very good receiving group that can hurt you. Ward has obviously been one of the best players for a long time at his position. Santonio Holmes has come into his own and looks like he wants to be a great player – 39 of his 43 catches have gone for first downs and that’s an impressive, impressive number. The quarterback is playing the best I’ve seen him play, even better than he was going into the Super Bowl last year.

“Defensively, they’re a very well coached group and very disciplined. It’s hard to find holes. [Defensive line] is underrated and deserves a lot more credit for what [it does] for that defense and they have a very good secondary. Obviously, Pittsburgh for a long time going way back is known for [its] linebackers and this group doesn’t let them down.

“We had a very good day of practice and I think the win definitely put some gas in their tanks and they’re excited and ready to play.”

Q: Can you talk about when you first learned Bowe could be facing a suspension?

HALEY: “No I can’t. Now it is an official league matter and I can’t talk about any of the specifics of it. Again, I appreciate the need to know but the big thing for us is that this group of wideouts understands that it’s time to step up and play.”

Q: For you personally, do you feel disappointment, anger, your feelings on the issue?

HALEY: “Again, I’m not going into any feeling as far as Dwayne goes. That is what it is and, again, this is an opportunity for this group to grow. It’s no different than injuries. When somebody goes down somebody has to step up and that’s all part of the process of us becoming a good team. This will be a great test for us.”

Q: Who gets those snaps? Wade, Bradley?

HALEY: “The details of who is where I won’t get into. I think Bobby Wade will be back playing and I think that’s good for him. He was not playing because of anything to do with his ability. That was more roster-related two weeks in a row. I tried to make that clear to you and to him. It’s tough decisions and last guy and somebody has to sit tight. Bobby’s been chomping at the bit and he helped us a bunch when he got here and now he’s looking to help us again.”

Q: What are you looking for in Lance Long?

HALEY: “We brought him here for a reason. Lance has some unique skill to him. I had some familiarity with him but, again, he’s a young receiver in the league that doesn’t have a lot of experience. He wasn’t a highly productive college receiver but is a guy who’s kind of come on, works hard. It’s really hard to out-work him. He’s out there running routes ‘on air’ by himself in practice. This kid works and he has some unique skill. We’re just trying to find out what we have as we go forward.”

Q: You’ve lost your best wide receiver and your starting running back over the last couple of weeks? Are you having to make any adjustments tactically?

HALEY: “I think that’s been going on regardless – no different than me talking about the defense. We’re trying to find ourselves and trying to find an identity and knowing exactly what we are. I feel like we’re making progress as a team and a defense and, offensively, we’re kind of in that same deal. But that doesn’t have anything to do with the two players you were talking about. It’s just where we’re at. Every Monday and Tuesday we’re sitting in there and asking, ‘how can we be better than what we are.’ What can be done to give us a chance to win? That’s really where we’re at and how we’re thinking.

“I think the players came in today with a little wind in their sales and they were excited to get at it. Everybody doesn’t get an opportunity to play the Super Bowl champs and it’s a big week for us.”

Q: How difficult was that process in preparing for the Steelers now without your best leading wide receiver?

HALEY: “That’s just part of the game, again, no different than with an injury. We’ve got a player who was a starter on our offense and somebody has to step up. They’re not going to cancel the game and we’ve got to be ready to go. I think we started that process today.”

Q: You’ve seen guys who have been suspended by the league and had to be away for weeks at a time. How challenging is it for a guy to be totally removed from the team and catch back up?

HALEY: “I was thinking about that. I don’t know that I’ve been with a guy who’s been suspended or I’ve been directly involved. So, this is new for me. Again, we’ll talk about that when the time comes. We’re concentrating on the Pittsburgh Steelers and how we’re going to have a chance to compete against a team that’s been a very good team for a long time.”

Q: Is Dwayne supposed to do stuff on his own?

HALEY: “Again, I can’t get into any specifics of his deal.”

Q: What did you like specifically about Lance Long? What was his unique skill set?

HALEY: “Lance was a guy in Arizona that I think we got for about $500 right after the draft. One of our coaches on the staff had been a college coach of his and he knew him. Lance doesn’t have a lot of college career catches but he knew him and said he would be a great guy for camp. He’ll come in and give you an honest day’s work and when the draft ends that’s always a tough deal where you’re scrambling trying to find enough guys. You have holes at certain spots. I really didn’t have any expectations for Lance and really tried to run him off for the first month [in Arizona] or so. He’ll probably attest to that.

“But as time went on you could tell this guy wasn’t going away. His role early on and for most of the year was just a show-team player. But every day the guy made plays and the defense didn’t like him and you take notice. That’s the way guys make it and there’s never going to be a day he can ever take off. But he’s quick and he’s tough and he goes a hundred miles an hour all the time. That’s what got my attention. As we’ve said here, if we’ve got a chance to upgrade we’re going to do it every time we can.”

Q: What have you liked about him since he’s been here? It seems like he’s done enough to get an advanced role.

HALEY: “I think he’s shown enough to continue trying to work him in. He hasn’t been perfect, the out-of-bounds [play vs. Jacksonville] being a big thing and last game he missed a big block late in that game that might have given us a chance to keep the ball at the end. But again, with each guy you’ve got to take in account all the variables and this is a guy who does not have a lot of experience. We’re trying to give him on-the-job experience; that’s the best way to describe him.”

Q: Dwayne Bowe released a statement saying in training camp he was trying to lose weight to better himself and help the team and apologized to the team. Do you think your workout program and conditioning part of training camp was too strenuous to where it made some of the guys feel they had to take shortcuts?

HALEY: “A lot of time is put into the offseason conditioning program and the weight-set with our expert training staff on what we set those weights at. No different than anybody else. They’re all consistent with a healthy weight and condition for guys to be in and that helps them.”

Q: Is there any fear that Dwayne might not be the only one?

HALEY: “I’ll only comment on what’s fact and right now we have a player suspended for four games.”

Q: But given your youth and what the Steelers meant to you and your family, will it always be a special feeling when you play them?

HALEY: “Without a doubt, my memories of the Steelers will never be taken away. It was a phenomenal time to grow up in Pittsburgh and then to actually have a connection to the Steelers through my father and me getting to work for them in a much lower capacity. Those are tremendous, tremendous memories.

“The year they went back to the Super Bowl a few years ago when they played Seattle they showed all the old [TV] clips and my wife elbows me and says, ‘are you crying?’ They’re great, great memories and there are still a lot of people there who mean a lot to me.

“I know the Super Bowl was a surreal experience having to play of all the teams it’s the Steelers. I had to fight with my friends because Steeler fans don’t convert. Most of my other friends who are fans of other teams they convert to wherever I am. But my Steeler fans don’t convert. They stay.

“Now we get to play them again and I’m just looking forward to the challenge because they are a well-coached team. Coach Tomlin has done an unbelievable job with a very talented team and Coach LeBeau, how can you be a better coach than he’s been over the years? It’s a great challenge.”

Q: What did you tell your wife when she asked you if you were crying?

HALEY: “She knows I’m a pushover. I cry at commercials.”

Q: Tell us about your new fullback and what you like about him?
 
HALEY: “Tim Castille is from Alabama and shared duties at Alabama at fullback. Tim is another guy I have some experience with and I’m excited to get him in here. He’s a guy that can help us on special teams and I think he can be a little bit of a cross-over back and be a bigger running back for us and play fullback.
 
“He adds to us in a couple different spots especially with (Dantrell) Savage being injured. He got going today.”

Q: Did Mike Brown do enough to win the AFC defensive player of the week award?

HALEY: “The two plays that Mike made for us resulted in three points for one of them and then the drive at the end when they had a chance to win he made a play. I’m very excited that Mike got that award. That’s good for him but, again, that was last week and we’re trying to get ready for the Steelers.”

Q: How has coaching changed from yesteryear with today?

HALEY: ”[Pittsburgh] Coach Noll was a very cerebral thinker but I saw many times [he] get guys moving. All the assistants were a hard-coaching group and were coaching great players and they obviously got results. I think everybody’s different. It wouldn’t be a fair question to ask me how it’s changed.”