HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (general comments)
"We put the finishing touches on the week, and it's been a good week. I think our guys are excited about the opportunity. They're excited to be back at practice and looking forward to playing. LB-Gilbert Gardner did not practice today with the flu. We got TE-Ben Utecht back yesterday. We rested WR-Troy Walters today with leg fatigue and groin injuries, but we think he'll be fine. I think our only question mark is DB-Kelvin Hayden. He's going to run on Sunday before the game, and we'll see where he is. Other than Kelvin, we're probably as healthy and ready as we've been."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on who would return punts if WR-Troy Walters is out)
"Most likely WR-Marvin [ Harrison], and RB-Dominic Rhodes could also do that, but Marvin has been the guy we put back there."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on if they had a good week of practice and if he feels good going into the game)
"I think we're going to play very well. We're going to have to play well. We expect Pittsburgh to play better than they did on Monday night. They're playing better, so we have to play better. I think we're going to do that. I think we'll play with a lot of energy and emotion. If we can control that and play with poise, I think we're going to be in good shape."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on what he gained most from Chuck Knoll)
"I can't overstate that. Most everything I learned about professional football, how to play it and how to coach it, I learned from Coach Knoll. I've worked for some great guys and I wouldn't discount that, Denny [Green] and Marty Schottenheimer, but my time with Chuck, I was 21 years old when I went there. Everything I learned about how to do things was basically the Steeler way. We kept a lot of the defensive fundamentals, but Coach Knoll was a guy who had you believe if you do things the right way and you practice well and you play well, you're going to win. There are no shortcuts or secrete formulas, there's no magic schemes, it's just outplaying the other team. That's what I believe in and that's been my philosophy every place I've been since then. It certainly helped me out because I realized that you can be a coach and still be a family man and do things the right way. When I played for Coach Knoll and worked for him, the coaches got home to see their families. I knew that you could win games without spending countless hours at the office. I knew that you could be a person of integrity and do things the right way and still be successful. I definitely owe a lot to him. He called me and hired me and had he not given me that first job, I might not be a coach."
HEAD COACH TONY DUNGY (on what the biggest difference is for the defense this year as opposed to last year)
"The biggest difference on the defense is just our experience within the system. We have a couple of guys who we added, DT-Corey Simon and DB-Bob Sanders being healthy all year and playing, and DB-Marlin Jackson. But more than that, it's everybody is one year better and playing our assignments just a little better and it's allowing us to play faster and a little bit more physical."
