Mangini Talks Steelers and Josh Cribbs in Morning Press Conference

(Opening statement)- “Good morning. Yesterday we worked on third down and talked a lot about where the Steelers are on third down. They are excellent, offensively, in that area and then defensively, they create some problems with some of the different things that they do there that you have to be aware of. Everyone has to be on the same page and be able to communicate those things out. We’ve made some strides offensively on third-down over the past couple games, but we need to do a lot better job. We made more significant strides, defensively, there, and that’s something that we have to maintain. This will be a challenge. We’ll move in the red area today, red area, goal line, short yardage, review the things that we’ve done from the past two days and then roll into Saturday.”

(On if he would be willing to trade Josh Cribbs)- “[There is] no interest in moving Josh Cribbs.”

(On Cribbs’ contract)- “Really, it’s not something that we are focusing on. It’s Pittsburgh, and that’s what Josh is focusing on. All the contract things, and things like that are things that are constantly being looked at and addressed, not just with Josh, but we look at the whole roster with all those different issues. That’s something that’s separate and aside from what we’re trying to do each day. It’s not something that we’re not aware of or not working on. It’s an ongoing process.”

(On if it is unusual for Cribbs to be playing so well while wanting a new contract)- “I think every contract is different and you have to look at it differently and ever player is different. You’re re always trying to do the best thing that you can, organizationally and for the player, and to take all the different factors into account. It’s just hard to group them into very specific boxes, because every situation is so different.”

(On if he is happy with how Cribbs has handled his contraction situation)- “I really enjoy Josh. I like him as a player. I like him as a person. He’s a fun guy to talk to. He’s been a great guy to get to know. He’s really a good person to have on the team.”

(On the value Cribbs has to the team)- “I think the first thing he does is his contribution on special teams, not just as a returner, but also as a coverage player. I’ve liked the way he’s developed as a receiver. I think there’s a lot of room to grow there and to continue to develop. He’s working at that and I like that. As he continues to progress, his role will continue to progress. I also like the ability to play him on downs where it’s not a ‘Josh Cribbs’ play, it’s just a play and he’s part of that and he can contribute in a meaningful way in that play. You now have the ability to do any of those other things that you want to do, but you don’t have to.”

(On where possibly using Cribbs as a defensive back stands)- “I definitely haven’t ruled that out. He’s got good instincts, in terms of angles of the football. He’s a physical guy. He tackles well. We’re asking him to do a lot of different things right now, and he has a full plate. As we make progress, I don’t see why at some point we couldn’t do that.”

(On if Cribbs’ contract is something he would address after the season)- “In terms of the timetable, that’s an organizational thing that we’ll look at. What we’re both doing right now, Josh and I, are trying to get ready for the game Sunday. ”

(On if Cribbs has asked for a trade)- “No.”

(On using Cribbs as a running back)- “Really, he has done some of those things. How you get to it could be different, whether he’s playing quarterback and his ability to run the football there, whether he’s gotten it on reverses, things like that. You can create it a lot of different ways. We did that some with Brad Smith in New York, where you’re ready to play five wide receivers and put Brad Smith in the backfield. Brad was the running back or you could flex him out and now you have five wide receivers. You’d go four wide receivers, with Brad Smith being the fourth, put him in the backfield, and now you’re really in a three wide receiver set with a back. You can build different packages off that. I like doing things like that, but you have to be able to incorporate that into the rest of the offense and make sure that you’re not spending so much time trying to develop that as a, sort of secondary package or a smaller part of the game plan that you can’t spend the reps on the other stuff.”

(On if Cribbs has the talent to be a conventional running back)- “I think that he’s got a lot of ability to do a lot of different things. In terms of conventional, there are so many different types of running backs, whatever style you are, if you can find the hole, if you can do that things that you need to do in protection, check downs, things like that, that’s something that has to be developed, looked at and really worked out. We’ve been emphasizing the receiver role, which I think he’s made a lot of progress at. I want to continue to do that and we’ll still use him in different spots as we go.”

(On if defenses are still on alert when Cribbs is in)- “What you always want to do is, have there be no change to the defense. When you play enough, you can’t say, ‘Hey, alert this or alert that.’ The guy’s in for enough plays where it could happen, it could not happen and that’s what you want, is ‘Yeah, he’s out there.’”

(On if he has gotten to the point where defenses are no longer on alert for Cribbs)- “[It is] different each game. Some people are more aware. Some people are more conscious of it. Some people maybe don’t put as much emphasis on it. It’s really like (Darren) Sproles in San Diego. For a long time, he just came in for those types of plays and now he’s playing more running back. He creates all the same problems, but he also creates the problems in the regular plays that they play.”

(On why Miami’s Wildcat offense has been so successful)- “Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, those are two pretty good cats.”

(On if he can use anything from Miami’s Wildcat offense)- “You fit the styles of the players that you have into those positions. You look at different plays. We ran, in the New England playoff game, we had a whole series where we used Brad (Smith) and Leon Washington. We were able to gain significant amount of yards with those types of plays. You’re always trying to look at things that you can borrow from other teams and incorporate it. Then you have to fit it into what you do well, what your skill sets are, how it fits for you, how much time do you want to put into it. There’s been a lot of success with that down in Miami, so I’m sure you put a little more time into it because it hits and it keeps hitting. Everybody sort of has their own variation of it as you go through.”

(On if he is takes calls for offers for Cribbs)- “We take all the calls. We listen. I don’t know what reports have come in and what reports are out there. I don’t really look at any of that stuff. I can just tell you where we’re at.”

(On if he actually listens to the offers for Cribbs)- “You always listen to everything. You have to, and you listen to everything about any offer that anybody presents and you’re always trying to improve the team. In terms of reports of this team or that team, there are a lot of things that are reported that really aren’t true.”

(On how the team could be improved without Cribbs on it)- “It depends on what’s brought up. Like I said Marla (Ridenour), I have no interest in moving Josh Cribbs. It’s all hypothetical. Hypothetically, you listen.”

(On if revisiting a contract is a matter of when the time is right for it)- “Really, to be clear, it’s something that we look at organizationally. We haven’t set any timetables for anything. There are a lot of different things that go on that you’re constantly looking at throughout the course of the year, and planning. Like I said, this is a process. You’re looking at things short-term, you’re looking at things long-term and there are a lot of different moving parts that go into all the things that you do on a daily basis.”

(On if he has not renegotiated Cribbs’ contract because other players want theirs renegotiated as well)- “There are so many different things that go into it. [That has] not really been the focal point right now.”

(On if he is confident Cribbs will be here and passionate about the game without a contract extension)- “Both those things are ‘if, if.’ I can tell you Josh is excited, enthusiastic. We have a great relationship. I really like him. I like the things that he does. Josh will be a Cleveland Brown.”

(On if the dropped passes are the only problem he sees with the receivers right now)- “There are a lot of things that we can do better. What I like about the group is they’re conscious of the things that need to be improved. They work at the things that need to be improved. There’s a real sense of, I’m not sure what the word is, but they’re all together and they’re all trying to make sure that they’re producing as much as they can. Spacing is huge on routes. How to get open against man-to-man coverage and the things that you have to do against different types of coverage, the adjustments based on if the corner is up in your face, or if he’s off. There are a lot of things that they’re working on, even going outside yesterday with the cold. I think that’s the coldest day that Mohamed’s (Massaquoi) ever been a part of. I had to explain to him, ‘It’s getting colder. This isn’t the high water mark here. This isn’t the warm Georgia rain you’re used to. There’s going to be this stuff called snow coming.’ I don’t know if he’s ever seen snow. Even a guy like Kaluka (Maiava) who, he hasn’t played in any kind of cold weather, it’s a little bit of an adjustment for those guys, but it’s not going away.”

(On Peter King reporting that Blake Costanzo hit James Davis, but did not have pads on)- “I feel really comfortable with where we are. I really do. That’s really all I have to add, but I feel really comfortable with where we are.”

(On how he feels about Adam Schefter reporting that Davis was hit by a player with pads on)- “I feel that I don’t really have anything else to add. I feel that a lot of things get put out there that get put out there. I don’t really know what else to add to it.”

(On if there was anything Corey Williams could have done differently when hitting Trent Edwards in the end zone last week)- “It’s hard. It’s hard to coach because, it happened to us twice against Jacksonville, where we got hit with the same sort of thing, the unnecessary roughness on the quarterback. You look at it and you’re thinking, ‘Okay, what can you tell the guy to do differently.’ I don’t know if you remember the Giants game, I think it was against Vince Young, maybe, where they kind of had the quarterback wrapped up and then stopped and Vince Young kept running. You want to make sure you’re coaching the guys to do the right thing, because you don’t want to get a penalty. You don’t want to get them fined. You’re always trying to give them the best way to do things. It’s subjective and you appreciate that. It’s the official’s call and you respect the official’s call. You’re always trying to go back and say, ‘Okay, well this is what you could have done differently.’ We’ll keep working on it to make sure that we avoid those. Sometimes you get a call and it’s just the way it is. You have to accept it and move on to the next play and, hopefully, not get the same call the next time.”

(On if Shaun Rogers is back)- “Yes, he’s back. He got back in yesterday afternoon, so he was part of the afternoon meetings. He worked some extra with Bryan Cox. He’ll do some extra work here today. He should be caught up here.”

(On if Phil Dawson is a game-time decision)- “I really think we have to go through the rest of the weekend, right up to the game, to make that we’re ready to go. Again, he’s another week further along and I think we’ve made some progress there. Phil’s worked at it. He’s doing everything he can to get back out. I just want to wait until we get closer to make sure, because that’s a really important decision.”

(On how you coach a kicker who does not have much experience at Heinz Field)- “Billy’s (Cundiff) kicked on a lot of different fields, too. It wouldn’t be his first time playing in difficult weather for him.”

(On using Josh Cribbs in the Wildcat)- “I know he did it here in the past. He’s done it here, a little bit, for us this season. You work on it at different points. Sometimes it’s a bigger part, sometimes it isn’t. You’re always experimenting with different things. You’re always looking at what other people are doing well and trying to figure out how you can incorporate that into the system. Like I said, sometimes it’s a bigger part, sometimes it isn’t. You just develop it. Like with Brad (Smith), he had broken, I think, 51 NCAA records. He has done it quite a bit there. He’s still developing as a receiver. I know he’s caught some balls. You’re trying to use those skill sets the best you can in a lot of different ways.”

(On if the Patriots had an interest in Cribbs in 2005)- “I don’t really know, because he was an offensive player. The players that I was looking at were more defensive backs and things like that. I didn’t really do a lot of work on those things. He was a free agent, right? He probably wasn’t that high on the board at that point. You’re always looking for guys that can add some value that’s unique and develop him into more and more of a primary role. You love it. You get a free agent like that, it’s good business.”

(On if he would have fit in with what New England was doing at that time) - “I’m really glad that we didn’t make that decision, really glad that we didn’t make that decision.”