Tough loss for Steelers, but they say they're already looking ahead to Jets

By Dale Grdnic

Sep 10, 2012 at 6:17 pm ET • 2 min read

The Pittsburgh Steelers' 31-19 loss to the Denver Broncos Sunday night on the road was disheartening to their players and fans, but third-year running back Jonathan Dwyer said that the club was able to shake it off and jump right into preparations for this week.

The Steelers (0-1) play host to the New York Jets (1-0) Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET at Heinz Field.

"Everybody's fine,'' Dwyer said Monday afternoon. "Yes, everybody is disappointed about the loss, but it's early in the season. We'll move on and learn from this situation, get better and get ready for New York this weekend.

"This week is very important, but every week's important. Unfortunately, the first week didn't go the way that we want. But we're going to make sure this week that we put ourselves in better situations, better than we did last week.''

Dwyer said the running backs performed well, although the Steelers ran for just 75 yards on 26 carries (2.9 average) with a long run for 11 yards. Dwyer tallied a team-high 43 yards on nine attempts, 4.8 per run, but he was far and away the best of the bunch

"I did OK,'' Dwyer said. "I made some little mistakes, things that aren't acceptable in our room, but they're things that I can get fixed. And we'll all get them fixed as a running back unit, and we'll be ready this week.

"I have a lot of room for improvement. I'm not satisfied with anything I do. Every day's an interview for us here in Pittsburgh, and that's the way I want to keep going.''

Dwyer firmly believed that with just a few minor corrections noted by watching video from the game, primarily fundamental issues and "nothing too big, just the little things,'' the running game would pick up the pace and solidify an offense that did a decent job as well.

"That's what makes us better players, a better unit, those minor details,'' Dwyer said. "(But) we did pretty well (on offense), controlling the ball and making plays down the field.

"But we need to make better opportunities when it comes to getting in the red zone, scoring points and trying to keep their defense on the field for a long time to give our defense a break.''

Dwyer noted that he did not know what happened to starting right offensive guard Ramon Foster, who appeared to get poked in the eye during a second-quarter drive. Foster finished the drive, but did not return for the final drive before halftime. Marcus Gilbert, the Steelers' starting right offensive tackle, injured his left knee with about three minutes remaining before halftime.

"That was unfortunate, but the guys who came in and filled in did a good job,'' Dwyer said. "Ramon and Gil (Gilbert) went down, but the guys who came in did a good job. And we made plays after their misfortune.

Foster was replaced by Doug Legursky, while rookie second-round pick Mike Adams took over for Gilbert. Their status for this week should be clarified during Steelers coach Mike Tomlin's press conference Tuesday afternoon.