We just wrapped up our conference call with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

He talked about the mood of his team after his team’s season-opening loss at Baltimore, 35-7.

“It’s appropriate,” he said. “We played poorly. We of course analyzed our performance, and now we move forward to ready ourselves for the next one. But it doesn’t lessen the fact that that tape is out there. It’s out there forever. We understand that. We acknowledge that. We don’t necessarily like it, but that’s life in the NFL.”

And even though his team is hosting Seattle, who many national league observers evaluate as one of the worst teams in the league, Tomlin is focused squarely on the task at hand.

“We respect these guys,” Tomlin said. “We know that they’re capable of doing damage to us. And we’ve got to compare ourselves, and prepare ourselves in a big way”

Listen to a snippet of our conversation with Tomlin down below.

[wpaudio url="http://blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/files/2011/09/TomlinAudio.mp3" text=MP3: Tomlin Audio"]

Here’s what Tomlin had to say about what Seattle brings to the table offensively.

“It starts first with their featured runner,” he said. “We’ve got a great deal of respect for Marshawn Lynch, and how he plays the game and what he’s capable of doing to you.”

Tomlin also mentioned the fact that Pittsburgh evaluated highly several of Seattle’s young offensive linemen, including Russell Okung, James Carpenter, Max Unger and John Moffitt.

“We of course are familiar with many of those guys because they’ve come out of recent drafts,” he said. “And we’ve held all of those guys in high regard.”

Tomlin was in Minnesota serving as the team’s defensive coordinator when the team drafted Tarvaris Jackson, and he had good things to say about Seattle’s quarterback.

“I have a great deal of respect for him,” Tomlin said. “Boy, he’s a legitimate tough guy at the quarterback position. I think he endears himself to his teammates because of that, and that’s probably one of the reasons that his teammates elected him as one of the captain out there.”

And defensively?

“It’s always been a signature of Pete Carroll football that they will play with great energy and enthusiasm,” he said. “They run to the ball extremely well.”

Tomlin singled out defensive tackle Alan Branch and linebacker Aaron Curry as two guys playing well in Seattle’s front seven, but left his highest praise for Seattle’s safety tandem of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.

“We think their young safety tandem is very impressive,” Tomlin said. “The tape that they have out there. … Very good, high-quality play from those guys.”