SANTA CLARA — Here are quotes I selected from the transcript of Greg Roman’s Friday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.

Opening Statement:

“Getting ready to play a really good Pittsburgh team. They’re ranked really high against the run and pass. Starting with their D-Line, really start with their nose tackle there in the middle, Casey Hampton has been there for a long time, knows the defense. He’s very stout, everything kind of runs around him. [Steelers DE Brett] Keisel, their inside three, are real stout players. Very well-coordinated. Obviously 34 scheme, very active linebackers. [Steelers LB James] Farrior is a tremendous blitzer, seems like he’s been playing forever. I don’t think he gets old. I don’t think he ages, still playing at a high level. Then, secondary, it starts with [Steelers S Troy] Polamalu. He’s one of the premier safeties in the league and has been for a long time. When you look at their corners, they’re playing at a very high level, starting with Ike Taylor. [William] Gay is playing at a high level as well. So, they’re a complete defense, well-coordinated, obviously. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re really excited about it. Had a great day at practice yesterday and looking to have a better one today. Any questions?”

Does it help you, in terms of game planning, to face them right after facing Arizona? Are they fairly similar?

“Somewhat similar, not totally, Arizona’s a little different. Pittsburgh’s had those guys in the system for quite a while. Arizona, I wouldn’t say, is quite as far along. But, very similar in many of the things they do.”

You mentioned Farrior. Seems like you guys have been susceptible to blitz’s up the middle recently. Would you agree with that? If so, what’s going wrong when that happens?

“If you’re playing Pittsburgh, you better be able to block blitzes up the middle because they’ve been doing it better than anybody for a long time, they still are. A lot of different things could happen. It depends what kind of protection you’re in. Who’s responsible for each blitz, each protection. A lineman might be responsible for it; a running back might be responsible for it. There might be an adjustment required pre-snap if you sense the blitz is coming. It really varies play to play.”

There’s no common thread to what has been happening to your line?

“We’ve had some looseness on a couple occasions on the interior blitzes. Some we’ve got to get corrected.”

When you look at the Ravens game and this game last week, how much of that was brought on by road stadiums and not being able to hear or communicate?

“It’s a good point. There might be something to it. But really, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be able to operate when it’s quiet or loud. Really, whether or not that’s a factor, bottom line is we’ve got to get it executed.”

Will getting to the line more quickly help out in that regard?

“It might, it might not. If you get to the line early, the defense gets to see your formation early. The upside is you get to see the defense and see those guys early. We try to mix up when we get to the line of scrimmage in different situations. We try to emphasize that every week.”

It seems you’re not doing so much as the heavy package, the hammer package. Any reason for that?

“When are you talking about?”

When you bring in NT Isaac Sopoaga and you have the extra lineman. There doesn’t seem to be as much of that in the last few weeks.

“I see. It’s week-to-week. If there’s an advantage to bring in big people, you bring them in. If you don’t think there is, then you don’t. It’s always available though.”

When you’re up in the booth, are you able to see if T Joe Staley gets hurt or are you too busy sifting through play calls and have somebody else kind of watching on the field what’s going on with a player away from a play?

“Most of the time you get to see it. You just peripherally see it. You’re trying to see the whole field. You’re trying to see it. If you see a player down, you can see it. Just like you guys upstairs. As you’re watching the play, I try to watch the whole play and then if somebody goes down and doesn’t get up, you just see it.”

You saw him maybe go down and know that you’re going to have to adapt to that situation?

“Yeah, no question. You try to think about it ahead of time and you have to. But then everything shifts when that happens.”

At the end of the game, Gore had to come out with a couple plays left. They had to bring RB Kendall Hunter back in. Did that affect your play calling for those last couple of plays knowing Frank wasn’t in there?

“I can’t really comment on strategy. I choose not to. Different players, yes, there is always going to be a consideration, yes.”

Do the Steelers corners look to jump the routes more than other teams you’ve played?

“They play very physical. Ike Taylor loves to get up and press. He’ll press every play, it seems, if he can. Gay will mix it up some more. They’re very physical and they’re very good cover guys. Quite frankly, they are just very good cover guys. It’s obvious that they put their study time in. They do a very nice job of reading splits and just covering guys up and down the field and across the field. Really good players.”

Do they match guys?

“They do at times. Not all the time, but it’s week-to-week it seems.”

Steve Young spoke with Tom Tolbert and Ralph Barbieri on KNBR Wednesday afternoon.

Here is the part of interview I found most interesting.

TOM TOLBERT: How do you cure Alex Smith – I shouldn’t say Alex Smith, I don’t know if that’s fair – but the Niners of their red zone woes? Can you make someone take more chances when he’s not a risk taker by nature? Some of the stuff they were running against Arizona was one read – he had one option and if that guy wasn’t open throw it away. I know you said you can’t do that in the red zone. You’ve got to throw guys open. You’ve got to take some risks. You’ve got to throw it into these tight windows. We know Alex doesn’t really like to do that. He’s not a gambler by nature. Is that something you can fix or is that just the way it is?

YOUNG: “I learned a lot from watching Brett Favre play. He was nuts. I would make the reads, drop the ball off, kick a field goal – thought I did my job. That’s not your job. Your job is to create something, be “the artist” like these guys talk about, be the artist and create something to get the ball in the end zone, not read the play, see that he’s covered, drop the ball down and kick a field goal. That’s not the job. That’s doing what you’re told, but that’s not…first of all you’re not going to win, and second of all you’re going to lose your job.

“So I learned very quickly that you had to figure out a way to create those touchdowns, and they are not easy. You say to me, “How do we get going?” Well, two things are really going to be a problem at some point if we don’t get them fixed, is third down conversions. We’ve kind of gotten away with murder trying to win football games with two of thirteen, four of fifteen. That’s not winning football. And when you don’t score touchdowns, I have always said, and I learned this from hard experience – every time you kick a field goal you’re closer to losing. You’re that one step closer to losing. That’s not always the case, but it’s a general way to look at kicking field goals. To me, Alex has got to, that’s his next point of development, is to be able to figure out ways to create touchdowns, and not just “doing the job.” He’s very competent doing those jobs, but we’re kicking to many field goals, so he’s got to – that means going out in the backyard with all the receivers and figuring out ways to create some space.

“But at some point you’re going to take some risks of throwing some interceptions, and I can understand why Alex Smith would be afraid of that, because you start throwing interceptions with this defense and the history he has in this town, that’s not good. So I could understand why he wants to be efficient.

“I don’t care that we’re 10-3. We’ve always said, for now a month or more, “Do we mean to go the distance?” Or are we okay with just being 12-4, 13-3, maybe winning a playoff, maybe not, and then going home and trying for next year? We’re here. Let’s do it. If we’re going to do it, what Tom’s question is, to me, needs to get fixed immediately.”

BONUS BARBIERI Q: Who’s going to win on Monday night?

YOUNG: “I think the 49ers win. I think Ben’s going to be very, very…I mean, if I understand his injury, he’s going to be very hobbled and a little ineffective. And we’re a team now with this locker room, so you’ve got to figure we’ll respond defensively. So you’ve got to figure if we can score 21 points, we should win this football game.

“I believe that Alex and Jim have probably realized: “Man, we cannot kick field goals – we can’t do it. We kick four more field goals and we’re going to lose when it really matters.” And so I sense we’ll see some dynamic plays down inside the 20, and some touchdowns. I think it will be great.”

BONUS BONUS BARBIERI Q: Does Harbaugh trust Alex Smith completely?

YOUNG: “No, it’s an ongoing process. No, not completely. You’re not going to just call plays and figure that Alex is going to protect him every time. They’re not there yet, nor should they. That’s not a cut against anybody. They’ve just got to grow together, and it’s going fine, but there’s times to start to kind of step it up….A coach doesn’t truly trust a quarterback for a little while. It takes a little while.”