Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held his first pre-game press conference on Wednesday marking the real return of competitive football. The Steelers are preparing to take on the Houston Texans on Friday in Pittsburgh's first preseason game of the year and the Texans' second. Houston played an extra game via the Hall of Fame Game.

Tomlin covered a variety of topics including the availability of veteran players but he also hit hard on what he is looking for this week.

For Tomlin it's all about clean football. One of our favorite Tomlinisms is "make routine plays routinely" and he said it more than once. Tomlin wants to see clean football, minimal penalties and solid communication. He also noted minimizing turnovers and doing well in pre-snap football on offense and defense.

Tomlin also noted it is a positive that the Steelers will take on the Texans after Houston already got one game in. This just amps up the challenge for Pittsburgh and should mean the Steelers players will go against more of the Texans starters.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Steelers vs Texans: HC Mike Tomlin wants focus on fundamentals: 'Make routine plays routinely'