Home Player Spotlight Steelers Fateful Third and Five Was A Lack of Execution Up Front

Steelers Fateful Third and Five Was A Lack of Execution Up Front

by Steeldad

At his typically cliche-filled press conference today, Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin revealed that the play call on third down and five that could have won the game for his team was his call and that Ben Roethlisberger was given the opportunity to go with the run or the pass at the line of scrimmage.

Regardless of Roethlisberger’s decision, it was poor execution that was the culprit here.

Before I get into this too much let me say that there are dozens of plays that can be analyzed over and over but when those calls aren’t successful, they go under the microscope. This is exactly what is happening with this particular play.

Here’s the formation:

Steelers Bucs1

 

What you see here is the Steelers going with trips to the top of the formation and a single wide receiver (Antonio Brown) to the bottom. The Buccaneers are clearly in man-to-man coverage with a single safety about 12 yards off the line of scrimmage.

Note also that the linebacker across from Le’Veon Bell is locked up man-to-man with him as well. Where Bell goes, he goes. Tomlin claimed the same play garnered a 13-yard run by Bell and a 16-yard reception by Heath Miller earlier in the game.

With that knowledge, one could hardly fault Roethlisberger regardless of his choice. Personally, I believe the thinking was flawed here from the start. The thing to do would have been to get Roethlisberger on the edge where he has a run-pass option. At absolute worst, there is nothing open and he slides down in order to keep the clock running.

The issue on the play is not whether the run should have been called or the pass, it was the lack of execution by the offensive line and in particular David DeCastro who got shoved three yards into the backfield. Once Bell was forced to change direction because of this it was all over.

Cody Wallace can also share some blame here too because he doesn’t stay on his man long enough before going to the next level. It’s his man in fact that makes the initial stop on the play.

We can rip on Todd Haley or Mike Tomlin or Ben Roethlisberger all that we want to but sometimes it comes down to execution and it was lacking at the most crucial point in the game.

Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game

photo courtesy pittsburghsportingnews.com

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4 comments

steelbydesign September 30, 2014 - 7:29 pm

People love to rip Haley, as they’ve disagreed w/ the pass on 2nd down, and then the run on 3rd down.

I didn’t have an issue with either one. I can understand the anger over throwing on 2nd down but honestly I like being aggressive at this point. This team needs to realize that they may have to take more risks than normal in order to keep their defense off the field.

I just have a hard time blaming anyone on offense for this loss.

Vittorio Di Stazio September 30, 2014 - 8:12 pm

Let’ say the Steelers do what you wanted them to do steeldad and have Ben roll towards the sideline and throw the ball, What happens if it fails? I know what would have happened if it worked but I’m asking what happens if it don’t? You now have wasted your 3rd down and your hoping Wing booms the punt which I doubt he could and hope the D stops them that won’t work. The OL should have done better but there is nothing we can do about it. We can’t turn back time and change it. We must accept it and move on otherwise the more you focus on it the more distracted you become.

steeldad October 1, 2014 - 11:17 am

I’ll be as straight forward as I can Vittorio. If they call a play and it puts the ball in the hands of our best player and it doesn’t work then I have no problem with that. Tomlin played to ‘not lose’ instead of playing to win and THAT’S what I have a problem with.

Vittorio Di Stazio October 1, 2014 - 8:45 pm

Then do that from now on steeldad heck it’s what I’ve been doing ever since I started commenting on this site and you should know that better than anybody else.

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