Last Drive of First Half

[GBMelBlount]

Just curious if Ben or Haley was calling the plays when we were 1st and 10 at the 1 foot line at the end of the 1st half?

How embarrassing...

[Steeltreal]

QB sneak isn't in Haleys Playbook

[86WARD]

Whoever was doing it royally fucked it up...lol.

[Steeltreal]

They should have called a flea flicker

[GBMelBlount]

QB sneak isn't in Haleys Playbook

My thoughts as well.

I told my wife on first down they should do a qb Sneak.

[43Hitman]

Shameful execution and playcalling. Pulling your guard on first down from there is a terrible idea

[LloydWoodson]

My thoughts as well.

I told my wife on first down they should do a qb Sneak.

I think a lot of us did the same. Who is a better QB sneak option than Ben? Maybe Newton or Winston dince they're the same size. 6'5 250 QB... and no sneak.

"QB sneaks are like soooo 2011 when Ben had a concussion/torn ankle. That's when you QB sneak."

[SteelerFanInStl]

Really stupid play calling on that series, especially when DeAngelo is lined up at the 9 yard line. There shouldn't have been any other choice other than QB sneak on 1st down.

[zulater]

It was more the formation than the play call. They come out with a tight T formation borrowed straight from the early 50's! By doing this they bring both safeties and the corners into the tackle box! So instead of spreading the field you go power formation, then hand off to a back lined up 8 yards behind the line! You announce the play call then run into the teeth of a stacked box on a slow developing play! How the hell did they ever expect that to work?

I could see a Chan Gailey offense handing the ball to the upback on that play.

[teegre]

The Steelers O-line is very athletic & agile. In open space, they dominate defenses.

What they are not as good at is straight-line/power blocking.

SUMMATION:
As Zu said, the formation did not utilize the O-line's strengths.

[zulater]

The Steelers O-line is very athletic & agile. In open space, they dominate defenses.

What they are not as good at is straight-line/power blocking.

SUMMATION:
As Zu said, the formation did not utilize the O-line's strengths.

Excellent point!

[steelreserve]

It was more the formation than the play call. They come out with a tight T formation borrowed straight from the early 50's! By doing this they bring both safeties and the corners into the tackle box! So instead of spreading the field you go power formation, then hand off to a back lined up 8 yards behind the line! You announce the play call then run into the teeth of a stacked box on a slow developing play! How the hell did they ever expect that to work?

I could see a Chan Gailey offense handing the ball to the upback on that play.

That call was incredibly stupid. You could see right away that it wouldn't work if we did a handoff up the middle, because they had 8 guys there against 5 blockers. Maybe a QB sneak works, but handing the ball off to the deep back just gives all those guys time to push into the backfield and that's exactly what happened. (Fark: Twice in a row.)

Much as I hate both, an outside pitch or a dumpoff pass had a better chance of working. Maybe Bettis could've scored on a handoff, but probably not.

[Count Steeler]

It was more the formation than the play call. They come out with a tight T formation borrowed straight from the early 50's! By doing this they bring both safeties and the corners into the tackle box! So instead of spreading the field you go power formation, then hand off to a back lined up 8 yards behind the line! You announce the play call then run into the teeth of a stacked box on a slow developing play! How the hell did they ever expect that to work?

I could see a Chan Gailey offense handing the ball to the upback on that play.

Ben should have checked out of the call and ran a naked boot leg/toss to the sideline.

[zulater]

Ben should have checked out of the call and ran a naked boot leg/toss to the sideline.

After last weeks red zone interception against the Chiefs it was a long shot that Ben would check out of a first and goal run from the half yard line.

I'm fine with a run or pass in that situation, just not that running play from that formation.

[steelreserve]

After last weeks red zone interception against the Chiefs it was a long shot that Ben would check out of a first and goal run from the half yard line.

I'm fine with a run or pass in that situation, just not that running play from that formation.

At least not against that alignment. You could see they were loaded up to jam the middle. If they were more spread out, maybe it works. Just notice where they're overloading and try to attack somewhere else. That's what we should've been doing, but failed to recognize twice in a row.

[steel striker]

Yeah I don't get the second run for there at three TE set all lined up to block Pats knew it was a run from the start just before the play I was like we are screwed!

[86WARD]

At least not against that alignment. You could see they were loaded up to jam the middle. If they were more spread out, maybe it works. Just notice where they're overloading and try to attack somewhere else. That's what we should've been doing, but failed to recognize twice in a row.

Play action to James. Not in the playbook though...

[pczach]

Play action to James. Not in the playbook though...

The nearly complete lack of play action in Haley's offense is probably my biggest gripe with Haley. If you have a strong running game, use it to get the defense to react to it and gain an advantage in the secondary.

I'll never understand why they don't design more of it into the offense.......

[86WARD]

The one thing they didn't take advantage of was the flea flicker. With Bell's running style, they could make the flea flicker a weekly play. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary with the way Bell runs. I truly believe it should have been used Sunday against the Pats.