In the final “3-and-Out” article of the season, we look at why this is the final “3-and-Out” article of the season…

66-0

Most of you have heard this statistic by now but it bears repeating. In Pittsburgh’s last five playoff games, they’ve been outscored 66-0 in the first quarter.

66-0.

This means, on average, they’ve been down by two touchdowns just fifteen minutes into the contest. I can’t understate how detrimental that is to a team’s approach for the rest of the game. On offense, it means you have to get out of the carefully orchestrated game-plan you’ve spent all week devising and practicing. You have to start doing things you are less comfortable doing, like throwing the football on almost every down, which forces you to reach deep into your playbook and gives the opposing defense an opportunity to focus on the fact you’ve become one-dimensional. On defense, you have to start playing more aggressively to create turnovers or get stops. This can work, or it can get you burned for big plays. Most likely both. Which is exactly what happened to the Steelers on Monday.

Pittsburgh rallied to a post-season berth by winning their final three games of the regular season, in which they won the first quarter by a collective score of 21-0. They were aggressive on offense, scripting downfield shots to create explosive plays and using misdirection to slow down opposing defenses. On defense, they integrated a host of new pieces into the lineup seamlessly, allowing them to play fast, grab early leads and play confidently from ahead.

On Monday, all of that went out the window. Their first four drives produced three punts and a turnover. They ran full flow plays into the heart of Buffalo’s defense, often when the Bills had dropped a safety to load up against the run, and threw quick passes that didn’t develop long enough to allow their receivers to gain separation. On defense, there were miscommunications and terrible tackling, which led to two of Buffalo’s early touchdowns. Patrick Peterson and Elandon Roberts got crossed up on one, allowing tight end Dawson Knox to come wide open for a score. On another, practically half the team had a shot to tackle Josh Allen on a quarterback scramble. No one did. 52 yards later, Allen was in the end zone, Buffalo was up 21-0 and the game was essentially over just twenty minutes in.

I can’t put my finger on why the Steelers have come out of the gate so unprepared in these games. The streak isn’t unique to the same group of players. The entire roster has turned over since the 2016 team got waxed by New England. The coordinators are different, too. The one constant has been Mike Tomlin. Whatever Tomlin’s approach has been to get his team ready for the playoffs in recent years clearly isn’t working. I’m a big Tomlin fan, and while some put the blame for eight years without a playoff win squarely on his shoulders, I see the bigger problem as the unwillingness of the front office to spend money on quality assistants who can help him coach the team. Still, a team takes on its head coach’s habits, and Pittsburgh’s recent post-season performances have featured overconfidence, unpreparedness and inefficiency. The head coach owns that, plain and simple.

Turning Point

While all the above is true, it’s hard not to wonder how this game would have gone had Pittsburgh cashed in on the drive they began at their own 8-yard line late in the first quarter. They trailed 14-0 at the time, but put together a nice stretch of football that saw them move 88 yards in 10 plays until they faced 2nd-and-goal at the Buffalo 4-yard line. There, they called an unimaginative play against man coverage that saw the Steelers align in an empty formation and run five vertical routes just across the goal line. Mason Rudolph targeted Diontae Johnson on the outside and tried to wedge a throw into an impossibly tight space. Rudolph missed inside, Buffalo cornerback Kaiir Elam intercepted it and the drive died. So, too, did Pittsburgh’s best chance to get back into the football game.

KAIIR WITH THE INT‼️

📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/bhJ4dIGLfl

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 15, 2024

The question I keep asking myself in the aftermath is the following: was this the best the Steelers could do? Watch the route combinations above. There isn’t a single crossing route, or anything that forces Buffalo to switch or communicate, or any pre-snap motion that does the same. The Steelers could have run a pick or a rub. They could have used play-action to displace Buffalo’s coverage. They could have gotten into a bunch set and sent their receivers across the field in varying directions, which would have forced Buffalo to make switches and adjust on the fly. Instead, they called for five one-on-one routes where the receivers ran across the goal line, then turned around and looked for the football. Or, in Johnson’s case, made a slight out-cut into the boundary he was already pinned against by his alignment.

On a scale of 1-10, with one being the least imaginative play Pittsburgh could have dialed up here, and 10 being Sean McVay-level creative, this was a 0.

The offense looked more competent over the final three weeks of the regular season with Rudolph at the helm and the Eddie Faulkner/Mike Sullivan duo coordinating and calling plays than it had for most of the year. But let’s not kid ourselves. Pittsburgh is badly in need of an NFL-level coordinator who can bring a modern offense to town. The Steelers have a lot they need to get right this off-season to become a serious playoff contender. Finding a quality offensive coordinator tops the list.

Officially Awful

I’m normally not one to cry about refereeing, and I make no excuses for the Steelers on Monday. Buffalo was the better team and they beat the Steelers with their play. That said, the officiating throughout the league this year was disgraceful, and that trend continued in the Bills game.

The root of the problem begins with the mixed messages the league sends on player safety. Elite quarterbacks, like Josh Allen, are provided excessive protections, even when those protections put defenses in an impossible bind. Allen’s long touchdown run featured some terrible tackling by the Steelers but it’s hard to blame them for slowing up as the play developed. In the tweet below, you can see how Allen geared down near the Steelers’ 40-yard line, which usually indicates a quarterback is about to slide. At that point, he can’t be touched, so it was only natural that a few of the Steelers defenders, most notably Minkah Fitzpatrick, slowed up with him. This allowed the 6’5-245-pound quarterback to accelerate through contact and into the open field. Allen is a remarkable athlete for his size, and the Steelers are at fault for not being in better position to make a play. But the rules on hitting quarterbacks hamstrung them here.

It’s so hard to play defense now

Josh Allen fake slide leads to a TD
Josh Allen late slide leads to a personal foul#Steelers pic.twitter.com/fpmcqbgCKn

— Tony Clements (@TonyCMKE) January 16, 2024

Later in the game, Buffalo used Allen on a designed run, where he was clearly meant to function as a running back. Because he’s a quarterback, however, he’s still entitled to open field protections. This prompted a flag on Myles Jack, who hit Allen as he slid even though Jack clearly turned his shoulder in an attempt to lessen the blow once he realized what was happening.

What’s a defense supposed to do here? When is Allen a runner and when is he a poor quarterback so unable to fend for himself that merely grazing him could send him to the injured list? There is no clear answer on this from the league. A reasonable rule change would be to afford a quarterback protection in the pocket or when he is scrambling, but on designed runs like the one Buffalo used, where the quarterback is the prescribed ball-carrier, to treat him like a running back. This means taking away his ability to slide and thus removing the impossible choice defenders must make as a result. The league will never do this, because they prioritize quarterback safety over the integrity of the game. But it would certainly clarify some things.

This is especially frustrating when you consider the play on which Joey Porter Jr. was knocked out of the game with a concussion. In the least, this was a block in the back. More so, it was a blind-side hit to the back of a player’s head that drew nothing from the referees. So, to summarize — a defender bumping Allen with his shoulder as the quarterback slides to the ground on a designed run is unnecessary roughness; but delivering a blind-side shot to the back of a defender’s head at the end of a play is simply football.

DISGUSTING… Dirty hit on #Bills lineman Connor McGovern to #Steelers star Joey Porter Jr.

There was NO PENALTY called by the refs.
pic.twitter.com/5QyZLkiN5S

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 15, 2024

And you wonder why people are increasingly questioning the integrity of the game.

And Out…

There is plenty of speculation today on whether Mike Tomlin will stay or go. Maybe by the time you read this we’ll have an answer. If he stays, great. I just hope the Steelers provide him the resources he needs in terms of quality assistants to get the team to the next level. If I were Tomlin, and the front office wanted me back — which I believe they do — that would be my chief demand. Give me a list of assistants you are willing to open the checkbook for and assure me you are serious about winning. If not, I’m walking away. Which I hope he doesn’t. Because, for all of the criticisms about mediocrity and first-round failures, what he did with the team this season was special.

That’s it for the “3-and-Out” series for this season. I’ll be here with plenty of breakdown work as we head into the off-season. In the meantime, check out my podcast “The Call Sheet,” which runs on Thursdays, and the Call Sheet YouTube breakdowns I’ve been doing for both SCN and FFSN of all the action from the NFL playoffs. Thanks for reading!