The game against the Eagles was not fun to watch. The Steelers were neither chillin’ out, maxin,’ relaxin,’ nor all cool in Philadelphia. They would have been better off shooting some b-ball outside of school instead of showing up to play a football game. The Steelers weren’t causing trouble in the neighborhood, but they were definitely up to no good.

Most of the Steelers faithful expected that kind of game, but it still didn’t help much to alleviate frustrations as the game was unfolding. It’s not easy to watch when your team loses because the other guys are playing your style of ball better than you can. I stated in my last article that I was tired of seeing the Eagles “out-Steeler” the Steelers, and I’ve heard that phrase said many times since Sunday.

The Steelers are currently being constructed to look and play as the Eagles do now, but they are not there yet. It’s just a simple fact. Philly has a better roster top to bottom, especially in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Combine that with George Pickens being out on offense, and perhaps just as impactful, DeShon Elliott missing in the secondary, and we of the Black and Gold faith understood it would take a perfect game plus some breaks to get a win against one of the best teams in the league. Instead, Philly put aside their drama from the past week and played one of their best games, while the Steelers had a losing effort that was team-wide for the most part.

One play that received much of the attention was the toss sweep to Najee Harris that resulted in a fumble, which felt like the pivotal moment that took all of the air from the Steelers sails. I had already decided that I had seen enough of the toss sweep in this game before the fumble occurred, and it put the icing on my fan reaction cake. I was ready to sneak into Arthur Smith’s office, perhaps dangling from the ceiling all Mission Impossible style, and shred any playbook pages that had the toss sweep on it.

It’s not that the toss sweep is a bad play. It just depends on when a team uses it, who it uses it against, and what the previous attempts have been showing you trend wise. The Steelers had run the toss sweep four times before the ill-fated fumble. The results were as follows per formation:

1.        Under center single back: 2 yard gain

2.        Under center single back: 2 yard loss

3.        I formation with fullback lead: 1 yard gain

4.        Shotgun w/RB in sidecar: fake toss, then Wilson hit Ben Skowronek on a crossing pattern for a big gain

Running the ball was not working out with the toss sweep. The Eagles were playing run downs while staying in a Cover Two look with safeties high, because they were confident in stopping the run with just six in the box…and they were right. I think Russell Wilson might have recognized that look pre-snap and checked to the toss sweep that ended in the fumble. Technically, in normal situations, that is the correct read.

The problem is that when your offensive line is not winning, and the defense is getting penetration, starting the run seven yards deep with the ball flying through the air is a recipe for disaster. Much like a QB on a play action fake, the running back has to take his eyes off the defense to secure the ball, and then quickly make a read and choose the hole to hit. If the defense is already making contact across the line of scrimmage, the chance of negative yards or a turnover becomes much more likely. The RB will naturally get more concerned with the bodies flying toward him and get distracted before catching the toss.

I saw where K.T. Smith, our most trusted analytical football source here at SCN, had tweeted what amounted to the same frustration with the Steelers and the toss sweep during the game. That gave me a feeling of vindication I don’t often feel with football X’s and O’s. It would be like you are on the bus trying to balance your checkbook, and then you notice Albert Einstein is sitting next to you working equations for the Theory of Relativity, and he gives you the thumbs up after checking out your basic math.

I’ve learned more about the workings of the game from his YouTube film breakdowns in one year than I’ve known from a lifetime of watching football. Kevin is retiring soon after 33 years of teaching to be a full-time coach, and he deserves our respect and a well well-earned round of applause. Luckily, SCN readers will still be getting his insights into the game.

But then came the pushback to the toss sweep pushback. There have been numerous criticisms of the negative takes regarding the toss sweep play. Opinion quickly divided into two camps: the toss sweep is a stupid play, or you are stupid for thinking the toss sweep is a stupid play. Social media discourse rarely allows for nuance, unfortunately.

The truth always lies somewhere in the middle. As with life, timing and circumstance make all the difference. Kevin put together this great film analysis of when and why the toss sweep works for the Steelers and when it does not.

The Steelers have run a ton of the toss stretch play this season, without much success. Why are they struggling with it? Check out my latest breakdown below. And look for my colleague Jason Murphy’s article on the subject tomorrow on SCN. @JasMur3626 @SteelCNetwork pic.twitter.com/0zMZuaVIW5

— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) December 17, 2024

As K.T. clearly shows on the tape, the Steelers are lacking in execution against the good run defense teams, especially using under center single back formations. Najee Harris has an overall average of 3.9 yards per carry, but on toss sweeps, it drops to 3.6 yards per carry. Warren has a 4.1 overall average, but his rate drops to 3.9 on toss sweeps. Overall, it’s a 30% efficiency rate as Kevin pointed out, and this is a team that struggles once it gets behind the sticks. The toss sweep has been run 34 times on first down. That results in many second and long situations. Lately, the usage has increased. The toss sweep play was used seven times against Washington, eight times against Cincinnati, dropped to three times against Cleveland, then five times against the Eagles.

It hasn’t been all bad, of course. Running against weaker defensive fronts out of shotgun with the RB in the sidecar position has resulted in some positive gains, and touchdowns have been scored out of multiple formations with the toss sweep. There have been three fake toss plays run this year, all resulting in chunk yardage and one score. The key is picking the teams to use it against, and the right formation to run it from. A game like the one against the Eagles, where it is getting blown up over and over in the backfield, is not one of those times.

The Eagles game is done, and the most important game of the season is coming up fast. Baltimore has a strong defensive front like the Eagles, but critically, they do not have the same situation in the secondary. Taking a short loss or no gain toss sweep to set up a fake to exploit the Ravens coverage could be a smart move. It’s not the play, it’s how you use it.

The loss to Philly does not ruin the season or change the aspirations for this year. A playoff berth has been secured, and the division title can be won this Saturday. The loss might have been a dose of reality for fans thinking this was a Super Bowl team. The Steelers are a good team on the rise, but they are not yet to the level of the Eagles, Lions, or Bills. That doesn’t mean they can’t win a playoff game or play out of their heads and get an upset win in the postseason. They just have to clean up mistakes and play smart, and that includes when and where to run the toss sweep.