Behind the Steel Curtain
Revisiting an ugly play from the Steelers’ 2024.
BTSC’s “One random Steelers play” series is back. (Here’s the first edition if you’d like a reminder of how this works).
The TL:DR? We’re using a random number generator to find a singular play from the Steelers’ 2024, then using it as an excuse to talk about last season and some general football insights in this dead part of the summer.
I’ll be sharing my takeaways in the article, and I hope to see yours in the comments below!
For this article, the random number generator picked Week 17, the Steelers’ Christmas Day loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Then, it picked No. 13 of the game’s 166 plays, which unsurprisingly was an unlucky turn of events for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The good news? This random play provides plenty to talk about.
The context: Chiefs ball on the Steelers seven-yard line. The game is tied 0-0 with 9:23 left in the first quarter. It’s second and four.
Here’s the play.
As always, we’ll start by pausing pre-snap:
As opposed to last week’s over front, the Steelers are in an under front here, which means the defensive line is shifted towards the “weak” (no tight end) side of the field.
But, because the Chiefs have two tight ends on the strong side, the Steelers have eight defenders in the box (matching up well with the Chiefs’ seven blockers), and the off-ball players are shifted towards Kansas City’s run strength. Every gap has a hat.
The Steelers are also in their big nickel package, meaning the slot corner has been replaced with a third safety. Here, we have Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott in the box with Damontae Kazee playing single-high safety.
Another thing you’ll notice? There’s a lot of hand-waving going on in this screenshot. And it’s for good reason.
My first takeaway: This is a wicked good play call from the Chiefs. And the Steelers just don’t match Andy Reid’s creativity.
Kansas City takes advantage of Pittsburgh’s late-season miscommunication issues by getting to the line of scrimmage quickly in an interesting formation: two tight ends in a condensed formation on the left, and two wide receivers on the right.
The catch? One of those “wide receivers” is actually running back Isiah Pacheco. And the “running back” is now speedy receiver Xavier Worthy, hidden in the backfield next to Patrick Mahomes.
By putting their tight ends on one side of the field and their wide receivers on the other, the Chiefs get two things to break their way here: First, James Pierre running across the field to match pre-snap, giving away a likely indication that it’s man coverage.
And by nature of moving the team’s two cornerbacks to one side of the field, the Steelers are left with just linebackers and safeties on the other — not a huge deal against tight ends, but don’t forget that Worthy is lurking there too.
The Chiefs love to do this, and depending on your definition,...
