That Settles That: Steelers Lose

 23

 20

Let's be straight up about something right off the bat: this was a very well-played game by both teams, and one of  them had to lose. For a few years, we've had the luxury of getting the last drive against Baltimore and our quarterback having the ball in his hands with a chance to win the game. I am a big supporter of Mike Tomlin, but as we've seen all too often with his teams, they failed to put the game away when it counted and left the door open for the other team. In this case, Baltimore made the necessary plays to win the game. We're not out of it by any means, but we certainly have a long hill to climb. Cincinnati is 6-2 but hasn't played us or the Ravens yet. Those 4 games are going to decide the division race.

Game Recap

Steelers do a nice ceremony before the game to honor veterans of past (and present) wars. Still not sure why they play "Born in the USA," a song about a disgruntled Vietnam vet, during occasions like this.

Defense gets the nod for introductions.

What a picture.

Steelers win the toss and defer to the second half.

First Quarter

On the first play from scrimmage, it looked like Week 1 all over again as Ray Rice cut one back through a hole in the line and took it 76 yards to the house, but a holding penalty brought it back. Now, there have been some questions about why, with the hold, it was 1st and 10 again. Here's the rule: if a holding penalty occurs at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield, it is a 10-yard penalty from the line of scrimmage but if a holding penalty occurs past the line of scrimmage it is a 10-yard penalty from the spot of the foul. So, Torrey Smith's hold occurred 10 yards downfield, which brought the ball back to the original line of scrimmage. Interesting note - after the penalty, Vontae Leach went bezerk on the officials, possibly threatening to give them the Ray Lewis treatment.

(h/t PSAMP)

I don't know what Leach said to them, but it obviously worked. The refs only threw 2 flags on Baltimore the rest of the game, and that was a false start penalty that drew the defense off and a defensive offsides where there was contact.

The Ravens start driving after that, with Flacco picking up first downs by hitting running backs and tight ends. The Steelers defense did a good job forcing 3rd downs, but a bad job when it got to 3rd down. In the red zone, Flacco tried for Torrey Smith in the end zone and the refs give them a make-up call for the holding with a pass interference on Gay. Flacco decides to throw on first down and Ryan Clark almost picks it off, but the ball bounces off his hands.

Big missed opportunity there. 

The defense stands tall on Ray Rice at the goal line and forces a field goal.

0-3

Mendenhall gets 9 on the first play and things are looking good, but a failed pass and run turn a good start into a 3-and-out.

The Ravens drive back down the field, converting more third downs. Cundiff misses a 40-yarder at the open end of Heinz Field. Think it isn't hard to kick here? He had made like 35 straight field goals before that.

007 comes back and gets in a groove by getting the ball to Heath to get things rolling. Two plays later, he hits AB down the sideline who makes an ankle-breaking move to get past a defensive back but slips and falls as he enters the red zone. If he turns and runs rather than looks back at the defender, he's gone. 

Second Quarter

The Ravens hold to a 3rd down and Ben hits Hines over the middle who gets crushed by a helmet-to-helmet hit to the side of the head by Ray Lewis. Hines held onto the ball until he hit the ground and another Raven fell on top of him. No flag on Lewis for helmet-to-helmet.

Harbaugh challenged the call and it was ruled incomplete. Eerily similar to the Patriots game last year when Brandon Merriweather hit Hines with a helmet-to-helmet shot that wasn't flagged and Belicheat challenged and had the catch overturned.

Suisham ties it.

3-3

B-Mac makes his first positive play of the season, jarring a fumble out on the kick return but the Ravens fall on it.

To make matters worse, Flacco converts two 3rd downs to move the Ravens into scoring territory. Harrison makes a big-time stop on Ray Rice on 3rd and short. Cundiff converts in the closed end.

3-6

Ben comes back and tries to go deep a few times, which doesn't work. Punt.

The defense is finally able to force a 3-and-out and get off the field easily when Harrison gets pressure on Flacco on 3rd down.

Ben hits David Johnson, who seemed just as surprised to catch the ball as everyone was that he caught it, for a big gain down the seam. Johnson drags some Ravens with him as he barrels across midfield. After Mendenhall grinds a first down out, Ben's pass for Cotchery gets tipped but Cotch makes the catch anyways to get down inside the 10. After a WR screen gets a few (a really worthless play inside the 10 yard line), Ben can't hook up with Cotch then gets sacked on 3rd down. Suisham ties it.

6-6

With a minute left, Flacco comes back to drive for points. Harrison finally breaks through and is able to bring Flacco down, but Joe comes back and hits Boldin a few times to move across midfield. Flacco hits Rice on a check-down as time is winding down and he is able to get down, get the time out called, and Cundiff connects from 51 as the half ends.

6-9

Third Quarter

The Steelers came out determined to put points on the board, and went right to work with the no huddle offense. They started the drive running out of the no huddle (though at the pace Ben runs it, maybe it should be called the "Slow Huddle"). Ben connects downfield to Heeeeath and AB, moving us down into Ravens territory. The drive is rolling, everything is going great, and Ben is slinging it downfield. So what next? A WR screen to the right. Ugh. I've said plenty of times how much I hate this play, and lo and behold, Terrell Suggs reads it and jumps the route for an interception, ending the drive.

Flacco comes back converting more third downs by hitting tight ends. Dennis Pitta killed us all game on 3rd down. Looks like the Ravens found their replacement for Todd Heap. As the Ravens drive into scoring territory, Flacco takes a shot down the sideline for Boldin who is running stride-for-stride with Ike. The two are arm-battling, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Except that the refs wanted to see Baltimore score a touchdown.

Almost as bad a Pass Interference call as the one on Ike in the Oakland game last year.

The refs initially place the ball at the 1 and the Steelers run out their goal line defense, taking all their corners off the field. Then, the refs decide the penalty was at the 4 and move the ball back but don't let the Steelers substitute. We get lucky as Harrison gets pressure and Flacco air mails a pass out of the end zone. Bizzarre sequence there. Ray Rice scores on the next play.

6-16

Down by 10, Ben knows what he has to do.

Big completions to Heeeeeath for 30 and 12 to get us down into Ravens territory. 

Fourth Quarter

With the ball inside the 10, Ben tries to go the Jimmy Dean route on 3rd down.

He gets a lane and is able to dive for the goal line.

The initial signal is touchdown, but in another bizarre call, the refs overturn it upon review, saying Ben's knee was down at the goal line or that he fumbled or something. Not sure how you can call a QB's knee down when he wasn't down by contact and it looked to me like he had the ball across the plane before the ground caused the fumble. 

Raise Some pounds it in on the next play.

13-16

Renegade.

The defense comes out inspired and Harrison makes his second sack of the game. However, Flacco is able to convert ANOTHER third down while getting pressured by Harrison and keep the drive alive. The Ravens move down into Steelers territory but Harrison steps it up again and produces his second turnover of the season, knocking the ball out of Flacco's hands. William Gay is there to pick up the bouncing ball and get it back in the hands of 007.

007 wastes no time, hitting AB on a post down the middle then Tip-Drill Cotchery on another deflected pass. Three plays later, facing a 3rd and 5 at the Ravens 25, Ben does his Ben thing and scrambles away from pressure to the right and guns one downfield.

Mike Wallace comes streaking out of nowhere in front of AB in the end zone and makes the grab for the go-ahead score.

sldfjksdlfsdlfkdsnfljskfslkfnslknfs

20-16

The Ravens go 3-and-out and the Steelers get the ball back with 4:30 to go. As we said at the outset, the "Four Minute Offense" has not been a specialty of Mike Tomlin's Steelers. Once again, it wasn't a specialty.

On the first play from scrimmage, David Johnson drops a pass that hits him right between the numbers. Crap, that could've run 40 seconds off the clock. That came back to bite us. After Cotch picks up a first down on a non-tipped ball, the Ravens start using their timeouts. A dump-down to Redman gets us into 3rd and 4 from the 29. Ben tries to hit Moore on an out-route, but the two can't hook up, stopping the clock with 2:37 left and leaving the Ravens with a timeout on the board. Here's the problem I have with the play - I don't have a problem with throwing to try to essentially put the game away there. But if you're going to throw, why throw for the sideline? Why not use the middle of the field where you don't risk running out of bounds and stopping the clock?

To make matters worse, Tomlin doesn't send the kick team out fast enough AND elects not to use one of our two remaining timeouts to think about it. A delay of game penalty sets us back. This is the most mind-boggling of anything. First: we have timeouts for a reason. If you're not sure, take one. Second: if you don't trust your field goal kicker to make a 46-yard field goal with the game on the line, then he shouldn't be on your roster. Period. Third: The excuse that there was a new holder was a bad excuse. Kapinos held for Suisham last year.

After the delay of game, Kapinos pins the Ravens back at the 8.

92 yards in 2:24 with 1 timeout? You honestly had to like our defense in this situation.

But Flacco had been torturing us all day, and in the hurry-up it was no different. He starts things off by hitting Boldin over the middle before the clock winds to two minutes. Two more completions get them near midfield. Larry Foote has a chance to put the game away when he gets his hands on a 3rd down pass but he can't make the pick. One of the innate rules of football is that if you don't make a key interception when you have the chance, the other team is probably going to score on you. The Ravens opt to throw rather than run for the 1 yard on 4th down and Flacco's pass is high but Boldin makes a leaping grab for the first down to keep things going. The clock starts to tick down and the Ravens make their way down to the Steelers 26. After two incompletions, Flacco goes downtown for Torrey Smith who is streaking past Will Gay. Gay tries to slow him up but Smith gets separation (in his post-game comments he said he "gave [Gay] a shove") and makes a diving catch for the game-winning touchdown with 8 seconds left on the clock. Ryan Clark seemingly was supposed to be over the top but for some reason tried to undercut the route. No idea what he was doing.

Gay got flagged for Pass Interference because it was a Ravens pass into the end zone, but it didn't matter.

20-23

The Steelers get it back with 8 seconds left.

Yeah, not happening.


Players of the Game
Offensive Game Ball: Heath Miller
Defensive Game Ball: James Harrison


Honorable Mentions:
Mike Wallace
Rashard Mendenhall
Max Starks
Larry Foote
Casey Hampton
Antonio Brown
Jerricho Cotchery

Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game

Taking a Delay of Game before a Field Goal

I touched on this already, but there's absolutely no way you can take a delay of game penalty when you're on the edge of field goal range. If you honestly don't trust your kicker to kick a 46-yard field goal, then why not run the ball on 3rd down to try to get closer so you could go for it on 4th down? If you don't trust your kicker to make a 46-yarder, then why is he on your team? To cap it all off, we had 2 timeouts and took 1 home with us. Boy that one would've been useful to take here if Tomlin needed more time to make his decision.

Final Thoughts

• I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't have a problem with the league enforcing blows to the head, but the enforcement HAS TO BE CONSISTENT. Ray Lewis can't get away with a forearm shiver to Hines Ward's head and get fined half as much as Ryan Clark does for a textbook hit. Ryan also got flagged and Lewis didn't.
  

• The officiating was incredibly inconsistent in this game. Antonio Brown got spun around in the end zone with no flag, but the Ravens got 3 pass interference calls on Steelers DBs inside the 5-yard line.
  
  

• James Harrison was an absolute monster tonight. 3 sacks and a forced fumble? What a comeback.
• The No Huddle worked very well in the second half.
• I hate the WR screen. Such a horrible play. No idea why you throw the ball parallel to the line of scrimmage when your offense is rolling.
• William Gay had a bad game, but anyone who took to Twitter after the game to scrutinize Gay for his play needs to re-evaluate their life.
• Antonio Brown is starting to make some big-time catches for this team. Only a matter of time before he takes it up to the next level and really becomes a game-breaker.
• Thoughts & prayers with Emmanuel Sanders and his family. His mother died last week.
• Great to see Heath Miller getting involved in the offense more. He's been a catalyst for the offense being able to move the ball and has dominated the middle of the field this season.
• Big game against Cincinnati this week. Get ready to chase down that Wild Card.

Gameday: Baltimore Ravens

8:20pm

Heinz Field

NBC

When we play the Ravens, you have to throw everything out the window. Stats, trends, injuries, it doesn't matter. What matters is the 11 guys on the field at any given time wearing black and gold making sure what happened in week 1 doesn't happen again.

Steelers in their throwback unis tonight.

We're out for blood. Out for revenge. Call it, if you will, a vendetta.

WPIAL First Round Results

Here's a quick look at the scores from the first round playoff action and the matchups for next week.

AAAA

1. North Allegheny 53, 16. Fox Chapel 20
9. Seneca Valley 30, 8. Penn Hills 13
4. Penn-Trafford 21, 13. Bethel Park 0
5. Gateway 52, 12. Shaler 13
2. Central Catholic 42, 15. Peters Twp 14
7. Mt. Lebanon 28, 10. Woodland Hills 21
3. Upper St. Clair 42, 14. Connellsville 0
6. Erie McDowell 42, 11. McKeesport 7

Second Round Games

1. North Allegheny (10-0) vs 9. Seneca Valley (8-2)

4. Penn-Trafford (10-0) vs 5. Gateway (8-2)

2. Central Catholic (10-0) vs 7. Mt. Lebanon (7-3)

3. Upper St. Clair (9-1) vs 6. Erie McDowell (8-2)

AAA

1. Central Valley 60, 16. Laurel Highlands 20
8. Ringgold 14, 9. Highlands 10
4. West Mifflin 21, 13. Mars 8
5. Montour 55, 12. Chartiers Valley 20
2. Franklin Regional 28, 15. Belle Vernon 14
10. Hopewell 41, 7. Indiana 13
3. Knoch 28, 14. West Allegheny 7
6. Thomas Jefferson 34, 11. Greensburg Salem 28

Second Round Games

1. Central Valley (10-0) vs 8. Ringgold (8-2)

4. West Mifflin (9-1) vs 5. Montour (8-2)

2. Franklin Regional (10-0) vs 10. Hopewell (7-3)

3. Knoch (10-0) vs 6. Thomas Jefferson (7-3) 

AA

1. Aliquippa 44, 16. Steel Valley (3-4, 5-4) 14
8. Washington 30, 9. Mt Pleasant 14
13. Ellwood City 33, 4. Freeport 26
5. Greensburg Central Catholic 24, 12. Ford City 3
2. Jeanette 46, 15. Burrell 14
7. Shady Side Academy 35, 10. Beaver 21
3. Seton-La Salle 48, 14. East Allegheny 12
11. South Fayette 24, 6. Beaver Falls 14

Second Round Games

1. Aliquippa (10-0) vs 8. Washington (8-2)

5. Greensburg Central Catholic (9-1) vs 13. Ellwood City (7-3)

2. Jeanette (10-0) vs 7. Shady Side Academy (8-2)

3. Seton-La Salle (10-0) vs 11. South Fayette (7-3)

A

1. Clairton 54, 16. Cornell 0
9. Springdale 65, 8. Monessen 30
4. Rochester 48, 13. Northgate 22
5. Avonworth 28, 12. California 16
2. Sto-Rox 69, 15. Frazier 25
7. Brentwood 20, 10. Western Beaver 12
3. Bishop Canevin 27, 14. Chartiers-Houston 23
11. Fort Cherry 33, 6. Beth-Center 14

Second Round Games

1. Clairton (10-0) vs 9. Springdale (8-2)

4. Rochester (9-1) vs 5. Avonworth (9-1)

2. Sto-Rox (10-0) vs 7. Brentwood (9-1)

3. Bishop Canevin (10-0) vs 11. Fort Cherry (7-3)

WPIAL Playoffs: First Round Preview

Tonight begins the four-week trek that begins with 64 teams and ends on November 26th on the Heinz Field turf. Here's a quick preview of the first round matchups.

  AAAA

1. North Allegheny (6-0, 9-0) vs 16. Fox Chapel (3-3, 3-6) - The defending AAAA State Champions got the #1 seed in the bracket and should have no problem with the Foxes, who have the worst offense of any team in the WPIAL playoffs (13.1 points per game). Prediction: North Allegheny

8. Penn Hills (5-1, 5-4) vs 9. Seneca Valley (4-2, 7-2) at Plum - Penn Hills rebounded after a 1-4 start to earn a second place finish in the Big East Conference. Seneca Valley is led by the leading passer in all of WPIAL, Jordan Brown, who has racked up 1828 yards through the air this year. Prediction: Seneca Valley

4. Penn-Trafford (6-0, 9-0) vs 13. Bethel Park (3-2, 4-5) - The Warriors surprising run to their conference title came on the backs of a strong offensive and defensive line. Bethel has played in a lot of close games this season, so don't be surprised if this is a low-scoring affair. Prediction: Penn-Trafford

5. Gateway (5-1, 7-2) vs 12. Shaler (3-3, 5-4) - Gateway is a last-second field goal away from being conference champs. They held nationally-ranked Central Catholic to only 13 points. Shaler has lost 3 in a row and looked progressively worse with each game. Prediction: Gateway

2. Central Catholic (6-0, 9-0) vs 15. Peters Twp (2-3, 4-5) at Fox Chapel - Many people (myself included) thought Central was the best team in AAAA and was surprised to see them draw the #2 seed.  Prediction: Central Catholic

7. Mt. Lebanon (4-1, 6-3) vs 10. Woodland Hills (4-2, 6-3) - This might be the best first round matchup on the slate, but both teams are reeling entering the game. Mt. Lebanon got pounded by rival Upper St Clair and Woodland Hills has lost two straight to Pine-Richland and Penn Hills. Prediction: Mt. Lebanon

3. Upper St. Clair (5-0, 8-1) vs 14. Connellsville (3-3, 5-4) - Statistically, the Panthers have the best offense in AAAA (43.2 points per game) and a top-5 defense that have pitched 5 shutouts this year. Connellsville is improving after a last place finish last season. Prediction: Upper St Clair

6. Erie McDowell (4-2, 7-2) vs 11. McKeesport (4-2, 6-3) - Two teams with top 10 offenses in AAAA match up. Have to think McDowell has the advantage given McKeesport's 2+ hour bus ride up I-79. Prediction: Erie McDowell

AAA

1. Central Valley (7-0, 9-0) vs 16. Laurel Highlands (3-4, 4-5) - The defending AAA champions out of WPIAL's toughest conference gets the team with the worst scoring margin (-15.1 points per game) of any of the 64 WPIAL playoff teams. Prediction: Central Valley

8. Ringgold (6-1, 7-2) vs 9. Highlands (4-2, 7-2) - Think the WPIAL board has a sense of humor? They matched up the Ringgold Rams and the Highlands Golden Rams in the first round. Even though Ringgold put up a crapload of points this year (35.6 points per game, 5th best offense in AAA), Highlands has had one of the best defenses (12.1 points against per game, 4th best defense in AAA). Also, the Keystone Conference is 1-43 in first round games over the last 11 years. Prediction: Highlands

4. West Mifflin (6-1, 8-1) vs 13. Mars (3-3, 6-3) - West Mifflin ended TJ's conference winning streak to claim the conference crown. The Titans have a top 10 offense and defense in AAA. On the other side, the Planets haven't been as explosive as in years past. Prediction: West Mifflin

5. Montour (5-2, 7-2) vs 12. Chartiers Valley (4-3, 5-4) - The Spartans have one of the most explosive offenses in any classification, led by 1200-yard rusher Julian Durden and 1600-yard passer Dylan Buechel. Char Valley has struggled since losing QB Wayne Capers to injury and his status for this game is uncertain. Prediction: Montour

2. Franklin Regional (7-0, 9-0) vs 15. Belle Vernon (4-3, 3-5) - If any Keystone Conference team has a chance to win a game this year, it's Franklin Regional with the WPIAL's second leading rusher Dane Brown (1673 yards). The Leopards have struggled on offense, scoring under 10 points 5 times this year. Prediction: Franklin Regional

7. Indiana (5-1, 7-2) vs 10. Hopewell (4-3, 6-3) - The Little Indians aerial attack put up the 4th most points of any AAA team, but this game is all about WPIAL leading rusher Rushel Shell. Shell is about 500 yards short of the state rushing record, and he'll probably get 30+ carries in this game, which should get him about halfway there. Prediction: Hopewell

3. Knoch (6-0, 9-0) vs 14. West Allegheny (4-3, 5-4) - The Greater Allegheny Conference Champions get a horrible draw with the 4th place team from the Parkway Conference. West Allegheny is battle-tested, and should give the Knights a run for their money. Prediction: West Allegheny


6. Thomas Jefferson (6-1, 6-3) vs 11. Greensburg Salem (5-2, 7-2) - TJ has some unreal streak of semi-finals appearances going. Two of their three losses were to Quad-A teams. Prediction: Thomas Jefferson

AA 

1. Aliquippa (8-0, 9-0) vs 16. Steel Valley (3-4, 5-4) at Ambridge - The Pit at Aliquippa is one of the great high school football venues of the region, but due to bad field conditions, this game was moved across the river to Ambridge. This matchup pits two old steel towns against each other, and the defending AA Champion Quips should have the edge on the field. They have playoff experience, having been to Heinz Field every year since 2007 when Terrelle Pryor and Jeanette knocked them off in the semi-finals. Prediction: Aliquippa 

 8. Washington (6-1, 7-2) vs 9. Mt Pleasant (6-2, 6-3) - The Little Prexies are back in the playoffs for only the second time since 2005. Both of these teams have a lot of young starters and could contend for conference titles next year. But for now, you have to like Washington's offense (30.5 points per game), which ranks 7th in AA. Prediction: Washington 

 4. Freeport (6-1, 7-2) vs 13. Ellwood City (5-3, 6-3) - I was a bit surprised the Yellow Jackets were awarded the #4 seed in the AA bracket. Yes, they were the Allegheny Conference Champions and they rode their defense (8.9 points against per game) and running back Damon Smith (1206 yards, 15th in WPIAL) most of the season. Ellwood City has a good offense but suspect defense (22.2 points against per game), which could be their downfall against the run-oriented Jackets. Prediction: Freeport 

 5. Greensburg Central Catholic (7-1, 8-1) vs 12. Ford City (5-2, 6-3) - GCC played one of the best games of the regular season against Jeanette for the conference crown. The Centurions should roll against the offensively-challenged Sabres (15.9 points per game). Prediction: GCC 

2. Jeanette (8-0, 9-0) vs 15. Burrell (5-2, 6-3) - Jeanette has stormed through their opponents on the back of QB Demetrious Cox, winning the conference title by beating GCC last week. Burrell is better than people give them credit for with an offense averaging over 30 points per game. The Bucs downfall is on defense where they rank 16th out of 34 AA teams. Prediction: Jeanette 

 7. Shady Side Academy (6-1, 7-2) vs 10. Beaver (6-2, 7-2) - There is a very good chance that less than 10 passes will be thrown total in this game. Both teams are in the top 10 in AA in offense and defense, with Beaver posting 5 shutouts this season. Prediction: Beaver 

 3. Seton-La Salle (7-0, 9-0) vs 14. East Allegheny (5-3, 5-4) at Chartiers Valley - Seton-La Salle rode 1200-yard rusher Kevin Hart to a series of blowouts this season. The Rebels have put up at least 28 points in every game and won every game by at least 20. They pitched 4 shutouts this year and the offensively-challenged East Allegheny (19.1 points per game, 24th in AA) could be a candidate for a 5th shutout. Prediction: Seton-La Salle 

 6. Beaver Falls (6-2, 7-2) vs 11. South Fayette (5-2, 6-3) - This is easily the best game on the AA slate and it will be worth the price of admission. Beaver Falls is a traditionally strong playoff team with 1200-yard rusher Trey Hall leading the way. South Fayette is the defending WPIAL champs and might start freshman QB Brett Brumbaugh, younger brother of Christian Brumbaugh who led WPIAL in passing last year and carried the Lions to the state championship game. Prediction: Beaver Falls 

 A 

 1. Clairton (7-0, 9-0) vs 16. Cornell (4-3, 5-4) - Has there been a more impressive team than 2-time defending state champion Clairton this season? Not only did they extend their winning streak and can tie the WPIAL record for longest winning streak if they win the state title again. The Bears are averaging 47 points for and 2 points against this season. Let that number sink in. they only gave up 18 points all year. 12 of those came to Washington, the #8 seed in the AA playoffs, in a game they still won by 30. The only other team to score on the Bears was Fort Cherry (#11 seed in A), who still lost 35-6. Prediction: Clairton 

 8. Monessen (6-2, 6-3) vs 9. Springdale (6-2, 7-2) - The typically powerful Monessen offense has struggled this season, scoring only 182 points this season (20.2 points per game). On the other side, the Dynamos high-powered rushing attack has put up 294 points this year (32.7 points per game). Monessen's one out-of-conference test came against North Catholic, who finished 6th in the Eastern Conference) and they got shut out. Prediction: Springdale 

 4. Rochester (6-1, 8-1) vs 13. Northgate (4-4, 5-4) - The Eastern Conference is 8-0 in the first round over the last two years, but that undefeated streak will end tonight. Even though Northgate has the second leading passer in WPIAL in QB Jon Girvin, the Rams will simply be too much on both sides of the ball. Rochester is averaging 36.4 points per game and has been to the Class A Championship game the last two seasons. It seems like punishment to put the Rams in the same side of the bracket with Clairton, who has ended their season 5 consecutive years. Prediction: Rochester 

5. Avonworth (7-1, 8-1) vs 12. California (6-2, 7-2) - The Antelopes put up another solid season in the Eastern Conference. They are riding an 8-game winning streak after losing their opener to conference champion Bishop Canevin. California has been the epitome of a hot-and-cold team this year, ranking 10th in both points per game and points against per game in Class A. They have scored over 35 points 5 times but been held to under 20 in the other 4 games. Prediction: Avonworth

 2. Sto-Rox (7-0, 9-0) vs 15. Frazier (6-2, 6-3) - Sto-Rox handed Rochester their first loss to a team not named Clairton since 2008 and turned that 21-point victory (their closest game of the season) into a conference title. The Vikings boast three Division 1 recruits and have scored 40+ points six times. Only once (a 29-0 victory over Cornell) have the Vikings been held under 38 points. Prediction: Sto-Rox

 7. Brentwood (6-1, 8-1) vs 10. Western Beaver (5-2, 5-4) - Brentwood's only loss was a 32-0 defeat by Clairton. Western Beaver had a tough schedule and went 1-4 against playoff teams. Their only victory over a playoff team was a 38-36 win over Cornell. In their four losses (Fort Cherry, Clairton, Rochester, Sto-Rox), they were outscored by an average of 35.3 points per game. Prediction: Brentwood 

 3. Bishop Canevin (8-0, 9-0) vs 14. Chartiers-Houston (4-3, 6-3) at Dormont Stadium - The Crusaders (which is an awesome name for a Catholic school) boast the 3rd best offense (347 points, 38.6 points per game) and 2nd best defense (52 points against, 5.8 points against per game) in Class A. Chartiers-Houston is in the playoffs for the 9th time in the last decade, but are 0-8 in the playoffs during that span. Prediction: Bishop Canevin 

 6. Beth-Center (8-0, 8-1) vs 11. Fort Cherry (5-2, 6-3) - Beth-Center ran through a bad Tri-County South Conference, putting up the 3rd best Margin of Victory in all of WPIAL (39.7 points per game). They were one of 3 WPIAL teams to score over 400 points (Clairton and Franklin Regional the others). Their only loss came in non-conference play to Avonworth. Fort Cherry might have the best chance of any Class A teams to pull an upset. They have played well against quality opponents, beating Western Beaver by 15 and Chartiers-Houston by 24. The Rangers only lost to Brentwood by 1 and hold the distinction of being the only Class A team to score against Clairton this season. Prediction: Fort Cherry

Inside the Play: Double-Slant Route

One of our biggest critiques of Bruce Arians is that his offense is too "schoolyard" and he doesn't have plays that are designed to get guys open. However, we're going to take a few minutes here and look at one of the plays he has that does work. It's specifically designed to get a guy open, making it an ideal play in the red zone.

The play we're going to look at is the Double-Slant Route that the Steelers utilized to score their first touchdown against New England.

Here's the initial lineup at the snap. At the top of the screen, Mike Wallace is on the line of scrimmage and Mewelde Moore is stacked directly behind him. The play is designed for both Wallace and Moore to run slant routes, with Wallace's slant drawing the defenders and clearing out space for Moore. With an empty backfield, the rush is going to get there fast, so Ben has to get the ball out quick.

As it happens, on the left side of the line, both Starks and Kemoeatu are double-teaming the down-lineman, which leaves the outside linebacker free to rush at Ben. When he rushes, this clears out space underneath for Moore to run his slant route. The two defensive backs at the top of the screen are essentially taken out of the play by Wallace running his slant route. The only other player that could pose a problem is the middle linebacker, but he is neutralized by Heath Miller running to the middle of the field out of the inside of the bunch at the bottom of the screen.



As we watch the play develop, Starks blocks down on the defensive end, leaving the outside linebacker free to blitz Ben. Due to Wallace's speed, the two defensive backs are playing on their heels, reacting to Wallace running underneath them. Moore is wide open. Heath is running to the middle of the field, freezing the middle linebacker (standing next to the referee).



When Ben releases the ball, we see both Moore and Miller are open. Ben's pass to Moore utilizes Wallace as a lead-blocker on the defensive back at the goal line, which gives Moore a lane to the end zone. As a side note, you'll notice the ref in the middle of the field starts running forward and he barely gets out of Heath's way.



Here Moore has secured the catch, Wallace is blocking the defensive back, and Moore has a clear path to the goal line. All he has to do is dive across for the touchdown.

Here's the play in real-time (at the beginning of the video):





Now, this week on his radio show, Stan Savran said he'd never seen the play before. We beg to differ. We think it looks awfully familiar. Let's turn back the clocks to 2009 when the Green Bay Packers were in town.

With the game tied at 14, the Steelers have the ball, second and goal from the 9 with time running out in the first half. Here we once again see the Steelers in a 5-wide formation with a receiver and running back stacked at the bottom of the screen. In this case, it's Santonio Holmes as the receiver and Mewelde Moore again as the running back. There are 3 receivers at the top of the screen, but the split end is out wide instead of in a bunch in this case.

Holmes and Moore run the same double-slant route, with Holmes clearing out space for Moore. The Packers middle linebacker, who is up at the line feigning blitz, will drop into coverage but Ben gets the ball out before he is deep enough to make a difference. On the left end of the line, Clay Matthews gets taken care of.

Here at the snap we see Moore beginning to cut underneath Holmes. The middle of the field is wide open as the middle linebacker doesn't backpedal out of his blitz position fast enough. Clay Matthews is blitzing, opening up space for Ben to hit Moore.

Matthews got a solid bull rush, pushing the tackle back, but the ball is already away and Moore has space in front of him, with Holmes as a lead blocker. The middle linebacker is caught flat-footed with his shoulder pads to the sideline.



As Moore makes the catch, Holmes throws a block on the defensive back on the outside, giving Moore a one-on-one matchup with the safety. With the ball already in his hands, Moore clearly has the middle linebacker beat, who is still in the middle of the field.



In this case, Moore gets the benefit of the safety tripping over his own two feet. Moore skirts inside Holmes' block and into the end zone for the score.

If you want to watch the play in real-time, it's at 1:35 of this video.

But haven't we also seen this same double-slant route play more recently? Maybe Week 13 in Baltimore in 2010?

With the game on the line, right after Ben Roethlisberger shrugged off Terrelle Suggs, we had a 3rd and goal from the 9. Down by 4, it was definitely 4-down territory. Here we see the Steelers lined up in a similar formation with a wide receiver and running back stacked at the bottom of the screen (in this case Mike Wallace and Isaac Redman). And trips receivers at the top of the screen. Like the 2009 play, the receivers are spread out at the top and not bunched.

Once again, we see the double-slant route run by the receiver and running back at the bottom of the screen. The Ravens have 6 defenders lined up on the line of scrimmage and they all come on the blitz. This leaves single coverage on the receivers. With the defenders playing off to try to prevent the touchdown, this leaves room for the double-slant route. David Johnson, in the game for Heath Miller who almost got decapitated on a shot to the head that wasn't flagged, runs a slant route to the middle drawing the attention of the safety in the middle of the field that is dropping into coverage.

Here at the snap, we see Terrelle Suggs (55) blitzing from a wide angle at the bottom of the screen, creating the space in the flat that Redman needs to get open underneath Wallace.

Here where Redman makes the catch, we see where the Steelers have the advantage. They have Wallace at the 5-yard line plus David Johnson and Hines Ward running down the far hash marks that can serve as blockers for Redman. As we know, Redman is able to spin away from a few tacklers, keep his legs moving, and get into the end zone, giving the Steelers the victory.

Here's the full video:




Hopefully this brief piece of film study gives you some more appreciation for how the Double-Slant route works and how the Steelers have used it successfully. Now, this isn't a play that we should rely on, because it is easily disrupted if the outside linebacker drops into coverage rather than rushing the passer. Due to the very specific conditions in which it is useful, I think this is why we've only seen it a handful of times over the last three seasons. Nevertheless, it's a play that works because it is designed to get a guy open. With the 5-wide look, it's designed to get a guy open fast so that Ben can get rid of the ball quickly and not have to stand back there and get killed by the pass rush.

From Pittsburgh With Love: Steelers Win

 17

 25

Man, what a game. No clue where even to start. If hunches and gut feelings mean anything to you, going into this game I didn't have that sinking feeling in my stomach that I did going into the Patriots game last year. Of course, that could have been because my stomach was stuffed with cheese-filled-bacon-wrapped jalepenos and pepperoni roll. If you don't know what either of those are, you need to associate yourself with better cooks.

The crowd was just electric coming into the game. One thing I did notice in the pre-game warm-ups was Belicheat stood at midfield and watched the Steelers warm up. He didn't watch his own team at all. The Deisel went over and told him why The Beard is better than The Hoodie.

Coach all business before the game.

New England won the toss and deferred.

Like any good Bond movie, 007 comes out firing. He hits Wallace on an out-route then converts a 3rd down with a big pass to Heath down the seam. The first drive could have been sponsored by High Life, because it was Miller Time all the time.

Ben keeps working it to Heath, hitting him two more times over the middle to move us into Pats territory. On 3rd and 11, it's Miller Time again down the middle to get down to the 8. Mendenhall gets 3 then 007 hits Moore on the double-slant route for the score.

That's the same double-slant (with a WR and RB stacked and they both run slants, the WR essentially clearing out space for the RB's slant) that the Steelers ran for a touchdown against Green Bay 2 years ago and in Baltimore last year that Redman took in for the game-winning score.

7-0

Brady comes out with a pass to a tight end for 8 then tries to counter with a run but Big Snack takes a big bite out of crime, bringing down the Law Firm in the backfield. Gay blankets Branch on 3rd down and Brady can't connect on the slant. Huge 3-and-out for the defense.

007 gets things rolling with a 3rd down pass to Cotchery then goes back to Heath twice over the middle for 8 and 13 to move us across midfield. Man, Heath had four houses and a hotel on the middle of the field. Flat out owned everything between the numbers. Mike Wallace shows how he's developing into a complete receiver by picking up some good yardage on short passes. The most impressive was a shallow cross that he was able to turn upfield and pick up 10 yards. Mendenhall gets involved, taking a swing pass for 8 then picking up a solid 12 on the ground to get us inside the 10. The offense stalls out at the end of a dominant quarter.

Second Quarter

The Steelers had over 13 minutes of possession in the first quarter. Ben was 5/6 on 3rd downs. Great start to the game.

Suisham stretches the lead to start the second.

10-0

Historical Steelers nemesis Kevin Faulk, who I didn't even realize was still in the league, starts getting his hands on the ball and the Pats start moving. They get two gift first downs from the officials but a false start sets the Pats back. Woodley capitalizes on the long yardage situations by blowing through the middle and forcing a throw-away on second down then throwing Brady to the turf like a rag doll on third.

That was Woodley's 47th career sack, putting him ahead of Dwight White in 8th place on the Steelers all-time sack list.

In the Steelers shortest drive of the day, Ben gets sacked on second down then badly underthrows a wide open Manny Sanders on 3rd down and it gets picked off. You get that sinking feeling seeing a Patriots defender running towards our end zone with the ball, but Heath comes up with a tackle.

Two plays later, Brady hits Branch on a simple out-route for the touchdown.

10-7

It seemed like the momentum was about to shift to the Patriots, but 007 came out and took control of the game. He starts by hitting Sanders for a big 26-yarder to get across midfield. Ben keeps working it, mixing in runs with Redman, moving us down into the red zone. On 3rd down from the 7, Ben one-ups Brady, hitting Touchdown Brown on an out-route short of the goal line and Brown dives across for the score.

17-7

How crazy is it that Brady got the ball back with just over 2 minutes left in the half and had only had the ball for 6 minutes before this? What a testament to how our offense was able to convert 3rd downs and control the clock. Brady hits Gronk, who has the weirdest running motion I've ever seen, to get their 2-minute offense going. LeBeau counters right away by bringing in rookie Cortez Allen to shadow Gronk around the field. Belicheat counters that by lining Gronk up in the backfield and having him leak out, which enables New England to move inside the 30. Woodley does his thing and gets to Brady AGAIN and the crowd goes bezerk.

What a game by Woodley. 

The Pats have to resort to trickeration on 3rd down, running a direct snap to Faulk that leaves them well short of the sticks but in field goal range.

If you want to point to one moment in the game where you knew we were in New England's head, it was this direct snap. On 3rd and 17 from the 37 with 30 seconds left, they took the ball out of Brady's hands and tried to run a trick play, essentially surrendering their chances at a touchdown and playing for three. When does New England lay off the gas and play for 3? Wow.

17-10

The Steelers seem content to run out the clock with a draw to Moore, but he refuses to go down and churns out 16 yards. With the ball at the 40, 007 goes to the air, hitting Sanders across the middle to get us into Hail Mary range with 8 seconds left. Ben opts to check down to Moore rather than force something and time winds out.

Halftime

Steelers alumni from the 80s were back for the game. Louis Lipps, my favorite player when I was young, got the biggest cheer from the crowd. Bubby Brister got a half-laugh-half-cheer from most people.

The Steelers converted 6 of 8 3rd downs in the first half.

Third Quarter

The defense forces a 3rd and long and Brady hits Gronk but Cortez Allen was all over him, bringing him down short of the sticks. The Pats went 3-and-out to start both halves of the game. Unreal.

Raise Some comes out determined to do work and grinds out some solid gains out of the No Huddle. An offensive pass interference call on Sanders sets us back, but he redeems himself by making a big-time 3rd down catch across the middle to move the chains. The Pats try to sneak a safety up into the box to slow down Mendenhall, but Ben makes them pay, hitting Brown on a deep out to move us down to the 10. Sanders gets down to the 2 on a slant but Ben can't hook up with Brown on 3rd down. Brown definitely got interfered with, but he hasn't been in the league long enough to draw that call. Suisham connects on pretty much the same field goal Reed missed last year that swung the momentum to the Pats.

20-10

3rd quarter long commercial break after a score? You know what that means. It's Renegade time.

The Pats get Gronk away from Allen by lining him up in the backfield again and get another gift from the refs on a late hit out of bounds call. After what has been an All-Pro effort from Woodley, we saw potential disaster strike as he went down in the backfield. No one hit him and reports are it's a hamstring injury. Rookie Chris Carter was the only linebacker left and had to come in. Things could have been bad, but a false start penalty set the Pats back and they weren't able to recover. Troy made an outstanding out-of-nowhere play to bring down Faulk on a dump-off on 3rd down. Gostkowski bangs it off the upright.

Huge momentum swing for the defense there to get that stop after Woodley went out.

For a moment, it seems like the Pats get it right back after Ben gets strip-sacked...

...but he is able to come up with the ball at the bottom of the pile and keep possession. Two plays later, he hits Brown for a huge first down right down the middle of the field. Mendenhall gets us into Pats territory as the quarter winds out.

Fourth Quarter

007 keeps his foot on the pedal of the Aston Martin and goes to HEEEEEATH who plows over Patrick Chung.

Chung responds by almost ripping Antonio Brown's head off on a WR screen.

The most obvious facemask ever moves us into the red zone. 007 tries to work the slant routes, but Wallace and Brown both get tackled, forcing a field goal try.

23-10

That field goal kept the Pats in the game, keeping it a 2-score affair. After all these years of watching the Steelers, you know it's never going to be easy.

Brady takes a shot downfield, but Ike is all over it.

You don't throw deep on Ike. Period.

Brady finds Gronk on another leak-out to convert a rare 3rd down, but with the clock starting to tick, Brady starts to force things. He tries to take a deep shot for Ochostinko, but it's not even in the same zip code. On 3rd down, the pocket collapses and Brady just throws one up to nowhere to avoid a sack. Faulk somehow finds the ball, but he gets tackled for a loss of 6. Earlier this week, Tunch and Wolf talked about how Brady starts to get happy feet and tries to force things downfield when he knows time is running out. This series was very indicative of that.

Tick tock Tom

007 comes back looking to seal the game. Wallace gets things rolling, taking a short pass and turning it upfield for a solid gain. Mendenhall breaks one to the outside and picks up 18 more to move us down into the edge of field goal range. With under 8 minutes to go, Mendenhall and Redman grind out some clock but Ben and Brown aren't on the same page on 3rd down. Suisham pulls a 43-yarder wide right that would've almost put the game away.

Brady hits Welker in the flat who get decapitated by Troy.

It could've been a scary play, but Welker somehow got up after laying motionless on the field for a moment.

Brady keeps working the short passes, dinking and dunking his way down the field, getting into the red zone. Chris Carter jumps offsides on 3rd down inside the 10, giving Brady a new set of downs. A false start sends them back to the 9 and Brady seemingly hits Gronk for a touchdown, but Mundy makes a big hit on his fellow Woodland Hills graduate and somehow keeps him out of the end zone. Belicheat opts not to challenge and Brady throws a flare to Faulk out of the backfield. On any other day, it would be a walk-in touchdown, but the Steelers defense is playing possessed and Ryan Clark lays the hammer on Faulk at the goal line, knocking him 5 yards backwards. On 4th and goal Brady goes for Gronk in the corner, but Will Gay gets a hand on it and Mundy makes an interception but gets flagged for defensive holding because the refs want to keep the game interesting. Brady converts the gift first down into 7 points, hitting Hernandez over the middle. Really the only play Hernandez made all game.

23-17

With 2:35 on the clock and 3 timeouts, Belicheat opts for the onsides kick rather than trusting his defense. Gostkowaihsdjfskduhfski can't even kick it 10 yards straight ahead. Steelers ball.

In what would seem to be ground-and-pound time, 007 goes play-action to David Johnson, picking up 7 and getting us into a good yardage situation. Redman pounds it up the middle twice, forcing the Pats to use their last two timeouts and more importantly, moving the chains. Redman gets another carry before the two-minute warning. Two minutes left and already in field goal range so theoretically a football team would run the ball twice and kick the field goal. But Arians has other ideas. He tries a play-action pass and Ben gets sacked, which knocks us out of field goal range. On 3rd and long, Arians spreads it out again and Ben gets sacked again. In the broader perspective, a sack is better than an incompletion which stops the clock. That said, a field goal would've put us up by 9 and ended the game. Why not run the ball 2 more times? As the guy sitting in front of me said, "EVEN HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS DON'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE!" In what was a great offensive game that Arians put together, it had to be marred by this absolutely asinine decision.

Sepulveda makes his first punt of the game, giving Brady the ball back with 20 seconds to go.

With no timeouts left, Brady has to sit in the pocket and hope for something deep. The coverage holds and the Diesel busts through the left side of the line and swats the ball out of Brady's hand.

Troy makes a diving attempt at the fumble and punches it back into the end zone. In a mad dash, Ziggy falls on the ball but rolls out of the back of the end zone.

After review, it's not a touchdown, but it's a safety and seals the game.

25-17

WAAAAAAAAAHHH

Gostkeljlisdgksldfski fails at another onside kick.

Victory formation.

Ballgame.

Players of the Game

Offensive Game Ball: Ben Roethlisberger

Defensive Game Ball: LaMarr Woodley

Honorable Mentions:

Ike Taylor

Antonio Brown

Mike Wallace

Emmanuel Sanders

Heath Miller

Brett Keisel

Cortez Allen

Maurkice Pouncey

William Gay

Mr. Yuck Sticker of the Game

Passing with less than 2 minutes left and the Pats out of timeouts

Seriously. What if Ben had thrown an interception? That's obviously the worst-case scenario, but even an incompletion stops the clock. As it was, Brady got the ball back with 20 seconds left and had to try to force something downfield. But one incompletion would've given Brady 40 more seconds. When you're only up by 6, can you afford to take that risk when you're already in field goal range? Absolutely not. As the guy in front of me said, even high schools don't make that mistake.

Final Thoughts

• Brady produced only 3 points on drives that started with a kickoff. Their first touchdown came off the interception and their second after the missed field goal. Their field goal was in a 2-minute drive.
• Short passes, passes to the tight end, quarterback getting the ball out quick and attempting 50 passes. Sounds a lot like the Patriots offense, but that's what Ben Roethlisberger did today.
• Great job by the secondary to bump-and-run with the Pats receivers all day.
• Unsung hero of the game has to be Cortez Allen for the job he did on Gronkowski. We matched up Gay on Hernandez a lot (which was good from a size perspective) and brought in Allen to play Gronk heads-up. Allen pretty much shut him down when Gronk was lined up as a tight end. Gronk was able to get free whenever he lined up as a blocking back and faked a block then leaked out of the backfield into the flat.
• No question Ike Taylor is having a Pro Bowl season. He held Wes Welker, who was leading the league in receiving yards, to under 40.
• Speaking of Welker, I do have to give him props in one respect - he's one of the only receivers I've seen all season that doesn't ask for flags. Santonio Holmes is by far the worst in the league at asking for flags, but I didn't see Welker do it once. 
• Ryan Clark played a really good game, stepping up and making tackles and delivering big hits. Might have had the play of the game keeping Faulk out of the end zone, which forced the Pats to run another two minutes off the clock.
• Defensive line did a solid job pressing the pocket and stopping the run, even when there were only 2 down linemen in the game. Obviously, Keisel had one of the biggest plays of the game knocking the ball away from Brady, but Ziggy played well and Cam Heyward did some good things too.
• In his 5 seasons as head coach, Mike Tomlin has started 6-2 each year.
• This was a huge win and we're sitting atop the AFC for the moment. But there's no time to gloat. It's Ravens week. And we're out for revenge.