Sometimes I guess fans need to hear it from the horses mouth to understand why teams do or in this case don\’t do certain things more in games. As I tried to explain in earlier post, the reason quarterback Dennis Dixon was not used more like he was on the touchdown run against the Ravens is summed up in two reasons. First, the Ravens showed as head coach Mike Tomlin called, boot readiness or naked readiness, by the number of pressure men that came off of the Steelers right side. the Ravens were well aware of the ability Dixon has outside of the pocket and took every precaution to avoid it from happening. The Steelers had to pick their shots at doing it and the touchdown play was the perfect call at the right time against the right defensive look.
Secondly, the more you try to attempt to do this against unfavorable defensive looks, the more chance you have at Dixon taking a hard shot and being knocked out of the game. As Tomlin put it today in his press conference, we might have been looking at Tyler Palko playing quarterback in that game, and that would’ve been more unpleasant.
The play calling offensive coordinator Bruce Arians did in the game was above the line, like it or not. He put the Steelers ahead late in the 4th quarter, which is what every Steelers fan was hoping for. The defense could not hold the lead. That is that. Everything from that point on offensively should be thrown out the window. The defense lost the game plain and simple. it is now time to move on to the Raiders.
