Earlier in the week I broke down the long touchdown run of Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden against the Pittsburgh Steelers and it included a nice read of the defense by Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also had a great defensive read and check in the game that resulted in the touchdown pass to wide receiver Antonio Brown.
The situation was second and 10 from the Raiders 11 yard-line. The Steelers have their 11 personnel on the field and the Raiders line up in cover-0 in their nickel package. The animated gif below shows the pre snap of the play where Roethlisberger recognizes the coverage and even gets free safety Matt Giordano to tip his hand that it is a safety blitz.
With the corners all playing off, Roethlisberger checks to the quick hitch to Brown, and because both safeties came on the blitz, the Steelers wide receiver only has Michael Huff, who normally plays free safety, to beat.
This was all Roethlisberger, great film study and an excellent effort by Brown to get the score here as it was a very high percentage play call against the defensive coverage look.
