The Pittsburgh Steelers continued their use of the no-huddle Thursday night in the 22-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but it was predominantly used in the second half.
In total, the Steelers ran 29 no-huddle plays, but only five were run in the first half, or more specifically, the second drive of the first quarter. All told, the 27 non-penalty no-huddle plays produced 162 yards of offense and a touchdown.
After the game, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was asked why it took so long to use it being as it worked well in the second half and more importantly, produced points.
“It was really loud out there, they’re a good defense,” said Roethlisberger. “When you get into a loud environment, it’s harder to check out of plays and into new ones. It was something that we kind of talked about, the coaches, coach [Mike] Tomlin, [Todd] Haley decision and ask me what I think. So it’s kind of a brain-trust decision.”
As far it’s use in the second half, Roethlisberger was 10-of-17 passing on non-penalty plays for 85 yards. While that wasn’t too overly impressive, the running game produced 52 yards on five second half no-huddle runs that included a long run of 43 by running back Leveon Bell.
The Steelers will next host the Miami Dolphins a week from Sunday and I am willing to bet we will see more no-huddle in that game as well. In addition, I bet we see more in the first half as the team can’t expect to win that game if they are shutout through the first 30 minutes of action like they were Thursday night in Baltimore.
