Remember the run-pass option play that the Pittsburgh Steelers used four times last week in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Well, they used a slight variation of it during their final drive Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars to secure the win.
In fact, they used it on back-to-back plays.
On second down and 11 with 3:23 left in regulation, the Steelers broke their huddle with 11 personnel and running back Le’Veon Bell lined up in the slot on the weak side of the formation. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger then called an alert and Bell moved back into the backfield as strong side sidecar to his quarterback. Bell then took an inside handoff for nine yards up the middle and that set up a crucial third down and two.
Following a Jaguars timeout, the Steelers again broke their huddle and Bell once again lined up as a slot receiver on the weak side before Roethlisberger again alerted him back into the backfield.
This time the Jaguars left tight end Heath Miller uncovered and Roethlisberger hit him in stride in the middle of the field after first faking an inside handoff to Bell.
There was a little bit of a wrinkle this week as wide receiver Justin Brown was the slot receiver on the strong side. Last week it was Markus Wheaton that was in the slot that was setting up for a bubble screen.
