While it was a long day for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense on Sunday in their 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the reality is that the tone was set early. The opening drive was bad enough, though a poor punt allowed the 49ers to start near midfield, but the ease with which the secondary allowed them to score in the red zone became emblematic of the day to come.
On first and goal from the eight, QB Brock Purdy looked like he was playing pitch and catch with WR Brandon Aiyuk for an easy touchdown right between the B and the U in PITTSBURGH painted in big black and gold letters in the end zone. It’s a play that should never have been allowed, certainly not that easily, and left even one of the best to play the cornerback position of this generation baffled.
“Thats what had me so confused”, five-time All-Pro Richard Sherman said on Twitter yesterday when taking a look at the touchdown allowed by CB Patrick Peterson. Although he slipped on the play, Sherman did not understand what the defense was trying to do.
“All they did was disguise double post in the red zone which is a common concept almost every team runs”, he went on to write. “I would have jumped the post and if they beat me on the out they would have got me because you almost never see an out”.
A post route is one of the simplest concepts in football in which a target runs straight and then breaks inward, typically toward the goalpost—hence the “post” pattern. This was just a two-man route concept for the 49ers with Aiyuk and WR Deebo Samuel both running posts out of a bunch set to the right.
San Francisco was set up in 21 personnel with a fullback and running back in an I-formation and a tight end on the left end. Everybody but Aiyuk and Samuel stayed in to block. While the Steelers had five defenders back, three followed Samuel completing crossing the face of the goal line, leaving Peterson one-on-one with Aiyuk.
Once he bit on a quick false step outside, the route was won. With safety Damontae Kazee drawn toward Samuel, there was plenty of room between defenders for Purdy to make one of the easiest throws he’ll ever have in his career.
While there are a number of factors that the defense could have done differently, Sherman seems to be critical of Peterson for being susceptible to biting on the outside fake, not trusting the odds that it would follow standard patterns and break inside.
After all, the two-route tree is designed to open up the middle of the field by having the inside post route draw defenders horizontally, creating space behind him. It worked to perfection in this case, unfortunately. And the day didn’t exactly get better from there.
