The 2004 AFC Championship Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots is marred in controversy. At least on the Steelers’ end of things. With accusations about the Patriots stealing the Steelers’ signals and knowing their play calls, some players still feel cheated out of a Super Bowl appearance. But Pittsburgh got to the big game the next year. And to do so, they “stole” a page out of the Patriots’ playbook. Only this time, it was totally legal.
Former Denver Broncos CB Domonique Foxworth shared a great story on ESPN’s Kevin Clark’s most recent episode of his This Is Football podcast. Foxworth told the story of the success Denver had with its Cover Zero blitz throughout the regular season, an all-out attack that left each corner one-on-one with zero safety help. Because the rush could get home so quickly, receivers never had time to run deep or complex routes.
It’s a strategy offenses didn’t know how to counter throughout the season. Until the Broncos faced the Patriots in the playoffs. In the Divisional Round matchup, Bill Belichick attempted to counter this “Zero” blitz by motioning a slot receiver across the formation and becoming an extra blocker, essentially occupying two defenders (a rusher and the man supposed to cover the receiver). In theory, this would give the quarterback and receivers more time to get open and be thrown the football.
But the Patriots didn’t have the right personnel, the right receiver to help block, and the Broncos still won 27-13. Watching the tape of that game, Bill Cowher and the Steelers saw what the Patriots did and copied it. Only they could do it so much more effective with their blocking wide receiver, Hines Ward. That was the edge the Steelers needed.
“We had a home game against the Steelers to get to the Super Bowl,” Foxworth told Clark. “The Steelers did the exact same thing but they’re the one team who had [expletive] Hines Ward, who was a slot receiver who was capable of being a tackle because he was that ferocious of a player. We lost to the Steelers, which is a weird story, because of Belichick’s [game plan]. I’m assuming they saw what Belichick was doing and said, ‘Hey, that works. We have a guy who can actually do that.’ And they stole Belichick’s strategy and beat us.”
Of course, you know we had to pull the tape. I could only find two examples of this happening but they were two key moments. A third-down conversion to WR Nate Washington followed by the big one, a touchdown to WR Cedrick Wilson that gave the Steelers a 10-0 lead. Here’s the two plays. On the first, you can see Ward motion across and become part of the protection, giving Ben Roethlisberger the time he needed. On the second, it’s actually WR Antwaan Randle El staying in to pick up S John Lynch.
Roethlisberger and the Steelers’ passing game went on to have a great day, throwing for 275 yards and two scores. The Broncos’ pass rush was subdued, Roethlisberger only sacked twice, and he rushed for a score to salt the game away. Pittsburgh went onto Super Bowl XL, held in Jerome Bettis’ hometown Detroit, and beat the Seattle Seahawks for its fifth Super Bowl trophy and first since the 1970s Steel Curtain dynasty. And in a way, despite the rivalry, you have to thank Bill Belichick and the Patriots for that.
