On Dec. 23, 2018, in a Week 16 matchup against the New Orleans Saints, the Pittsburgh Steelers were uncharacteristically aggressive on fourth down. They called a fake punt while leading the Saints, 28-24, with 4:11 left in the game from their own 42. The snap went directly to FB Roosevelt Nix, who was stopped short of the line to gain. However, Nix thought he picked up the first down, started high-stepping toward midfield and then extended the ball out in a first-down gesture.
The Saints would score on the ensuing possession and go on to win, 31-28, a loss that pushed the Steelers to 8-6-1 in a season where they would miss the playoffs. During an appearance on The Arthur Moats Experience, Nix talked about the fake punt gone wrong and the ensuing celebration.
“When you talking about running fakes and stuff, you work on it all week, everybody knows it’s coming, everybody knows what time it is. We practiced that joint all week, man, we knew it was time to go. And when that joint got called, the defender did everything we thought he was gonna do until the last second. I thought I had it, it didn’t help when I had [Jordan Dangerfield] screaming in my ear,” Nix said.
“All I hear are people celebrating, I’m like people celebrating, [Dangerfield] screaming ‘You got it!’ I’m like, Oh, it’s time for me to show out. We in the zone, TV on me, I finna get some camera time.’ And it was like, short. I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m the biggest asshole.'”
Nix said getting humbled is what happens when you try to “show out.”
“When you try and show out and try and you try to show your ass, man, stuff like that’s gonna happen to you. It’s humbling. That’s how you get humbled,” he said.
Nix wasn’t the only Steeler celebrating, and in the moment while he’s running upfield, he’s just focused on going straight ahead. He probably wasn’t acutely aware of where the first-down marker was or where he actually landed, so when Dangerfield is yelling that he got it, that’s what Nix believes. In the clip, you can clearly see Dangerfield running over in celebration before Nix even gets up. Despite having a solid five-year career with the Steelers and making a Pro Bowl before retiring after the 2020 season, it’s still one of the plays for which Nix is most remembered.
The timing of the play ended up being brutal for the Steelers as New Orleans would go on a 10-play, 46-yard drive to take the lead and eventually win the game. But the Steelers were clearly intent on pulling out a fake at some point and getting aggressive with Nix mentioning how much the team worked on the play throughout the week. Given Pittsburgh’s field position at the time and that it was just 4th and 5, it wasn’t a bad place to call the fake if not for there being just 4:11 on the clock when the Steelers pulled it out.
It was a risk that didn’t pay off, and it provided one of the more embarrassing on-field moments for Nix and the Steelers in the process. It’s one that Nix learned a lesson from, but it’s hard to blame him for trying to capitalize on what he thought was his moment in the spotlight. Fullbacks and special teamers in general don’t always get a lot of love, and Nix tried to take advantage of his moment. Unfortunately for him, he ended up in the spotlight for the wrong reason.
