The Pittsburgh Steelers reached into their bag of tricks in the second quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders, and it ended in complete disaster. Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions showed them how it’s done by running the exact same play and scoring a 52-yard touchdown.
Here is the Steelers’ attempt, which resulted in a 13-yard sack of Justin Fields. Until that happened, the Steelers were actually driving down the field and overcoming penalties on their way to a solid drive. But they couldn’t overcome the failed trick play and were forced to punt while they were still trailing 7-6 in the waning minutes of the first half.
Connor Heyward motioned across the formation, Fields took the snap and tossed it to RB Aaron Shampklin. He tossed it to Pat Freiermuth, who tossed it back to Fields. By the time Fields got the ball, Divine Deablo immediately hit him for a big sack.
What did the Lions do differently? They had an extra blocker on the left side of the offensive line. It widened out the formation to make it a farther path to the backfield for the edge players, and they actually had a blocker dedicated to the end man on the line.
The Steelers left Deablo totally uncovered and he darted in for an easy sack. This isn’t a screen pass or a quick-passing play where the ball comes out fast — it needed a few seconds to develop back there. If they had not motioned Heyward over to the right, they would have probably succeeded on this particular play.
The Lions used their motion guy, the Steelers didn’t. Heyward should have just remained on the left. Shampklin turned into a blocker to cover the edge player on the right side of the offense, so there was really no reason to have Heyward motion away.
Ian Eagle’s call on the broadcast was “get it out of the playbook” immediately after the play concluded. That is not ideal. Meanwhile, the Lions are being universally praised for their creative playbook.
