The Pittsburgh Steelers had the opportunity to extend their lead on their opening drive of the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals, but the Bengals gave the Steelers stout special teams unit a taste of their own medicine with a blocked kick. Alex Kozora broke the play down and put most of the blame on Broderick Jones, while Mike Tomlin put the blame on Jones and OG Spencer Anderson.
“Without naming specific names – Broderick Jones and Spencer Anderson – there was some negligence on the play,” Tomlin told Bob Labriola of Steelers.com
Tomlin added that the two of them blocked a man and not their space, and it allowed a hole for Joseph Ossai to come through to block the field goal.
“Certainly. We block an area, not a man, and over the course of time, sometimes, particularly if those men have special traits, or they’re big men or strong men, sometimes people get distracted by individuals. But the base rule for us is we block an area, not a man. And to make a long story short, those two guys probably got preoccupied by men, as opposed to spaces, and it led to some space that created an opportunity for the block.”
Broderick Jones got thin and not wide which left the space open, while Anderson just focused on the man in front of him and not the wider space. That allowed a much larger gap to open than what should’ve, and let the Bengals make a play.
The Steelers wound up winning so the play became nothing more than a footnote, and it is the first time the Steelers have allowed a blocked kick this season. But there’s no doubt that the process needs to be better.
It’s clear where both Anderson and Jones went wrong here, and it’s exactly as Tomlin said, so it should be an easy fix. Whether it was just a mental lapse or they were worried about the rush up the middle, the two of them allowed far too much space for Ossai to wiggle through and disrupt the process. It’s a play that had the chance to swing the momentum to Cincinnati’s favor, but the Steelers offense kept cooking in the second half despite the blip and the defense came away with takeaways.
But for the Steelers to be a real contender, they need to execute on special teams, and they have at a very high level this season. That needs to continue, and they can’t continue to have problems on the field goal team.
