The Detroit Lions didn’t emerge victorious in Saturday night’s Divisional loss to the Washington Commanders, upset as the No. 1 seed and bounced from the playoffs. But in what became an offensive shootout, they leaned on a play the Pittsburgh Steelers called more than two decades ago to make it as close a game they could.
In the third quarter, the Lions called a funky-looking toss/shovel play. QB Jared Goff pitched to RB David Montgomery who immediately shoveled the ball forward to WR Amon-Ra St. Brown. It worked, St. Brown free to dart up the middle for 20-yards down to the Commanders’ 7-yard line.
The play shocked everyone, including the booth. Color commentator Tom Brady exclaimed he had never seen the play before. Another example of OC Ben Johnson’s genius that’s likely to land him a head coaching job for 2025, right?
Astute Steelers’ fans know what old is new. Call back to Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie year, 2004, late in the season against the Detroit Lions. Ken Whisenhunt dialed up the same call. Roethlisberger pitched to WR Antwaan Randle El who shoveled the ball ahead to RB Verron Haynes for a walk-in 10-yard touchdown.
Pittsburgh would need every point and big play that day to avoid an upset, beating New York 33-30 as RB Jerome Bettis plunged over the goal line with under five minutes remaining for the game-winning score.
The common thread here is Randle El. In 2004, he was the Steelers’ wide receiver and gadget man, a quarterback at Indiana. In 2025, he’s the Lions’ wide receivers coach helping develop St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and others. No doubt he has his fingerprints on this play-call working with an inventive coordinator like Johnson willing to go deep into his bag of tricks to move the ball.
In those early days, the Steelers’ offense was perceived as bland. Run the ball, plow ahead, win with great defense and ball control. But Whisenhunt was a creative play-caller and Pittsburgh ran plenty of trickery in that era. His most notable call is Randle El’s touchdown pass to WR Hines Ward in Super Bowl XL but the Steelers were full of fun plays back then, especially on the playoff run. In the Wild Card win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh dialed up a direct snap to Randle El who threw the ball back to Roethlisberger who fired downfield to hit WR Cedrick Wilson Sr. for a 43-yard touchdown.
Pre-Whisenhunt, the offense was creative with QB/WR Kordell Stewart like this FB option in 1995.
They’re plays the Steelers’ offense rarely runs anymore. Arthur Smith dialed up two flea flickers this season. One worked to WR Calvin Austin III while the other failed. But the best offenses in today’s NFL are among the most creative and aggressive and right now, Pittsburgh falls short in both columns.
