The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense was humming at the beginning of their 33-31 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. They scored on the opening drive and then found themselves just outside of field goal range quickly on their next possession. A failed flea flicker derailed that drive and prevented them from scoring points. Aaron Rodgers explained what happened on the aborted play.
“That wasn’t supposed to be a flea flicker. We weren’t on the same page,” Rodgers said via the Steelers’ website.
Mike Tomlin was asked during his press conference if the flea flicker was an accident. He confirmed that it was.
Here is a clip of the play.
For the lip readers out there, it looks like Rodgers mouthed “What are you doing…It wasn’t a flea flicker,” to Jaylen Warren. I’ll let you be the judge, but that checks out with what Tomlin and Rodgers said.
That set up 3rd and 4, which led to a punt. Had the Steelers added to their early lead, the game may have played out differently. They ended up losing by three points. While you can’t say this flea flicker led to the loss directly, it didn’t help.
The Steelers have two or three plays called in the huddle and Rodgers checks them into the best one depending on the look of the defense. It’s possible that flea flicker was one of the possible calls, but it wasn’t the one they were supposed to execute in the end. We will see if Warren gets asked about the play.
On a day in which the Steelers put up 31 points, it’s hard to complain too much about offensive production. But this was one of many missed opportunities that led to a heartbreaking loss on Thursday Night Football.
