Personally, I'm always finding myself going back to the offensive execution when assessing this game. The timeliness, too. I thought Lamar Jackson played an outstanding game. His worst play came at the most crucial of times, but I wasn't a fan of the play-calling on the goal line. You could argue that after pulling, John Simpson should have sealed off Kwon Alexander instead of pivoting inside towards Damontae Kazee on the shovel pass. Would much prefer to leave Mark Andrews against Kazee than Alexander comparatively. However, I was also not huge on a YAC concept in traffic. With the receivers struggling to hold onto the ball, the hypersensitivity would make the catch alone feel like a win. Having to turn upfield and carry an unblocked defender several yards into the end zone thereafter, tough to materialize given the lack of momentum. We remained tone def by sending a WR, who's missed nearly half of the game after a single catch, into an end-zone fade against length. Certainly feels like an own goal, this one.
That being said, with relation to being overly cute, the play that I continue to come back to in my head is the 3rd and 9 conversion on the Steelers' following drive:
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With Arthur Maulet backpedaling before the snap, it immediately signaled either thirds or rolled halves, likely the latter. Humphrey likely has the flat in off-coverage, hovering to the sticks. Who's left to defend the hook/curl towards the trips side, consisting of George Pickens and Allen Robinson as the two slots? By sheer virtue of this alignment and spacing, it would be the nearest front seven defender. That player is Jadeveon Clowney.
When I watched this play live, I could not believe it. I was screaming for a time out. Not only that, but we lined up Roquan Smith, who's otherworldly in coverage, to shade the center and rush into the teeth of the OL, with Kyle Van Noy bookending Clowney. Which at least Van Noy has ample experience in. That single snap of coverage was the only time we dropped either Van Noy or Clowney in this game. And we did it on a crucial 3rd and long. With 216 yards of allowed offense. And 4.08 yards per play to that point. Clowney awkwardly shuffles beyond the drop, which I don't blame him for considering the rarity of the request, Calvin Austin runs a clear out to carry the flat defender. And there's a open void for Robinson to waltz his way into the stop route for the first down. To make things worse, Hamilton and Queen were near moments away from the sack. It's a single play. The defense held for most of the afternoon, if we're pointing fingers, they're not at the top of the list. I just found this schematic to be infuriating after we just gave up free points by being overly creative on offense. Golly.
