It’s official, the Steelers are the NFL’s most entertaining team. That’s right, even without Ben Roethlisberger on the field, the Steelers manage to make every game must-see by transforming themselves into the NFL’s version of a rebel force.
Their win Monday over the Chargers had several elements that illustrate why Pittsburgh is just too fun to miss right now.
Antonio Brown's Fantasy Value Sinks With Vick
Exhibit A: Michael Vick’s Tremendous Bomb To Markus Wheaton
Vick was mostly atrocious on Monday, and the Steelers stayed in the game largely because their defense is better than anyone expected. Vick, however, can still chuck it deep. He’s always had one of the NFL’s best arms, and it was on display when he launched one to Wheaton that set up their game-winning touchdown. And the bomb wasn’t even the cool part! According to Vick, the play was drawn up schoolyard-style by Roethlisberger.
"The touchdown pass was all Ben," Vick told NFL Network. "He put the play together on the sideline and that's it. Based on what he's seeing -- I was struggling -- Ben put the play together, we executed, and now I see why he's a great one."
Steelers' Going For Two Will Confuse Opponents' Coaches
That’s punk rock right there. For all the coaches on their staff, they have an injured QB who is making s**t up in his head, and then having the team actually run it. And it actually works. Just awesome.
Exhibit B: Their Game-Winning TD Defied Convention, And Didn’t Even Work In Practice
Instead of going down the safe path – and the Steelers have set fire to all “safe paths” available to them this season” – they ran a Wildcat play with five seconds left on the clock from the one-yard line, when a chip shot field goal would have tied the game and sent it to overtime. This play was added to their playbook just days ago, so they didn’t have much practice running it.
Oh, and when they did practice it, the play didn’t work!
“Two days ago in our ‘seven shots’ before practice, it was the exact same formation, exact same play — and we stopped him,” linebacker Arthur Moats said. “And he said, ‘I’m running through that.’”
This game confirmed Mike Tomlin as the single most bad ass coach in the NFL (sorry Rex Ryan). When it was decision time between the field goal or the risky Wildcat play that never worked before, Tomlin said “It was time to go to the mattresses.” Damn!
Exhibit C: The Steelers Were Robbed Of 18 Seconds And Won Anyway
You read that right. Pittsburgh lost 18 seconds after a fair catch on a punt. While they set up for their drive, the freaking clock was running and nobody noticed. That’s an indictment of the Steelers’ coaches for sure, but it’s also pretty baller to just score anyway. Especially thanks to a 72-yard play the injured QB made up. They’re playing real-life Madden right now.
Here is the NFL play clock error. Steelers lost 18 seconds off the clock. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/949QLXF2cR
— Blitzburgh (@Steel_Curtain4) October 13, 2015
Exhibit D: Don’t Forget That They Don’t Kick Extra Points Anymore
Before Roethlisberger went down, the Steelers were clearly throwing convention to the wind, and opting for two-point conversions over the elongated extra point. Vick’s play hasn’t inspired much confidence, so right now they’re back to kicking the freebies, but when Roethlisberger comes back they will probably go back to going for two.
That’s rebellious! It defies the safety-first mindset of every other coach. It makes football fun! They have great weapons in Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, and the returning Martavis Bryant, and they are daring defenses to stop them in close quarters. It throws off betting lines, and generally confuses everyone.
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