A wise poet once said, “You can’t always get what you want / But if you try sometimes, you might find / You get what you need.”

The Packers did not walk out of Heinz Field with a win. That is what I wanted. That’s what all of us wanted. But I know I needed a good game. I needed some hope. I needed something to get excited about. And, while the end result was a loss, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this game. We got some good plays, and it gave me reasons to be excited. It was a fun game and I’ll take it, frustrating ending and all.

A housecleaning note before we get to football. Life is pretty crazy for me these days and it’s not looking like it’s going to get calmer any time soon. Work is taking up more of my time every week. I moved into a house that needs a lot of work, which gets rid of some time I used to have in the evenings. And, to cap it all off, my second child is due at the end of the year. Needless to say, I don’t have as much time to write as I would like. So this article will be getting shorter. I apologize, but there’s not much I can do about it. To supplement it, I’m posting more plays on Twitter. So, instead of covering a play here in-depth, I’ll use 280 characters to break it down as best I can. It’s not the same level of detail I can get into here, but I just don’t have time to spend writing up all those plays in the detail I get into here.

For those of you who don’t use Twitter, I’m going to be creating a weekly post, gathering all my Packers tweets into one spot. My first one went up this week and you can find it here. I’m pretty excited about it. Even though this post will be shorter, I’ll be covering more plays. I hope you all like it.

Enough of that. Let’s get to the film.

I wrote about the big Roethlisberger-to-Brown pass in One Big Play this week and talked for a bit about the nature of Cover 3. You can read that here.

The Bad

3rd and 6. Packers are in Cover 2 Man Under. Steelers run a little inside-out pick play to the left with Antonio Brown [84] and Eli Rogers [17], while Le’Veon Bell [26] and Martavis Bryant [10] run a go-flat combo on the right. That leaves Jesse James [81] on the end of the right side of the line. He sets up to block but he lets Ahmad Brooks [55] run right past him. Blake Martinez [50] is supposed to pick up James, but he sits back when it looks like James is blocking. By the time Ben Roethlisberger [7] gets the pass off, Martinez is already beat. He tries to rally and make the tackle, but David Decastro [66] is waiting for him. James cuts inside the block of Decastro and picks up 10 yards.

There’s not much Martinez could have done differently in this situation. He could have attacked James sooner – it’s apparent very early that James will not be blocking – but Decastro is waiting for him directly after the snap. Even if he converges on James, Decastro is in a good position to block him.

Good play design and excellent execution.

While we’re on the topic of Jesse James [81], let’s look at another play. I know you’re not going to believe this, but a tight end got open over the middle against this defense. I know. I’m as shocked as anyone.

The Steelers have a bunch look to the right, with Eli Rogers [17] on the inside, James in the middle and Martavis Bryant [10] on the outside. Bryant runs a deep out, dragging Damarious Randall [23] with him. It’s worth noting that Randall has great coverage here. He turns to run with Bryant when it looks like he’s running a go route, but is also able to turn and stay on his hip when he breaks for the out route.

Rogers sells a route to the flat before cutting back to the middle, temporarily shaking Davon House [31]. Blake Martinez [50] is reading Rogers from the middle and drops underneath the route, but Rogers sees Martinez and cuts underneath his drop, which knocks House off even further. Rogers has some quick feet.

James is simply running a clear-out route before running a dig behind the route of Rogers. It’s nothing special, but all the commotion underneath means he only has to beat the man across from him. After driving Josh Jones [27] downfield, he’s able to disengage and cut to the inside, creating quite a bit of space. Ben Roethlisberger [7] fires behind Rogers – you can see Rogers trying to make a play on the ball before realizing it’s for James – and hits James out of the break.

Good timing on this from the Steelers.

Antonio Brown [84] starts this play to the outside on the right, across from Davon House [31]. Brown gets a free release to the inside and streaks downfield. House passes Brown off to Josh Jones [27] to pick up the crossing route from Eli Rogers [17]. Brown rounds off his route in front of Jones and behind the drops from Morgan Burnett [42] and Blake Martinez [50] in the middle. Ben Roethlisberger [7] hits Brown between Burnett and Martinez.

It’s a great route by Brown and a great throw by Roethlisberger. The Steelers pick up a first down. My hat’s off to them.

And it should have been over. But it wasn’t.

The route of Jesse James [81] on the deep curl throws this off. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix [21] is manning the middle of the field. He sees James running through the middle and keys in on that route, attacking when he sees the throw from Roethlisberger. Clinton-Dix thinks this throw is going to James and converges to make a play on it. He never sees Brown from the outside. By converging on James, he’s in a terrible position to make a tackle on Brown. Brown has a nice lane and picks up 23 yards after the catch.

The first few times I watched this, I was convinced Clinton-Dix just took a poor angle on Brown. He hasn’t had a good year so it’s not a terrible assumption. It’s easy to say Clinton-Dix should have seen Brown, but he’s responsible for the middle of the field and saw James running free through the middle and sitting in a zone between two dropping middle defenders. This looks bad, but I can’t kill Clinton-Dix for this.

I wanted to bring up this play because it speaks to the lack of anticipation that I’ve talked about with with Brett Hundley [7]. This is the now infamous TJ Watt [90] sack, but I’m not here to talk about that part.

I’m here to talk about Davante Adams [17] running a dig from the right side. Hundley does a lot of things right on this play. He looks down the middle to get his bearings, then sets upon his reads. He looks over to Randall Cobb [18] on the flat route to the right before coming over to Adams. That’s good! As you can see, that draws the attention of Ryan Shazier [50] from his drop to that side. By pulling up Shazier, Adams has no one underneath him.

Even if Shazier isn’t pulled up, he’s sitting back in the middle and drifting to the outside. Hundley should be able to see this. He needs to anticipate Adams coming open behind Shazier.

I’ll give him the fact that the hole wouldn’t have been as big as it appears here. If Hundley goes through his reads and releases this when he should have, Watt still would have been back in his zone, so the throw would have had to be between Shazier and Watt. Still, if this is on time, that’s still plenty of space.

Instead, Hundley looks to Adams, sees Shazier in the way and moves on. The look to Adams is too quick.

Maybe I’m being too hard on him, but these are the kinds of throws he needs to make if he wants to be effective.

The Good

There is one thing I wanted to point out on this, besides the obvious. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first.

Ahmad Brooks [55] gets a good initial push against Chris Hubbard [74], but he knows he’s not going to get to Ben Roethlisberger [7] so he rises up, waits and jumps when he sees the throw coming, batting it in the air. Blake Martinez [50] is dropping into zone on the other side of the line, but he’s drawn over when he sees the screen developing. When the ball is knocked up, Martinez is able to adjust his path and close on it, making a nice sliding interception.

The thing I wanted to point out is what Mike Daniels [76] is doing on this play. He gets inside David Decastro [66], sees Le’Veon Bell [26] running under the formation and recognizes the screen. Decastro has him walled off to the screen, but Daniels fights. If this ball wasn’t batted down, I’d throw down money that says Daniels brings down Bell from behind.

Of course, a bet on a hypothetical is not really a bet because you could never collect that money, but my point stands. I would absolutely put down an undisclosed amount of hypothetical money that can never be collected. I live for the thrill.

Not only is Mike Daniels [76] a monster at the point of attack, he also has an extremely high motor. He starts this play on the right side of the line. His initial move is great: he gets leverage and stands up Ramon Foster [73] immediately. He watches the play unfolding and sees Le’Veon Bell [26] running in his direction. He rips through Foster, using the momentum from the rip move to propel himself into the backfield.

Bell is quick. He’s able to jump away from Daniels and look for another hole. The middle of the line is plugged up well, courtesy of Quinton Dial [91] and Dean Lowry [94]. Vince Biegel [45] has set a nice edge and Josh Jones [27] is waiting in the wings, but there’s enough space to that side for Bell to consider it.

But any grand ideas in Bell’s head are shut down before they’re fully formed. Daniels comes back to the line and makes a tackle on Bell from behind.

Great effort from everyone up front here.

A note to Ahmad Brooks [55]: be careful. You’ll pick up 15 yards for that kind of blow to the head more often than not. You got stonewalled. It happens. Don’t take out your frustration on the man who just beat you. Just try to beat him on the next play.

Damarious Randall [23] starts this play in coverage over Eli Rogers [17] in the slot on the left. The Packers are in Cover 1 Robber Man Under, with Josh Jones [27] acting as the Robber and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix [21] as the single high safety.

Rogers runs a deep out. Randall is on his hip up the field, but loses him a bit out of the break. His hips are turned and it takes him a couple steps to get himself turned to the outside where he needs to be. Clinton-Dix has coverage over the top, but it looks like Rogers is open out of the break, so Ben Roethlisberger [7] lets it fly. Randall has great closing speed. Not only is he able to catch up to Rogers, but he’s able to undercut the route and knock the ball away. Great play by Randall.

3rd and 1, 5 minutes left in the game. The Packers showed they were willing to go for it on 4th down on this drive – as we saw on the next set of downs – but it’s always nice to pick up the 1st down before you get to your last chance.

I saw this before the snap and was yelling at the TV. “Throw to Jordy! Throw to Jordy!” Brett Hundley [7] clearly heard me.

This is a pretty easy pre-snap read for Hundley: the Packers need 1 yard and Jordy Nelson [87] is being given a 10 yard cushion at the top of the screen. This looks to be an RPO, so Hundley has the choice to either hand-off to Jamaal Williams [30] or get a quick throw out to Nelson.

Listen. I don’t want to compare Hundley to Rodgers, because that’s unfair. But the difference between Hundley throwing this pass and Rodgers is striking. Look at that little stutter-step from Hundley. Now watch this release from Rodgers in Week 1.

Where Hundley does a quick stutter before turning and firing, Rodgers has his body turned to throw almost immediately. He still stutters, but it’s not nearly as pronounced.

I attempted to time this. I came up with Rodgers snap-to-throw in 0.56 seconds and Hundley snap-to-throw in 0.91 seconds. When you’ve got a defender barreling down the field, a third of a second can make a big difference.

Still, Hundley gets the ball out quick enough, Nelson turns upfield, take a hit from Artie Burns [25] and is able to stretch out for the 1st down. Good read/decision from Hundley and a great finish from Nelson.

Let’s close this out with some touchdowns. Won’t that be fun?

Steelers are in Cover 3 Zone Under. Turn your attention to the left side of the line. Randall Cobb [18] running a wheel route from the slot, Jordy Nelson [87] running a post route from the outside, Richard Rodgers [82] running a curl off the end of the line and Jamaal Williams [30] running into the flat from the backfield.

TJ Watt [90] initially sprints out on Cobb in the flat, but he releases Cobb once he turns upfield and focuses his attention on Williams out of the backfield. While that is happening, Artie Burns [25] picks up Nelson on the post and follows him into the middle of the field. That’s a big no-no. I talked about Cover 3 in this week’s One Big Play, so I won’t rehash everything here, but I’ll give the basics. In Cover 3, each designated defender is responsible for their third of the field (thus the “3”). Burns is responsible for the outside. He should have passed off Nelson to Mike Mitchell [23] in the middle. By vacating his zone, he allows Cobb to run free up the sideline. Brett Hundley [7] finds him and picks up an early touchdown.

One of the things I noticed on this is that Hundley appears to stare down Cobb, telegraphing his throw, while also throwing it late. That might not necessarily be the case. The Packers stack 4 receiving threats on the left side. Given the routes being run, Hundley could be looking at any of the three downfield routes: Cobb, Nelson or Rodgers. Watch Sean Davis [28] dropping back over Rodgers. He appears to be reading Hundley and tries to jump the route when Rodgers cuts to the outside. He thinks Hundley is looking at Rodgers when he’s actually looking at Cobb.

Putting in receiving levels allows for multiple reads in the same look, but it can also help to protect a quarterback. He can look to one side of the field without necessarily telegraphing his intentions.

Great route concept by the Packers and they take advantage of a break in the zone.

Just look at this. Davante Adams [17] is the lone receiver at the top. He destroys Coty Sensabaugh [24] with a vicious stop-and-go route. Sensabaugh is giving Adams a 10 yard cushion but bites hard on the fake, allowing Adams to blow right by him.

Brett Hundley [7] does his part on this, too. He has a nice little shoulder fake, holding the safety in the middle for a beat. Nice fake by Hundley and tremendous route-running by Adams.

Here’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up for a while. When we talk about deep threats, it is usually about a guy with top-flight speed. And, while that certainly helps, being able to create separation in your route running is a big part of it as well. Outrunning a guy is great. Blowing a guy away at the line and creating immediate separation is also great. My point is, given how Adams has been killing people with his feet, thinking he could be the deep threat on this offense isn’t out of the question. He’ll never have the speed of Nelson in his prime, but he’s plenty fast enough to get down the field after killing a man with his footwork.

I know the Packers believe this, as we see him as the isolated receiver going deep quite often. Just a little something to keep in mind when talking about what constitutes a deep threat.

Nicely set-up screen. Lane Taylor [65] does a great job letting Cameron Heyward [97] past him, giving one last shove to his outstretched arm to sent him twirling into the backfield and past Jamaal Williams [30].

Ryan Shazier [50] has a shot to stop this and tries to shoot underneath Corey Linsley [63], but Linsley sees him and is able to turn around and redirect Shazier. It’s not a crushing block but it doesn’t need to be: it simply takes Shazier out of the play, which is exactly what he needed to do.

Williams times his cut back inside extremely well. Three Steelers think this is going to the outside and Williams takes them all out of the play with a well-timed cut.

Tremendous stuff all around. Williams showed great patience in following his blocks and turned on the jets when he needed to.

Final Thoughts

I like how the quarterbacks leapfrogged each other here. Hundley was very good in quarters 1 and 3 while Roethlisberger took 2 and 4.

For the game, Hundley edged Roethlisberger’s QB Rating on both short and deep passes (short being anything within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage and deep being 16+ yards).

Hundley worked the short left portion of the field the most. Short middle looks good, but it’s boosted by the 54 yard touchdown on the screen pass to Jamaal Williams. Still a great play, but short left is where he did most of his damage.

The Steelers worked the middle of the field extremely well.

Both teams fell behind on the early downs but made up for it on the later downs.

Albums listened to: Ben Sollee – Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native; Molly Burch – Please Be Mine; Radiohead – OKNOTOK Cassette; Waxahatchee – Out in the Storm; Happyness – Write In