Welcome back to the “One random Steelers play” series. For the full details, feel free to check out this article. But for the TL;DR: We’re using a random number generator to pick a Steelers play from the 2025 season to analyze.
For today’s edition, Google’s random number generator chose Week 7, the Steelers’ 33-31 Thursday Night Football loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and play No. 144.
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Let’s take a look:
The context: The Steelers have the ball. It’s third and four on the Pittsburgh 45-yard line. There’s 5:46 left in the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh is down 30-24.
Here’s the play:
An incompletion, but there’s actually quite a bit going on here.
As always, we’ll start before the snap, and this time, well before the snap. With a running clock, the Steelers are in no-huddle, but it’s the Bengals defense that looks the most rushed. I consulted The QB School’s video on this same game, and there J.T. O’Sullivan makes a great point: The Bengals are so late getting lined up here that Pittsburgh could’ve just quick-snapped the ball and gotten some ridiculous free yardage:
Of course, the Steelers don’t snap it here. They don’t have their play in yet, with Rodgers signaling it out in the next few seconds.
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Rodgers waves both his index fingers. I interpreted that to mean “sticks,” and former NFL quarterback O’Sullivan agrees. A stick route is essentially a five-yard route where the receiver either plants and stops in a vacant zone after the break, or runs to open space if it’s man coverage.
Given that it’s third and four, the call makes plenty of sense. Get to the first down and turn around. A quick game staple.
Pausing right before the snap, we can see that the Bengals are showing a two-high coverage. Cincinnati is in its dime package with six defensive backs and only one linebacker, and we can see that there’s some confusion. Look at the above picture, and you can see cornerback DJ Turner II (top of the screen, No. 20) gesturing towards his teammates.
Here’s the play the Steelers are running after the snap: At the bottom of the screen, Jonnu Smith has a stick route that he turns into an out to get open. Pat Freiermuth and DK Metcalf also run sticks. And Roman Wilson, at the top of the screen, has a go route. Running back Kenneth Gainwell stays in to chip and then leaks out of the pocket for a potential dump off.
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I sketched out the routes below:
Then we have what the Bengals are doing. Or, well, attempting to do. There’s a coverage rotation here, which I interpret as an intended inverted cover 2: essentially, the safeties coming downhill, and two cornerbacks moving back to become the two-high defenders.
It’s a smart play call given the situation for the Bengals. Obviously, the Steelers are going to be targeting the sticks, and by moving the safeties forward and two cornerbacks back, there’s a nice wall of defenders at that first-down line.
The problem is, the Bengals have a miscommunication at the top of the screen. No one drop backs to cover the deep half as the safety flies towards the line of scrimmage. I think No. 23, Dax Hill (covering Metcalf) was supposed to be the deep half defender, but Hill expected Turner to drop.
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Here’s what ends up happening:
The Bengals get their wall of defenders at the first-down line, but Roman Wilson is suddenly running uncovered down the right sideline:
But by then, the ball is already in the air. It’s a quick snap-throw by Rodgers to Freiermuth for the attempted first down — very similar to last week’s random Steelers play — but this time the quarterback and the tight end aren’t on the same page, with Rodgers throwing Freiermuth towards the middle of the field while Freiermuth stays put. The tight end makes an attempt for the ball and can’t bring it in, and the Steelers reach fourth down.
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Adding insult to injury is that Rodgers could’ve gone with a number of better options on this play. Sure, if he and Freiermuth were on the same page, it’s probably a first down, but DK Metcalf was even more open after finding a spot in between zones to the right. While not on the side of the field Rodgers was reading, Jonnu Smith had a favorable matchup against a rookie linebacker and was open headed towards the left sideline. And of course, Wilson was streaming down the other sideline and probably would’ve scored a touchdown on a deep pass.
To be fair, it doesn’t make too much sense for Rodgers to be looking for the long ball here. The goal is a first-down in a tight game, and a quick pass to Freiermuth could get the job done. Rodgers saw his first read was open enough and fired — but if he had just waited half a second longer, he might’ve seen the easier-window throw to Metcalf, or even the botched coverage rotation and the resulting home run opportunity to Wilson.
The play is indicative of the limitations of Pittsburgh’s quick passing game in 2025, but in this case, it’s hard to put too much blame on Rodgers. He saw a window for a must-have first down and immediately took it.
After the play, you can see a range of emotions for the Bengals’ defenders. No 27 Jordan Battle looks ecstatic. No. 22 Geno Stone is celebrating. Meanwhile, Turner is still gesturing at the gaping hole in coverage the defense just allowed. He knows Cincinnati dodged a bullet.
Then came more frustration for Steelers fans. Despite a fourth-and-manageable at midfield while down in the fourth quarter — and against an undeniably discombobulated defense — Pittsburgh ended up punting on the next play.
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The Steelers defense did get the stop on the ensuing drive, and Rodgers and co. got the ball back in time for a go-ahead touchdown. However, Pittsburgh would end up losing after Joe Flacco got the Bengals into range for a game-winning field goal.
It was an entertaining game, but it reeked of missed opportunities for the Steelers.
What are your takeaways from this play? Join the BTSC community and let us know in the comments.
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