It was a balmy Miami night in November of 1996 when the Pittsburgh Steelers visited the Dolphins on Monday Night Football. Jerome Bettis was the star that night as he rushed for 119 yards on 27 carries.
There is a visual that stands out most memorable in my mind from that night - as Mike Tomczak led the offense down the field for the game-winning touchdown, "The Bus" just kept battering the Dolphins defense causing the defensive backs especially to get slower and slower after tackling him.
On the deciding play, Tomczak perfectly executed the play action, the defense bit and wide receiver Ernie Mills caught the 20-yard touchdown pass. Steelers win: 24 - 17.
The defense bit so hard that Tomczak stood back there for what seemed like minutes and Mills was so open that he had time to tie his shoes before catching the ball.
The object lesson here: sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
The Steelers have had their problems over the last few years with holding leads. Obviously, the majority of that is directly on the defense itself. But, not all. Allow me to explain.
Granted, giving up leads is giving up leads. That is solely a defensive deficiency, one which has also been addressed in the draft and free agency.
But not being able to hold on to the ball once you get it back means the defense gets little rest. A tired defense gives up big plays and surrenders more points.
Whether via the play action or in the no-huddle, keeping them off of the field keeps them fresh. Their being fresh means their being alert enough mentally and physically to stop the opponent. Tight end Heath Miller understands this as well.
"[The no-huddle] is good," Miller said in an interview with Dale Lolley. "We're getting a lot of work with it. We're going to continue with it. The last period is good for it. We're tired and we can take the defense and make them tired. It can be a weapon for us." (Brackets and italics ours) - http://tinyurl.com/kgl4n3r
Blount could weigh heavily, no pun intended, in this, both in play action and in the no-huddle offense.
By all means, Bell aids in this also. But where Bell can definitely punch it up the middle, he can bounce it outside just as well. Blount, on the other hand, just pounds and pounds.
...and pounds.
“That's my running style,” Blount said. “That's how I run the football, and I feel that Le'Veon is a big, tough running back, too. This is how this team is run with a physical run game, and that's what we are trying to get back to.” - http://tinyurl.com/p7lwgcy
To get back to controlling the clock.
The Tribune-Review article linked above points out that eliminating negative plays is paramount in this. It brought out that it "was most notable in short-yardage situations last year where they ranked 21st in power ranking (percentage of runs on third or fourth down with 2 yards or less to go, that achieved a first down or touchdown), according to Football Outsiders. They were only successful on 60 percent of such plays."
Can't control the line of scrimmage, can't control the clock.
That's where Blount has excelled in his career, in using "his big frame to his advantage as 65 percent of his career yards have come after contact," partly from averaging 5.47 yards per carry on first and ten alone, and a career 4.7 YPC average.
That kind of production would aid Big Ben in the play action as well, considering that no QB used play action less than he did in 2013, utilizing it just 11.6% of the time, per Pro Football Focus.
Blount may only receive "six to eight carries a game," but his presence and potential threat may just get an opposing defense to bite on the play action in 2014, also, allowing Big Ben to cleanly hit one of his receivers for a game winner.
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TIDBITS: Via Mark Kaboly: Steelers OTA 6 -- tight end goal line drills where I almost get run over - http://t.co/hKH4bH99pI
Steelers OTA 6 -- What a catch by Lance Moore - http://t.co/f0j0RCjKaD
Steelers OTA 6 -- OL drills with a Sushi kick - http://t.co/S2qlcwjXxM
Monday morning, Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review posted an article regarding the "new Steelers receivers," Lance Moore and, specifically for the sake of this, Darrius Heyward-Bey, "deep on NFL experience."
In the piece, Kaboly wrote that "what Heyward-Bey offers (even more than his 4.2 speed)" is "experience."
Granted, he does have experience in the way of 63 starts in 72 career games. He has 169 receptions in those games for a total of 2,380 yards, and he can play both the X- and Z-receiver roles.
“They think I am fast....If that is what they need me to do — to be the deep threat — that's what I will do. If they need me blocking, then sure. If they need me on special teams....I am a team-first guy,” said Heyward-Bey. “....I know a lot of different places to play on the field. Some guys are handcuffed to one spot, where I feel like I am intelligent.” - http://tinyurl.com/lt4lgj4
To my knowledge no one ever questioned his intelligence. For that matter, neither were his heart, his work ethic nor his speed (which, by the way, is actually 4.3/40).
In a recent blog post, If It Ain't Steel wrote that "speed alone won't get Hermes to Mount Olympus. Nor does it get an NFL player gridiron success."
Remember Clifford Franklin? As Jimmy McGinty said about him: "Great attitude, great desire, and THE fastest son of a b**ch I've ever seen." With the reply to that being, "Yeah, but can he catch?" (Ok, that was from the movie The Replacements. But it's a damn good segue.)
Last season, Football Outsiders had Heyward-Bey with a -24.5 DVOA for the season and a -63 rating - 83 out of 90 eligible receivers - and only a 45% catch rate. - http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/wr
Comparatively, Pro Football Focus had Heyward-Bey graded at -9.4 on passing plays, worst among qualifying receivers. Heyward-Bey so bad that he was pulled at halftime of the November 14 Tennessee Titans game last season.
Why? His hands. Or lack thereof.
Digging deeper into Pro Football Focus showed that Heyward-Bey dropped an average of 14.18% of the catchable targets in his final three years with the Oakland Raiders. But he was even worse last year, dropping over 23.5% of catchable targets, five per game average, and ranking next to last of qualifying receivers.
So "experience", 'intelligence' and speed are all well and good, but they mean nothing if they don't translate into catches.
Richard Mann and the rest of the Steelers' offensive staff believe they can work with him and make Shinola out of...well, you know.
Where Heyward-Bey has found success in the past is when he got the ball in space, targeting him on slants, curls, screens, etc...giving him the opportunity to get yards after the catch.
Can he do that for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Yes, offensive coordinator Todd Haley can certainly design such plays, but Lance Moore and Dri Archer both can perform in those capacities.
Can he use his speed and fill the role of the X receiver vacated by Mike Wallace? Yes, but that would be akin to breaking up with your girlfriend...and getting with her twin sister. At least in this scenario it would be. Not only that, but that was why Markus Wheaton was drafted last season.
Can he also defy the odds and move up the depth chart to secure a spot on the final 53-man roster? Yes, it is possible - possible, but not probable. Not probable in our estimation with Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, Lance Moore, rookie Martavis Bryant, Derek Moye and Justin Brown all in front of him, with the latter of whom having impressed the coaches in OTAs thus far.
Add Archer as de facto wide receiver and it gets harder and harder to find a spot for him.
Can he? Yes. Will he? Likely not. The numbers say no. History says no. I say no. But, hey, prove me wrong.
