WR not going out of bounds was main issue
Add another layer of intrigue to the Steelers’ final offensive series against the New England Patriots.
The most criticized possession of the season (and maybe the century?) has been second-guessed the past four days. Should the Steelers have had two plays called? Why wasn’t Martavis Bryant on the field? Why did the operation seem so harried?
As it turns out, all these questions were born as a result of the second-down pass play to Darrius HeywardBey not being properly executed. After the Jesse James touchdown was overturned by replay review, the next play had quarterback Ben Roethlisberger having to throw in the end zone, incomplete or complete with the receiver getting out of bounds.
The only thing that could not happen did, when Heyward-Bey was tackled in bounds. That kept the clock running and led to the fateful final play when Roethlisberger’s pass intended for Eli Rogers was intercepted in the end zone.
“There are lots of times we have two plays called in the huddle,” Haley said Thursday afternoon. “That was an incomplete or out-ofbounds situation.
“You cannot, in that situation, get caught in the field of play. We call plays accordingly. That normally would be [Antonio Brown] coming across the field, which would get a lot of attention. We had four guys in the end zone.
“They made us hot, which they hadn’t done all day. We probably have to make sure Hey-Bey gets out of bounds or get the ball thrown away.”
Apparently, Haley and his players still aren’t on the same page. A few minutes later, Heyward-Bey said he wouldn’t have done anything differently if he was in the same situation again.
“No, to be honest with you,” he said. “I think I would have caught the ball and let the coaches and Ben make the decisions, because I’m a receiver, and it’s a pyramid. And I don’t want to say the rest.”
The offense did a pretty good job without Brown for the final three quarters after he was injured, but they missed him on the final series.
Not only would Brown have drawn extra coverage on that play, but his best quality also is eluding tackles. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which he was tackled in bounds.
“We don’t want the ball on the field of play there without a timeout,” Haley said. “I’m never going to question Ben or Ben’s decision of thinking Hey-Bey could get out of bounds.
“But as far as scenario, we’re in an incomplete or out-of-bounds situation. The clock will not be running if things go the way they’re supposed to go.
You’re getting the guys on the field for each particular play you want on the field.
“You’re counting on having three shots at the end zone.”
Haley said the Steelers can learn from the experience.
“We teach the receivers if they don’t think they can get out of bounds to drop the ball as long as it’s not fourth down,” Haley said.
“Both guys thought it would go different, and it didn’t. It’s a great learning situation as far as that goes because we practice that every Friday. We go through the last seven plays — incomplete or out of bounds — you can’t catch the ball if you can’t get out of bounds. And we got one caught in bounds.”
An incomplete pass or a catch and run out of bounds would have allowed Haley to change his personnel and get Bryant on the field for the third-down play.
Haley said the reason Bryant wasn’t in for the second-down play is because he wouldn’t have known where to line up and how to execute that particular play.
“Tay hadn’t practiced where he would have been,” Haley said. “We didn’t feel comfortable with him being in there.”
When Heyward-Bey was tackled in bounds, it scrapped any plans for changing personnel for the third-down play. Haley had to hurriedly call a play while the Steelers rushed to the line of scrimmage.
“You can’t change personnel,” he said. “You can’t do any of that. You have to make the decision of clocking it, or fake clocking it. We just have to do it better.”
Injury report
Left guard Ramon Foster (concussion) and Brown (calf) did notpractice Thursday. Everyone else who is dealing with an injury went through a full practice. Brown already has been ruled out for the Houston game Monday. The Steelers can make a decision on Foster closer to game time.