Coach won’t hesitate to put ball in the air
The Steelers have attempted 477 passes this season, by far the most of any team in the NFL. It’s not even close, either. The Steelers have thrown 28 more passes than any other team after 11 games.
When the Steelers dropped back to pass 58 times against Denver and only produced 17 points Sunday, offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner’s passheavy game plan came under scrutiny.
It was a second consecutive week a pass-heavy game plan failed to produce more than 20 points in a game, and the Steelers needed a lastsecond touchdown run from Ben Roethlisberger to get from 13 to 20 to beat the Jaguars.
For those armchair coordinators that are hoping the past two games scared Fichtner into running mode, think again. The first-year play-caller made clear Thursday afternoon when he met with reporters after practice that he’s going to keep putting the ball in the air.
“I have a 15-year veteran quarterback,” Fichtner said. “I have Antonio Brown. Why aren’t you going to throw it?”
Remember Air Coryell a generation ago with the Chargers? Now it’s Air Fichtner with the Steelers as the Los Angeles Chargers come to town Sunday afternoon.
Fichtner is not secondguessing himself for throwing the ball 58 times against the Broncos or for averaging more than 43 pass attempts per game for the season.
“You get into games and you’re always pushing for balance,” he said. “It seemed as if we were capable of handling
the protection and we were capable of getting open. You keep establishing first downs … I don’t know what our time of possession was, but it felt like there weren’t a lot of three-and-outs. We were finding ways to move the ball. The biggest thing for us is putting points on the board, and that’s the thing we didn’t do.”
The Steelers will be looking to put their two-game offensive slump to bed against a Chargers team that is among the best defensive teams in the league.
If the Chargers come out with intentions of inviting the Steelers to pass the way the Broncos did, Fichtner won’t hesitate to put the game in Roethlisberger’s hands. He is undeterred by the criticism he has received in the past four days.
“If we’re running the ball efficiently, that’s what we do,” Fichtner said. “If we’re throwing it efficiently, that’s what we’re going to do. Ingame situations are always going to dictate.”
When Cleveland tight end David Njoku made an illfated attempt to jump from the 5-yard to the end zone Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati, his decision to leave his feet at such an inopportune time figured to end up on an NFL Bloopers reel.
Bengals safety Jessie Bates III caught Njoku in mid-air at the 3. Under normal circumstances Njoku would have been driven backward and to the ground by Bates and other Bengals pursuing to the ball.
Njoku stayed on his feet. And before any other Bengals could get there — and before the officials could whistle the play dead — Browns running back Duke Johnson and offensive linemen J.C. Tretter and Kevin Zeitler pushed him into the end zone for a touchdown. It was a totally legal, albeit rare, instance of teammates aiding a ball carrier into the end zone.
“That was such an awkward play, but they made it look amazing,” Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey said.
Once upon a time in the NFL, this type of play was illegal, but the league recently loosened its rules to allow teammates to push ball carriers forward. Teammates are not allowed to pull players forward with their arms.
So why don’t the Steelers and other teams utilize impromptu rugby-style plays to help their teammates across the goal line?
“If the pile is down there, yeah, I’ll do it,” Pouncey said. “But then you have to think if I’m too aggressive driving my helmet or shoulder in there, then they’re going to flag it. So it has to be not too much of a violent act. Trust me, if you dive in there and hit someone in the back, they’re going to flag you.”
Fichtner is OK with his players going rugby-style on occasion “unless it would cause a ball security issue for us.”
Goal-line execution
Fichtner has introduced RPOs (run-pass options) into the Steelers’ offense this season. Roethlisberger’s final interception into the end zone against the Broncos was an RPO that Roethlisberger kept and threw.
Fichtner said he and his staff constantly scrutinize their goal-line plays and decide weekly whether to keep plays in or take them out of the playbook.
“We look at what happened and then determine if that is something where there can be growth or value in it,” Fichtner said. “Or maybe it’s not a good concept, or maybe it’s not something that we can execute well enough, or maybe there is a better situation in time. We self-evaluate a lot. We work all week for that one result on Sunday.”
JuJu wants to stay
Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has only been with the Steelers for a little more than a year, but he said on Thursday that he wants to retire a Steeler.
A second-round pick, Smith-Schuster has two years remaining on his rookie contract after this season ends. The Steelers gave Antonio Brown a new contract after his second season so it’s a possibility they could do the same with Smith-Schuster next summer.
Injury report
Safety Morgan Burnett (back), and offensive linemen B.J. Finney (personal reasons) and Marcus Gilbert (knee) missed practice for a second consecutive day. Outside linebacker Bud Dupree (pectoral) was limited after missing Wednesday. Defensive end Stephon Tuitt (elbow) and tight ends Vance McDonald (hip) and Xavier Grimble (concussion) were full practice participants.