Like it or not, Bill Belichick is the best game-planning coach in the league. He has built a team that is adaptable to whatever scenario is put in front of them. Their offense is capable of throwing the ball 40 times in a game or running the ball 30 times per game and can continue to thrive. Their offensive line is not as good as past iterations of the unit, but they have an array of options at all levels that can exploit mismatches. On defense, they also have a variety of players that enable them to switch between styles and alignments. Jamie Collins has emerged as one of the best inside linebackers in the game and Rob Ninkovich is a severely under-rated edge defender. One of the hallmarks of Bill Belichick-led teams over time is that they focus their defensive gameplan on taking away the #1 option of an opposing offense. Whether that is focusing on stopping a receiver, running back, or tight end, the Patriots gameplan is typically focused on taking the offense out of their comfort zone and making someone else beat them.
For years, the Steelers generally failed in this aspect. They would continually run on first down and get into third and long situations against the Patriots defense. Last year, Todd Haley was able to alter the gameplan and utilize short passes and runs to the outside to get players in space to make plays. With Landry Jones starting the game, you absolutely have to believe that the Patriots are going to do everything they can to focus on stopping Le’Veon Bell and the running game and making Jones beat them with his arm. Many sites and publications have focused on what the Steelers can do to make the game easier for Landry Jones to manage. Last year, Jones’ two best games were against Arizona and Oakland where he came on in relief. Most of his big plays in those games came on post/in cut routes that allowed him to throw into a window and allowed Martavis Bryant and Antonio Brown to run with the ball after the catch.
For the most part, this will be what the Patriots expect the Steelers to do. They expect the Steelers to take deep shots, throw bubble screens, and throw to Le’Veon out of the backfield. In order to be successful against Bill Belichick, teams often have to do something that he doesn’t expect. The best example of this was the 2008 Week 3 game where the Dolphins came out and ran the Wildcat and ran all over the Patriots defense. That game propelled the Dolphins to a division title (as Tom Brady was out for the season with a broken leg) and was the last time the Patriots did not make the playoffs. The Dolphins were successful by not only taking the ball out of Chad Pennington’s hands, but by taking Pennington out of the play entirely. Last season, the Steelers showed a similar wrinkle against San Diego when they used Le’Veon Bell to run the wildcat in order to lighten the load on Michael Vick. Vick still had to make throws to win that game, but the Wildcat was effective (and was used on Le’Veon’s walk-off touchdown).
Could the Steelers go back to the Wildcat again to pull a surprise out of their hat on the Patriots defense? With a player like Le’Veon Bell in the backfield, the Steelers should certainly consider giving it a try. This would enable them to get their best 11 players on the field (which might not include Landry Jones). When Miami ran the Wildcat, they used the two-headed tandem of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams out of the backfield, with Brown handling the primary duties.
I found a highlight reel from that 2008 game where the Dolphins used the Wildcat to thoroughly confuse New England’s defense. In the grand scope of upsets over the New England Patriots, the 2008 win by the Dolphins might be one of the biggest. Even though the Patriots had Matt Cassel at quarterback, they were coming off the 18-1 year in 2007 where they didn’t lose until the Super Bowl. Conversely, the Dolphins had gone 1-15 the year prior and started the 2008 season 0-2. Here is a look at a few of the ways the Dolphins were able to successfully attack the 2008 Patriots defense with the Wildcat.
In this first play, Miami lines Ronnie Brown up in the backfield with Ricky Williams lining up in the slot. Before the snap, Williams comes in motion across the formation, giving Brown an option to hand him the ball on a jet sweep to the outside. The Dolphins have 1-on-1 matchups on the edge with their WR blocking a CB and the TE to block the edge defender. All Williams would need to do if he got the handoff would be beat the inside linebackers to the corner if the play is blocked correctly.
After the snap, the offensive line goes to work. The Left Guard pulls around the formation to act as a lead blocker. The left tackle executes a cut block on his defender while the center and right guard push their defenders to the inside. The backside tight end chips the edge rusher then releases out to block the ILB.
With the left guard ahead of him and the right tackle and TE pushing their defenders to the outside, there is an easy hole for Brown to run through for the touchdown. The jet sweep action to the right also forces the outside defenders to play a “contain” role in the event Brown had handed the ball off, which keeps them from crashing down on Brown as he makes his cut through the hole for the touchdown.
The Steelers have the personnel to run similar plays and executed one last year in San Diego going to the left, which allowed RG David DeCastro to pull around and serve as a lead blocker for Le’Veon Bell. With the athleticism the Steelers have in DeCastro and Pouncey, they can execute these pull blocks in either direction. With DeAngelo Williams ruled out for Sunday, the Steelers could use any of their wide receivers – Antonio Brown, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Sammie Coates or even Eli Rogers in the “jet sweep” role to help draw defenders away from the potential points of attack.
These plays are certainly in Todd Haley’s playbook. Back in Week 7 of 2013 the Steelers used the Wildcat against the Baltimore Ravens. Alex Kozora did an excellent breakdown of the Wildcat scheme the Steelers used in that game over at Steelers Depot. A lot of the component pieces are still the same.
In this diagram from Alex’s article, it should be noted that 3 of the primary movers are still on the team. RG David DeCastro pulls to the left and engages the edge defender. H-back Will Johnson pulls around and serves as the lead blocker working through the hole to block the linebacker. With the left tackle (Kelvin Beachum in this case) blocking down against the defensive end, this run to the weak side should leave Le’Veon Bell 1-on-1 with the safety in the hole. On this play, the Steelers also used a jet sweep action with Antonio Brown running across the formation before the snap, similar to what Miami did with Ricky Williams. Considering Darrius Heyward-Bey took an end-around for a 60-yard touchdown last week and the Steelers also ran an end-around to Antonio Brown, the Patriots will certainly be cognizant of the potential for the Steelers to run more jet sweeps.
DeAngelo Williams being out for this game also means that Fitzgerald Toussaint will see an elevated role as the #2 running back. Toussaint does have some experience working out of a read-option offense as much of his time at Michigan was spent with Dennard Robinson at quarterback. Toussaint has the foot speed and shiftiness to be effective in a read-option look.
Let’s take a look at another play from that 2008 Dolphins-Patriots game, which was similar to how the Steelers were able to execute the jet sweep to DHB last week against Miami.
On this play, similar to how the Steelers ran the weak-side counter against the Ravens above, the tight end lines up like an H-back, but instead of pulling to the back side serves as a lead blocker. The defenders on the back side have to respect Ronnie Brown’s ability to hold on to the ball so they can not chase Ricky Williams’ jet sweep action. Miami’s right tackle (#1 overall pick Jake Long) is able to get to the outside shoulder of the defensive end and seal the corner while one of the interior linemen shoots out to block the run-side ILB. The other ILB is keying on Brown in case he holds on to the ball and gets caught in the wash.
With the RT sealing the edge and the backside defenders staying home, Williams takes the handoff with a TE leading the way. The TE is able to execute a 1-on-1 block on the OLB, which opens a huge hole for Brown to run through. Depending on which shoulder the TE is able to get the OLB, Brown has the option to cut it either inside the TE or go to the outside. The slot WR gets a free release from the line and jets downfield to block a safety to prevent him from stepping up and filling the hole.
Here we see Williams starting to turn the corner. The tight end pushes the OLB to the outside. Williams has enough foot speed to outrun the hulking defensive linemen that are chasing the play from the back side. The offensive line has sealed the edge at the point of attack with the guard getting enough of a block on the inside linebacker he isn’t able to step into the hole. Brown bursts through the hole and dashes for 27-yards down the sideline before a safety runs him out of bounds.
One of the advantages of running wildcat plays is it forces defenders to stay home. The Patriots have a two-gapping defensive line which means they will play off the linemen then attempt to attack whichever gap the running back hits. With the jet sweep action, the strong side defenders can’t crash down the line because they have to respect the sweep while the running back has an extra second to survey his blocking and attack the right hole. With H-backs like David Johnson and Roosevelt Nix, the Steelers could run plays to either side or right up the middle. In 2008, the Dolphins were effective attacking the edges and running up the middle with Brown. Le’Veon Bell has the power to run inside and the speed to run outside, and the Steelers could use a variety of jet action sweeps with Brown, Heyward-Bey and Coates to get their fast players on the edge and force the Patriots defense to move laterally. Simply relying on Landry Jones to execute the offense likely won’t be enough to top Bill Belichick’s defensive gameplan. The Wildcat gave the Steelers offense a spark last year in San Diego, and with athletic linemen like Pouncey and DeCastro, there are a number of pulling and blocking techniques the Steelers could use to let the most talented back in the league carry them to a huge upset victory.
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