Steelers reveal secret recipe behind success vs. Panthers
Coming out of halftime, the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to do one of the most impressive things we've seen in the NFL this season against the Carolina Panthers. With backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the lineup, they sustained a 21-play touchdown drive. 21. Plays. That alone took 11:43 off of the clock as the Steelers […]
Coming out of halftime, the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to do one of the most impressive things we've seen in the NFL this season against the Carolina Panthers. With backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the lineup, they sustained a 21-play touchdown drive.
21. Plays.
That alone took 11:43 off of the clock as the Steelers didn't return the football. When they did, they were already up 21-7 with little time left to go in the third quarter. Analytics studies have proven that generally, time of possession is overrated by coaches and fans. But when it comes to these extremes, can be everything.
That drive was made possible by getting eight first-down conversions, including five that happened on third down.
Overall, the Steelers had a very effective Sunday on third down. Trubisky's offense went an otherworldly 12-of-16 in the money down for a 75% conversion rate. Talk about a recipe to win NFL games. How did they do it?
Mike Tomlin stated the team put itself in "manageable" third downs as the key to that success.
"So many of them were short yardage and globally those are higher percentage plays," the Steelers head coach told reporters postgame. "I mean, how many sneaks did we have? Oftentimes, third-down success is not about how you’re operating."
"It’s about the distance and we were in third and short and those are consistently more makeable than the longer ones."
But sticking to that 21-play touchdown drive as an example, the Steelers also moved the chains on longer third downs. Diontae Johnson, for example, caught a 12-yard in third and ten to keep the drive going.
"We studied a lot on third down this week," revealed Trubisky. "We got our matchups. I was going to Diontae (Johnson.) He was winning. One, he went on like a five-step little short post. Then he went on a hitch versus man. I was just going to him in those situations."
Out of Trubisky's 179 passing yards for the Steelers this weekend, 98 came from Johnson.
For the final three weeks of the season, the Steelers will aim to sustain that third down success that put them in the driver's seat of a contested game.
Featured image via Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
