Despite securing a hard-fought victory in overtime against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Pittsburgh Steelers
sparked major controversy with their play-calling inside the opponent’s five-yard line. Former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger addressed the sequence on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast, calling out the team’s decision to throw the ball three times rather than feeding running back Jaylen Warren in a goal-to-go situation.For traditional Steelers fans who expect smashmouth football, throwing into tight coverage near the end zone is frustrating enough. However, Roethlisberger emphasized that the decision was a tactical mistake as much as a physical one, pointing out how incomplete passes stopped the game clock and preserved
the opponent's valuable timeouts.
“Why are we not feeding Jaylen Warren four times down there,” Roethlisberger questioned during the show, expressing the collective confusion of Steeler Nation.
While every quarterback enjoys throwing touchdown passes, Roethlisberger noted that situational football must take precedence late in games. Passing up high-percentage run attempts deprived Pittsburgh of the opportunity to bleed the clock and force the defense to burn its remaining stoppages.
“The way that you force them to use the timeouts, I think that's as big of a deal as anything in my opinion,” Roethlisberger explained. “You can say what you want. Run it, run it, run it and then throw it on like whatever, but make them use their timeouts. I think that's a bigger deal because again, if it still ends up with three, neat, but now they're spent, man. They don't even, you just took away hope.”
Running the ball with Warren or Rico Dowdle behind Pittsburgh's heavy offensive package offers a far higher probability of punching in six points. Moving forward, the offense must prioritize situational awareness and physical execution over clever design when operating inside the five.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Ben Roethlisberger blasts Steelers goal-line play calling
