Anyone watching Chargers owner Dean Spanos watching the game last night from his box at the stadium had to be wondering what he was thinking. Apparently, Vick’s left-handed counterclockwise spin can fool San Diego’s defensive backs as well. Even their other starting safety Mike Mitchell was shaken up during the game as well. With a three receiver set that saw the tight end blocking and Bell belatedly going out for a pass, no one could get open.
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Because of an error by the clock operator, the game clock was incorrectly started before the Steelers’ first play from scrimmage following the touchback.
In an increasingly play-it-safe, extend-the-game, cover-your-butt world, Tomlin went for it all Monday night against the San Diego Chargers.
Vick, who struggled until the fourth quarter, kept the decisive drive alive with a 24-yard scramble and a 16-yard pass to Heath Miller.
Again, just when everyone expected the Steelers to fold, they stormed back and made San Diego answer.
Bruce Arians was a coach in Pittsburgh for eight seasons. Would it be smart to send out his rookie kicker Josh Lambo to attempt a career-long 54 yard field goal?
Photo by Bill Reilly Chargers Girls perform in the west end zone during the third quarter of a Monday Night game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. I was thinking we still have a timeout left, so I’m thinking, ‘OK, maybe if I get stopped, maybe run like four seconds off and get a timeout and we could kick a field goal. None of the officials on the field noticed it, and 18 seconds of the game were gone. But that wasn’t noticed by anyone until postgame. From the bold call to run Bell out of the wildcat to keeping Vick in at QB, Tomlin’s fingerprints were all over it. Instead, it rolled down, and by the time Pittsburgh lined up for the first play of its drive, only 2:38 remained.
Last Monday, National Football League admitted it missed an illegal bat penalty against KJ Wright that would have given the Lions possession of the ball at the Seahawks’ one-yard line late in the fourth quarter.
With five seconds left, the Steelers were down by three points with the ball inside the 1. The call was a win for the “You need the ball in Bell’s hands” people, and that’s understandable – if you need a yard, you give the ball to your best guy, and that is not Michael Vick.
With the exception of Baltimore’s Justin Forsett, who had 150 rushing yards in an overtime Ravens victory October 1, the Steelers’ have regained their intimidating run defense it rode throughout the decade of the 2010s. By the time he made it to the goal line and stretched the ball across the plane time had expired.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin confirmed as much afterward, saying the mistake “didn’t change the outcome of the game”.
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The Steelers mainly had success with it, too. In doing so, it gives the running back time to directly attack the defense, while also giving the offense an extra blocker, since there’s no quarterback involved. Not to mention the clock malfunction. Let’s just say we jump right in.
