Steelers' Mike Tomlin Defends Horrific Decision On 4th Down Early In Game

The Pittsburgh Steelers played a game full of mistakes, which led to a Week 4 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, 27-24. Even with a couple of bad moments in the fourth quarter, the issues that the team as a whole had in the first half really did them in. The Steelers forced themselves to try and play perfect football in the second half, and they did not. One of those major issues was a failed fourth down call, when Justin Fields took the snap out of the shotgun formation and didn't make it to the line of scrimmage. 

During his post-game press conference, Mike Tomlin was asked about play-call. He pointed to a division rival to try to defend the decision. 

"Everybody plays in shotgun and pistol football these days. Some of these guys get to the NFL level and they've never taken a snap from center with their hands under. It's just kind of a function of today's ball. You got a lot of things at your disposal. I don't think the running game is minimized in any way. There's too many teams that run the ball well out of that posture: the Baltimore Ravens, for example. I think it's a moot point in today's game."

While many teams like the Baltimore Ravens tend to run the ball out of shotgun for that read-option potential, you usually don't see that on possession downs, especially on fourth down in your own territory. Tomlin was right that the team had many options for the scenario, but the offense chose the one that usually gets blasted for not doing well. Was it truly the right call for the offense, though? 

According to analytics, over a roughly 2.5-year span between 2021 and 2023, teams convert on 4th & 2 or less 69.9% of the time when the play is run from under center, as opposed to converting at that same down and distance at a 61% rate when the quarterback is in some sort of gun formation. 

To Tomlin's credit, there is still a better chance that he makes than not while running his signal-caller on that play, but statistics show that it is not the best idea. The Steelers have never been big on analytics, though.

Steelers' Had Other Options

Running a play from under center would be ideal. From there, the best choice would be the quarterback sneak. Even with young players at each guard position, Zach Frazier has been an absolute stud at center (aside from some poor snaps), and Fields would most likely move the chains by following him. 

JJ Watt, the former generational defensive lineman, came out and said that that particular play is the hardest one for any defense to stop. The Steelers ran it well with Kenny Pickett, so why not let Fields get a shot at it in a critical moment? 

After that, there's still the ability to run the ball between the guards. You could either have Najee Harris or Connor Heyward line up in a fullback-like position and just pound it in like the Steelers used to do with Derek Watt, or you could go in a jumbo set and just run it like a normal play. The Steelers' run blocking opened up plenty of holes for Cordarrelle Patterson before he got injured, so it's not like they weren't capable of it.

Lastly, they could have run a hard play action pass with a tight end going to the sideline in the flat right at the sticks. Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth both flashed some ability to make big-time plays over the course of the season, later on in this very game. While that play could be risky with a heavy rush, a quick throw to a large target does not sound like a bad idea at all. 

Either way, Tomlin showed how little he truly pays attention to analytics and chose to point at a division rival that utilizes run plays from shotgun as opposed to admitting that it was a mistake. That decision directly led to a Colts touchdown. Props to the head coach for being willing to go for it in that situation, but the actual play-call was the wrong choice. 

What do you think about Tomlin's big decision there, as well as his defense for it? Let us know in the comments.

#SteelerNation