Why Didn't We Give Hill The Ball At The 5??

[3wt]

Tuned into Lap last night at the end of his broadcast, and did not hear all his comments on the lack of running the ball.  But he did say that both teams were crowding the line of scrimmage making it difficult for either team to run the ball.  He also said that Andy has a lot of latitude this year and may have been audibiling out of run plays because of how the defense was set up in front of him.  So it may not have been as much Hugh's calls as Andy's adjustments. 

Clearly Hugh's game plan was to take advantage of Pittsburgh's secondary.  They just bowed their necks back there and blitzed the dickens out of us and it was effective - especially in the first half.

Personally I think we were having enough success running the ball (Hill averaging around 9 yards a carry in the first half) that it would have been a benefit for them to run it more.  I think it would have opened up the middle of the field more for the tight ends and slot receivers.

But in the ends zone, the likelihood of us punching it in on the ground was probably not going to be much better than passing it.  DJS is right and Royles is right, the problem was the poor choices of pass plays and the execution.

If it's me I'm running the ball one of those three downs - either without telegraphing it or putting in the heavy line with a full back (Peko?).  But at the end of the game when we were trying to kill the clock by running they stuffed us 3 times in a row.