The Steelers hit another explosive play this week against the Raiders. This time, it came from Calvin Austin III on a 72-yard touchdown on a post route. But the way the Steelers it was completely different from last week’s iteration with George Pickens. Pittsburgh’s schematics in that Pickens touchdown were sound, but this touchdown against the Raiders is one of the best examples of Matt Canada using some nifty stuff schematically to make it pop. Kenny Pickett broke down what he saw on that play.
“Yeah, it was big. We needed it,” Pickett said. “They were doing a really good job with doubling George [Pickens] all night, making it really hard to get him touches. So, that leaves other guys singled up and Cal [Calvin Austin III] had press and he took the post and it was really good. We missed that earlier in the season against San Fran. It was good to hit it tonight.”
Circle very hard on the double Pickens part because it makes this entire thing work from a play design standpoint.
The Raiders come out with two safeties, but from this view, it looks like it’s just one high. It’s not. The Raiders have free safety Tre’von Moehrig walked up man-to-man on Pat Freiermuth. Meanwhile, Marcus Epps slants over to the far side with Pickens. With the cornerback playing outside leverage, the Raiders execute a bracket on the Steelers’ top receiver on this play. Pickett has to look to the backside of the formation or over the middle to Allen Robinson II. But this play is all dialed up for Austin to make a big play.
Canada condenses the split of Austin inside the formation to the outside hip of Freiermuth. Because they are playing quarter-quarter-half on this play, meaning that the bracket on Pickens is the ‘half’ side, the safety and Marcus Peters on the backside are left in man coverage. Peters has to cover Austin all by himself.
However, this is a sail and post route combination between Freiermuth and Peters. Peters could play inside leverage to try and take the post away from Austin, but he would risk getting caught in a pick by his safety and Freiermuth in man-to-man. So, he plays outside leverage. But Austin is just too fast off the line and burns Peters. That’s creating a mismatch schematically and allowing your players to do what they do best. Here’s a view with dots to illustrate the point.
Great job by Austin and Pickett to hook up on this. But it was a fantastic play call by Canada to work off the brackets that the Raiders were using. He expected this quarter-quarter half call, loved Austin on Peters, and ripped it. This is what good offensive coordinators do in the NFL.
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