Probably not the start any Steelers fan wanted to see. This is how the first 4 drives, led by rookie 4th round pick, QB Joshua Dobbs, ended: 3 and out, 3 and out, interception, interception. Dobbs’ stat line read: 1/5 (20%), 4 Yards, 0 TD’s, 2 INT’s. The ground game wasn’t any better at a paltry 28 yards. However, following his second interception, Dobbs led the Steelers on 3 scoring drives before undrafted free agent rookie QB Bart Houston took over for the rest of the game. Let’s break down some of the offensive plays I wanted to highlight:

Color Blind

We’ll start off with the bad. Prior to the game, Big Ben gave Joshua Dobbs some sound advice:

Take care of the football. Throw the ball to our colored jerseys.

Oops.

Kudos to the Giants for disguising this defense well. The Steelers are in shotgun formation with a bunch to the right consisting of TE Jesse James, WR Cobi Hamilton, and WR Eli Rogers. Rogers’ motion shows that the Giants’ defense is running man-to-man coverage and showing blitz with six men on the line of scrimmage including their two linebackers on the play, LB Deontae Skinner and LB B.J. Goodson.

This particular offensive play functions as a pick play where James gets in the way of the defensive back that is covering Eli Rogers so that Rogers has a free release and an easy first down. However, instead of sending all 6 of their defenders along the line, the Giants had their two defensive ends on the play, DE Owa Odighizuwa and DE Devin Taylor, drop back into zone coverage. Because Taylor is covering the middle of the field from Dobbs’ blindside, he never sees him, and it  becomes the Steelers’ second turnover of the night.

Dobbs to Hamilton Provides Spark

Following the Keavon Milton holding call in the 2nd quarter, and with momentum in the Giants’ favor, the Steelers decide to dial up a big play on 2nd & 16:

On this play, the Steelers used their 11 personnel package (1 back, 1 tight end, 3 receivers) and are lined up in a trips right formation (James, Rogers, and Hamilton are lined up on the right-hand side of the offense). The Giants defense counters with a nickel formation, CB Donte Deayon, #38, being the extra cornerback. James stays  back to block and gives the Steelers a 6 man protection to block the Giants’ four defensive linemen to give the play enough time to develop.

Dobbs does a great job stepping up the pocket to avoid Giants’ DE Romeo Okwara and throws a strike down the numbers to Hamilton for 44 yards. “Valentino” Blake at 5’9″ on stilts had no chance at it.

Dobbs to Hamilton: The Sequel

After a fumble recovery by camp sensation, CB Mike Hilton, on a muffed punt, the Steelers went for it all.

This is the beauty of watching film: You notice the nuances of different plays when you compare them whether it’s a different route or formation. Here, the Steelers are lined up in a trips right bunch formation with the same personnel as the play highlighted above. Much like the 44-yard strike earlier in the game, the Steelers keep Jesse James in to pass protect and run a play-action pass.

Cobi Hamilton runs an excellent route by initially stemming it outside towards the sidelines to make Blake open up his hips in that direction, then easily gets inside position between Blake and the safety. A good enough throw by Dobbs leads to six for the Steelers and the first touchdown of the game.

Don’t Hold Me Back

This one’s going to be a little different. We’re going to look at a play that actually got called back due to a holding call, but I wanted to give credit where credit was due because this was a great play by Joshua Dobbs.

Dobbs is lined up in shotgun with 3 receivers and TE Xavier Grimble split out wide who motions over to the slot position. Here are the routes that each receiver runs:

• Canaan Severin (#13): Post
• Xavier Grimble (#85): Dig
• Knile Davis (#34): Wheel
• Marcus Tucker (#16): Shallow cross
• Eli Rogers (#17): Out? Corner? Gets cut out of the picture

From the broadcast angle, it looks like Severin was open at the top of his route if Dobbs threw it right before he turned his head. LT Brian Mihalik gets walked back into Dobbs forcing him to roll outside of the pocket, but kudos to him for keeping his eyes downfield in the process and throwing a dart into the middle of the field even with DT Dalvin Tomlinson running full speed at him. Grimble does a great job at finding a hole in the defense and sitting to make himself available to the quarterback.

First Rushing TD of the Game

With 12:49 left in the 4th quarter, the Steelers scored the first rushing touchdown of the game.

The Steelers are in a trips right formation with 11 personnel again, but this time, execute a Counter run play with RG Matt Feiler (#71) pulling to the left along with recently acquired TE Jake McGee coming from the backside TE position. As you see in the image below, Feiler does a phenomenal job and ends up blocking two defenders while WR Marcus Tucker gets a good crackback block on the Giants safety Andrew Adams (#33) to seal the edge:

With McGee leading the way, all Terrell Watson had to do was outrun the deep middle safety to score. A perfectly executed play.

Conclusion

Despite the two early turnovers, the Steelers were able to muster enough offense to get the victory. It’s to be expected especially with the young quarterbacks leading the offense, but there were a lot of positive moments to build upon. Were there any offensive plays that I didn’t get a chance to highlight that you liked? Any players that deserve the spotlight? Please let me know!