The Good, Bad and Ugly from Steelers Week 12 loss to the Broncos

Welcome to a new format for our Good, Bad, and Ugly series. Our newly revamped weekly feature will highlight three instances that were “good”, “bad”, and “ugly” in the Steelers most recent game.

Well, Steelers Nation: my first entry into the Good, Bad, and Ugly series has a number of candidates for each category: an unfortunate side effect to being on the losing end of Sunday. Here are my picks for each and why I chose these specific plays and/or situations.

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Good: Fake field goal

This one goes into the “Are you freaking kidding me?” archives of Steelers tomfoolery.

Earlier in the game the Steelers attempted a trick play where Antonio Brown tried to pass the ball across the field to a wide-open Jaylen Samuels: simultaneously throwing it over and behind him for what may have been a sure touchdown connection.

Surely, Mike Tomlin has said he is aggressive, but would he be foolish enough to attempt more shenanigans in this game?

You bet your bottom he was!

Trailing 10-3 on 4th-and-goal from Denver’s two-yard line, Tomlin sends out his field goal unit to… run a trick play. K Chris Boswell took a direct snap and rolled to his right, finding LT Alejandro Villanueva open in the end zone for the touchdown.

This play was perfectly executed and shines as the most positive takeaway from Sunday, but could you imagine if it didn’t work?!

 

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Bad: Xavier Grimble fumble

I could’ve picked my poison between this and James Conner’s fumble later in the game, but this seemingly set the tone of mediocrity early. The Steelers ran 12 plays for 74 plays, which ended in Grimble attempting to run over Denver safety Will Parks, who had other plans.

Parks lines Grimble up and delivers a blow just before the goal line, dislodging the ball, which then bounces off of the Steelers tight end and through the end zone: out of bounds for a touchback.

Rather than putting at least six points on the scoreboard, Pittsburgh hands the ball over to their opponent… in a game where they end up losing by seven points.

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Ugly: Ben’s final interception

There was quite a bit of bad and ugly candidates, but nothing could be worse than ripping a still-beating heart from the body of Steelers Nation.

That may seem like an exaggeration, but even with all of the miscues and turnovers in this game, the Steelers were within seven points of tying the game from Denver’s three-yard line and 1:57 to work with remaining in the game.

Ben Roethlisberger would misfire a pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner would run to the left for a hard-fought one-yard gain, before the nail was pounded into the Steelers Sunday coffin. Somehow, you still can’t believe it happened and that Pittsburgh would somehow win the game, but the offense was completely out of sync as Big Ben stepped back and attempted to throw through a mass of humanity to Antonio Brown, but was instead intercepted by Denver DE Shelby Harris.

From pre-snap to pick, the play was a mess of players who stood around as if they didn’t know the play call. Roethlisberger even appeared to force the ball by will to Brown, who was not only covered but Harris stood right in the way, putting his paws up and came down with the ball.

The game would end a few kneel downs later, as the Steelers fell to the Broncos 24-17.


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