No-huddle Offense Gives Steelers Defense Fits

No-huddle offense gives Steelers defense fits
By Mark Kaboly
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/...#axzz3CSal2mjG

Brett Keisel put it best when talking about getting the ball back to Ben Roethlisberger with less than a minute remaining in a tie game.
“… and bada-bing,” Keisel said of Roethlisberger leading the Steelers on a winning field-goal drive to avert one of the biggest collapses in team history in a 30-27 win over the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field.
But before there was an opportunity at a Roethlisberger “bada-bing,” the defense put up — as Keisel put it — a “bada-boom.”
More like bada-doom.
After a first half in which the Steelers' re-vamped defense allowed 101 yards and five consecutive punts, the Browns turned up the tempo and gashed the Steelers defense.
The Browns scored on four consecutive possessions and gained 319 of their 389 yards during the first five drives of the second half.
The game plan was simple — no-huddle and quick tempo — and the results were similar to the third preseason game when the Eagles stunned the Steelers with their up-tempo offense.
But unlike the Eagles, the Browns didn't run the no-huddle during the preseason, and the Steelers were caught off guard.
“It was a nice little curveball they threw in there,” safety Troy Polamalu said.
The Browns didn't use the no-huddle in the first half, and the offense was stagnant. They came out in the second half and ran it on 29 of their 40 plays. The Browns didn't plan to go to the no-huddle that much, but facing a 27-3 halftime deficit, Cleveland coach Mike Pettine figured to give it a try.
“Just a change-up,” Pettine said. “Forcing teams to think a little faster, getting lined up, getting some first downs. It gets them tired.”
The Steelers countered by rotating all five of their defensive linemen — Keisel, Cam Heyward, Cam Thomas, Steve McLendon, Stephon Tuitt — without any luck.
“We started to lack some energy, but we have to fight through that,” Heyward said.
The Browns didn't quite empty the playbook with the no-huddle. They ran outside zone to the left with Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell and used a play-action bootleg to the right with Brian Hoyer.
“It was just one play after another and you could see it piecing together and we really got into a good rhythm,” Hoyer said.
It took the Browns 93 seconds into the third quarter to score with the no-huddle. The first no-huddle play the Browns ran was a 22-yard run by West.
“We got on our heels and never seemed to recover,” Keisel said.
Until they had to, that is.
“We knew we had to make a stop,” Keisel said. “In order to give ourselves a chance, we had to make a stop right away.”
The Steelers forced a pair of punts late in a 27-27 game, including one after a three-and-out with less than a minute to go. Heyward sacked Hoyer, and William Gay came up with a pass defense and a tackle for a loss on a screen to get the Steelers the ball for a chance to win the.
“Sometimes, we just don't make stuff easy, but we always come through,” cornerback Ike Taylor said. “We have to understand that we have to play at a high level for four quarters. Not two, but four.”
Now, the Steelers are expecting more no-huddle from offenses until they show they can stop it.
“We have to put that fire out,” Gay said, “because the next team is going to try it.”
That next team is Baltimore on Thursday, and the Ravens did that to the Steelers last year.