Film room: What the Steelers can take away from the Browns’ final drive in Week 11

The Steelers’ early and late strategies backfired. What can they learn from the Browns moving forward?

After the disappointing 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 11, it’s time to see what we can learn from the expanded views from the coach’s film. The first offensive drive and last defensive drive for the Steelers told most of the story in this game.

With the big news of offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s firing this week, we won’t show much from that side of the ball. This first offensive snap for the Steelers provides plenty to talk about. After forcing a punt, the Steelers would put the ball in play with a first-and-ten from the 9. Myles Garrett would beat left tackle Dan Moore and sack Kenny Pickett at the goal line for what looked like a safety, but would instead be marked down inside the 1.

Many have called the Steeler offense too boring and too predictable. Here, they would take a big gamble on the first play call and come up empty. Diontae Johnson and George Pickens are lined up wide to either side of the formation, Allen Robinson is in the left slot with Pat Freiermuth lined up tight to the left of the offensive line. Kenny Pickett is in shotgun formation with Najee Harris to his right. Johnson and Pickens would each run go routes down the sidelines, and Robinson runs a slant. Harris stays in to block and Freiermuth will look to help Moore against Garrett before releasing and settling down over the short middle.

So an offensive line that struggles in pass protection and a passing game that struggles to hit deep passes decided to challenge, from the 9-yard line, the best defense in the league with a slant to Robinson as the only quick route. There aren’t any realistic ways to win this gamble that get the ball to any playmakers for big yards.

To make matters worse, from the end zone view we see that Garrett’s inside move takes blocking help from the tight end out of the equation. Then Freiermuth settles five yards in front of Pickett but is in the throwing lane to Robinson. Even if Garrett hadn’t buried Pickett so quickly, a gain of five yards might have been the only reward that this risk could garner

Now we will take a look at the defense at the end of the game. With the score tied 10-10, the Browns will start a drive at their 35 with 1:18 to play and two timeouts. With the range of kicker Dustin Hopkins, they only need to move the ball 25 yards for a chance at a game-winning field goal. The Steelers will rush four and drop seven into a very soft coverage scheme. At the bottom of the screen, Elijah Moore will catch the ball at the 50. Note that his is the deepest of the routes, yet three Steelers will be five yards deeper and provide no help on any route.

After gaining five more yards the Browns have a second-and-five at the Steelers 45-yard line. The Steelers will rush five, although Elandon Roberts may have been assigned to spy on quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinso, as he doesn’t rush immediately at the snap. At any rate, there are six defenders against five Browns out in patterns. Thompson-Robinson will find his best receiver, Amari Cooper, on a quick slant for an eight-yard gain.

As rookie Joey Porter Jr. extends to jam Cooper with a hand to his face mask, Cooper cuts in on his route. The pass is quick and on-target. The Browns are now well within range for Hopkins.

To get even closer for Hopkins, the Browns will hit David Njoku for 11 yards after he makes a move toward the sideline before cutting inside against Trenton Thompson.

It should be noted that this final drive of the game involved Mykal Walker, Miles Killebrew, Thompson, and James Pierre. That quartet had played a combined 34 snaps over the first nine games of the season. Armon Watts and Isaiahh Loudermilk are a couple of other part-timers that were out there for parts of the most important drive of the game. It’s quite possible that the in-game injury to Elijah Riley, combined with the unavailability of others for this game, forced the Steelers to use players that weren’t ideal for any complex coverage schemes.

The plays made by the Browns on their final drive aren’t overly complex and were executed by a quarterback making just his second NFL start. If the Steelers offense can incorporate some of these quick throws into their game plans going forward, the rest of 2023 could look much better than what we have seen so far. Let’s hope that changing the play-caller and some experience gained by raw defensive players leads to some improvements for the season’s last seven games.