With 6:40 left to play, the Steelers led the Colts 24-22 and faced a 3rd-and-6 from Indy’s 17-yard line. They needed a touchdown to extend their lead to two possessions and put the game on ice.
Pittsburgh came out in a 3x1 formation with D.K. Metcalf to the back side:
As Aaron Rodgers said after the game:
“[The Colts] played a form of 2-man.”
That’s 2 deep safeties and man coverage underneath:
“So they’re kind of doubling D.K. weak.”
“And the backer has the back.”
This is where the Aaron Rodgers factor comes into play. While Rodgers saw initially that the linebacker to his left likely had running back Jaylen Warren in man coverage, he wanted to be sure. He also wanted to remove the backer from the middle of the field. So he told Warren to “go out, go out!”
So Warren shifted out to his left. The linebacker tried to hold his disguise but eventually started to move outside with him:
Now that Rodgers could see that the left side of the defense was taking away/occupied with D.K. and Warren, he knew he’d have tight end Pat Freiermuth running a 1-on-1 over the middle against cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt with no help inside:
Taylor-Britt is low on the Colts’ depth chart and only played 3 defensive snaps all afternoon on Sunday. Rodgers was obviously aware:
“I [liked] the matchup. I [liked] the call.”
And I [loved] the route.”
Freiermuth got Taylor-Britt going to the outside, and that’s actually what created the contact with Germie Bernard. He won the route handily:
From the end-zone angle, you can see Rodgers peak left at the snap to confirm the coverage and then find his tight end for the touchdown:
Look how wide open the middle was. Touchdowns don’t get much easier than that. But much of it was created by Rodgers’ coverage recognition and savvy at the line of scrimmage.
As I’ve been saying for a few weeks now, Rodgers has looked good throwing the ball, and he’s getting more and more comfortable in McCarthy’s offense.
Much of Pittsburgh’s poor offensive start through the first two weeks of the season had to do with the O-line getting beat like it stole something and Steelers receivers dropping too many passes.
But Pittsburgh is starting to look more comfortable and coherent as an offense, and Rodgers has thrown 3 touchdown passes in 3 straight games now.
The other part of this connection, tight end Pat Freiermuth, had 2 TD catches on Sunday and has 3 in his last two games. He will need to be more and more involved in the passing game with wide receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson out for the next few weeks.
But the Steelers have the chance to go on a little bit of a run here with the upcoming schedule. They play the Buccaneers, Saints, and Browns and then have a bye week. We’ll see if they can take advantage.