The Steelers offense put up a decent showing in Week 17. Behind a revitalized deep passing game, the Steelers offense opened up at all levels of the field. They eve tried out some new concepts to the scheme. The most notable of those would be the package implemented for Josh Dobbs. The third-string quarterback all season, Dobbs was inactive for the prior 15 games. Leading up to their game Sunday, the Steelers have maintained that the Dobbs package could show itself against the Browns. Having not ruled out anything, what was the package and just what did it entail?
This play is a simple pop pass jet sweep. The Steelers naturally have experience running that jet sweep action from earlier in the year. Hey, the pop pass itself has shown itself before. This one is simply a read for Dobbs to make. The Steelers run a pin-pull sweep to the short side of the field while the jet action is to the field side. The Steelers praise Dobbs for his headiness. This package makes use of that. Dobbs is reading the Mike linebacker (44) on this play. The read is simple. If the linebacker follows the motion, Dobbs keeps it, if not, it goes to Ray-Ray McCloud. The linebacker holds firm, so this goes to McCloud.
The problem with this play is the blocking is just bad. There are obvious problems. First, Myles Garrett stands Alejandro Villanueva right up and holds a strong edge. Villanueva’s inability to seal this edge eats up McCloud’s horizontal space. Then, Anthony McFarland whiffs on the linebacker coming down. This is a weird usage of personnel. McFarland never is going to be a very good lead blocker. The loss of the blocking dooms this play to fail for a loss.
This is a Steelers staple. They absolutely adore counter out of the shotgun. With Dobbs, they use it to create an effective counter read option. Working that off of their tendencies, the Browns crash on this off the edge. Dobbs just has to read what Oliver Vernon (54) does, and he keys those pullers. Dobbs simply pulls it back, has ideal open field blocking from JuJu Smith-Schuster, and gets a big rip. That is an awesome job of the Steelers using their tendencies to fool the Browns.
So, the Steelers now use the same play as the first video here in the red zone. That is perfect. The red zone is money for jet sweep action because of how much horizontal space there is to work in that area. It stretches the field. Good schematics, nice play call, but bad execution up front. Garrett was a problem for the Steelers all day, and Villanueva did not have a very good game. He blows up this play and stops McCloud from ever getting vertical.
Okay, fourth play in and third new concept. This is a seriously extensive package the Steelers have. It is not like they ran the same one or two plays. No, this is a well-developed package. That gives credence to the fact they may pull it out in the playoffs. This is the Bash Read Option. Dobbs just reads Vernon to see what he does. He squats down on McFarland running the sharp horizontal path and Dobbs keeps it. Overall, this is solid blocking. The pullers hit their guys, and the Steelers get lineman into the second level.
The Steelers work a pass off of this play. This time instead of popping it to McCloud, Dobbs runs a play-action fake and rolls out. He does a fantastic job to get out of this play. The Steelers run a three-tiered concept. McFarland is underneath on the flat route, Smith-Schuster comes on the over the route, and Washington runs a deep post. Depending on how the defense reacts adjusts Dobbs’ reads, but the over route is the most obvious one. Either way, no one is really open on this one and Dobbs has to throw it away. Creating a net-zero from a net loss as a quarterback is a good thing.
This is a play that will be familiar to everyone. The shovel option that the Steelers have run now for years. Vernon clamps down to the boundary towards McFarland, so the pitch to McDonald is the correct call here. Still, this blocking is not good and the main culprit for why this play does not work. Dotson whiffs on a pull and allows a defender to meet McDonald head-on in the alley. If Dotson hits that it is a different result and a solid gain.
The same pitch idea on this play, but instead of a shovel option, this is a shovel veer play instead, meaning that McFarland simply gets a handoff on a stretch action instead of a toss from Dobbs. The edge rusher bolts down on that veer action and the correct call is the pitch, yet again. Overall, this is just an awesome hustle play by the edge rusher to somehow turn up field and stop McDonald. The blocking on this one is outstanding. Sometimes, teams just make a better play.
Overall, the Dobbs package is promising. Schematically, it is unpredictable but simple. Teams can not crowd the box with Dobbs as a passing threat, either. That is the nice thing about this package. It seems that it would be most effective in short-yardage and red zone spots, however. The Steelers decided to unleash it in some odd spots. In the future, strictly use it for those situations and all is well. The biggest obstacle to this, as it is for the Steelers running game in general, is blocking.