Antonio Brown vs Raiders (23 targets, 17 receptions, 284 yards)

Six Incompletions on 23 Passes

Taking a closer look at Brown’s six incompleted passes to Brown: three of them were on poorly thrown balls by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. In this play, Roethlisberger places the ball slightly too far in-front of Brown on his go-route from the right slot. Brown clearly has his man, CB#25 DJ Hayden, beat off of the line of scrimmage after Brown releases inside off his jump-cut. This play could have easily resulted in an additional 30+ yard play for the offense with the potential for more yards after the catch.

The other three incompletions were well defended routes covered by cornerback David Amerson. One of them actually resulted in an interception.

Brown runs a post-corner route from the left outside towards the sideline. Typically, post-corner routes are run with a 45 degree diagonal cut towards the sideline. However, wide receivers are taught to flatten their route to create separation against a deep defender sitting in his zone. Since the Raiders are playing Cover 2 in this play, Brown flattens his route entirely an effort to gain more separation.

Roethlisberger is at fault for this interception. He runs forward and attempts to avoid a defender in the backfield while firing downfield. This causes the ball to push too far inside and with not enough velocity. A recipe for an easy interception by Amerson.

Versatility for Todd Haley

Brown is a multi-dimensional threat in this offense. Haley uses that to his advantage to attack the perimeter on end arounds as well. Haley called this end-around run to the right in the 2nd quarter to gain 16 yards on 2nd down. Then in the 4th quarter, Haley called the same play again to gain 6 more yards.

Both times the defense was caught flowing up the field or in the wrong direction on the fake. This allowed tight end #83 Heath Miller to lead block for Brown out of the backfield untouched past the line of scrimmage and set up a nasty downfield block on his targeted defender. The play design works especially well due to Haley pulling right guard David DeCastro on a the backside trap block to set up the fake.

An Almost Error Free Day…

Antonio Brown’s day was almost perfect. His only blemish on the day came on a stripped punt return in the 4th quarter while the Steelers were up 35-28. The Steelers were able to force Carr to throw an interception, but in a high scoring game like this one any mistake can lead to a score.

Brown’s best trait is his route running ability to create separation at the top of his stems. This trait combined with his lateral quickness makes him dangerous and effective in Todd Haley’s offense as the multi-threat weapon Mike Wallace never could be for this team.

The Steelers are now 5-4. They have a division game versus the Browns next week and then a bye week the following before facing the Seahawks in Seattle. At 5-4 the Steelers are sitting in a good position as the second wildcard spot with a chance to make a playoff run if they remain healthy and the Steelers’ offensive line keeps blasting holes open for DeAngelo Williams. Together they combined for 531 yards from scrimmage which is the most from a pair of teammates since 1960.

Follow Samuel Gold on Twitter: @SamuelRGold.