Offensive Gameplan
Whether you read this as an offensive game plan, as in the offense’s game plan, or as if it was offensive to you, or James Conner rather, you’d be correct either way.
The Steelers came into the game with a gameplan to throw the ball to move down the field. The problem is they were horribly unbalanced. The Steelers ran 60 pass plays compared to only 16 running plays. That is bad gameplanning at its finest.
The Broncos entered the game ranked 26th in the NFL is rush defense. It is a mystery of why the Steelers would strategize the way they did against a team that has struggled against the run this season.
Not only has Denver struggled against the run, but running so many pass plays is offering that many more opportunities for elite pass-rushers like Bradley Chubb and Von Miller to create pressure against Big Ben.
The Steelers never trailed by more than seven points in this game. There is no reason, even when you have a quarterback that can go win you football games like Ben can, to be that unbalanced. Even Big Ben would tell you that (I think). Unfortunately, Ben didn’t have his best game and threw the game away at the end.
Maybe with a more balanced offensive gameplan in place, the offense would have been more efficient. Maybe, but who knows if the Steelers would have given the ball away four times if they did.