Should Mike Tomlin incorporate the Dropkick into Steelers bag of tricks?

The Steelers coaches each season always seem to have a trick play stashed away for that opportune moment. Chuck Noll used them, as did Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.

Whether it be Antwan Randel-El hitting Hines Ward on a long touchdown pass in the Superbowl, Terry Bradshaw’s flea Flicker pass to Benny Cunningham or, Ben Roethlisberger’s fake spike against Dallas. When they work fans, love them; when they do not work, fans want the coach who called the play fired. No one can deny they make the game more exciting, whether they work or not.

Over the years Ben Roethlisberger has engaged in some chicanery on the field. Although there is one thing Big Ben could do, which would undoubtedly take any team by surprise, however, Mike Tomlin has not worked it into his bag of tricks, well not yet anyway.

Approximately five times over Ben’s career, he has done the quick kick. They have customarily done this when the Steelers have been in the position of being too far away for a field goal, but far enough past the 50-yard line, they don’t want to punt through the end zone. So they allow Ben to try to draw the opposition offsides if not, then a quick kick that gets the ball to the ten or 15-yard line. That type of play is well and good, not that it ever had much of a surprise element to it. There is one version of the quick kick that would have a surprise element that Ben could utilize, which not only would shock teams and put points on the board. Plus, the play has only been used twice in the last 79 years.

In 2006 Patriots coach Bill Bellicheck dove into his bag of tricks and pulled out the dropkick, which Doug Flutie successfully converted.  A play that NFL had not run since 1941, despite the fact it’s still allowed per the NFL rule book. It’s kind of hard to figure out why, given the fact Mike Tomlin has used Ben for the quick kick, why not work the dropkick into his bag of tricks, considering Bill Bellicheck pulled it off.

Ok, the use of a dropkick is a relatively outdated type of play. Given how specialized placekickers are, there is no practical need for the dropkick; it has a low chance of success comparatively. The dropkick came from an era before teams utilized placekickers, and field goals were less common. Also, keep in mind in 1934, the NFL opted to uses the standard shape of the football, a prolate spheroid. Before 1934 the football had a rounder shape and a more predictable bounce making it easier for dropkicks. With the shape change in 1934, the play became harder to execute, and by 1945, teams started using full-time placekickers. Before 1945 placekickers generally played other positions as well.

While outdated, teams could utilize the dropkick as a trick play, and who better to pull it off than Ben Roethlisberger. In the right situation, it would take the opposition by surprise. After Bellicheck used the dropkick, it provoked the thought, why not have Ben try the dropkick, he already did the quick kick. Of course, the situation would have to be right; as the play has, it’s risks.  If the timings right, why not let Ben take a stab? Who else could you imagine making a dropkick? And if he did, Steelers fans will talk about that play for decades.