Tendency breakers. An idea we don’t think about much but a concept vital to every game plan. The ability to add play calls and looks that run counter to what you normally do. Keeping teams off-balance and less confident in what they’re seeing.
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, they have mixed in one key tendency breaker the last several weeks. One downside to running out of shotgun is the predictability it creates. Align with the running back directly behind the quarterback and the runner’s path could easily go to either side: left or right. Align with the running back sidecar, like you get in shotgun, and the run typically goes away from the back’s alignment.
Meaning, if the runner aligns to the right, the run is going left. And vice versa.
That’s where Pittsburgh has added the tendency breaker. Starting in Week 12 against Chicago, the Steelers have mixed in a handful of “same side” runs out of gun. Counter calls where the play runs to the same side as the back’s alignment.
Here’s an example from last Sunday’s game versus Detroit. Jaylen Warren is aligned to Aaron Rodgers’ right out of shotgun. Normally, this run goes left. But here, the Steelers run counter split zone to the right. Warren stays on the same side as his alignment. His initial steps are to the left, but he doubles back to the right, following the split-zone block by TE Pat Freiermuth on the left defensive end.
You can see the Lions linebacker step wrong, allowing RT Troy Fautanu to block and wall him off as Warren finds a lane. It’s a good gain to begin the drive.
Pittsburgh ran power off the same idea against Miami the week before. Warren used his vision to cut it back away from the intent of the play, but the run is supposed to go left off Warren’s initial left alignment.
Week 12 against Chicago. Same call as the Lions game but to the other side. Split-zone run to the left. This time, the DE is left unblocked with Freiermuth on an “arc” block into the second level, though DK Metcalf ends up walling off the defensive end anyway. Kenneth Gainwell doubles back from his initial steps to the right to run left and find daylight. Chicago is going the wrong way and is badly out of position.
These are great change-up calls against aggressive and pursuing defenses trying to use those tendencies to their advantage. Punishing them for that aggressiveness and making them think twice. Pittsburgh normally uses these early in games to plant the seed in defenses’ minds they can’t assume which way the run will go. And it slows them down the rest of the game, just in the way a Wham/short trap might slow down an aggressive defensive tackle from flying upfield.
Great job by Arthur Smith to add this wrinkle to a running game looking good down the stretch.
