Steelers show success with no-huddle, so why not run it more often? Answer is not so simple

Correlation is not necessarily causation, but tell that to frustrated fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Twice in a span of 19 days, their team nearly pulled off two of the biggest comebacks in franchise history, erasing a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit Nov. 21 at the Los Angeles Chargers and scoring 28 points over a span of less than 14 minutes late in a Dec. 9 game at the Minnesota Vikings.

Each of those late-game offensive explosions followed about 40 minutes of relative offensive ineptitude. The Steelers scored 10 points over a combined 13 possessions of those two games before they put up 55 points in 12 aggregate drives. That each still ended in a loss doesn’t diminish the need for some introspection from the Steelers as to why the offense was so extraordinarily productive late in those games.

And there’s one aspect, in particular, that binds the furious comebacks: The Steelers went no-huddle.

That has led to questions about why the Steelers don’t go no-huddle more often or earlier in games. After all, if the difference in production is so stark, why not begin games playing that way?

The short answer: It’s not so simple.

“It’s hard to keep a hurry-up offense going if you aren’t going to get the initial first down,” rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth theorized. “Obviously, I think if you are behind the chains on second down or third down, it’s kind of hard to get up-tempo or get that right play (without a huddle).”

At least part of the success of the no-huddle in recent weeks is game circumstance. Time/field position/score have played roles. It is also true that, throughout the NFL, based purely on raw yards per play, offenses do better when they don’t huddle.

Advanced metrics back that, too: According to sharpfootballstats.com, the league has a “success rate” of 56% of plays when in no-huddle vs. 47% when huddling. (The calculation is based on labeling a play a “success” when it gains at least 40% of yards-to-go on first down, 60% of yards-to-go on second down and 100% of yards-to-go on third or fourth down).

But the Steelers have a wider split than the rest of the league: 55% success rate no-huddle, 43% huddle. The latter is third worst in the NFL, and they are in the middle of the pack when running no-huddle.

“Maybe we get into that rhythm or flow a little bit,” said guard Trai Turner, the second-most veteran player on offense. “You know, when you have a quarterback like Ben (Roethlisberger), as soon as he gets in a groove, you never know what can happen, so I don’t know.

“We get into a little bit of a groove (late against the Vikings). But we just want to be able to do that whether there is huddle or no-huddle, go out there and produce the same.”

The NFL’s official stats say the Steelers ran no-huddle on just four plays over the first 38 minutes of the Vikings’ game, during which Minnesota ran up a 29-0 lead.

From that point on, the Steelers ran exclusively no-huddle the rest of the game when the clock was moving between plays. In those 32 minutes of game time, they outscored the Vikings, 28-7.

Two games prior, against the Chargers, per the official scoresheet, the Steelers did not run a no-huddle play until they trailed 27-10 late in the third quarter.

They ran it extensively the rest of the way, scoring 27 points during the fourth quarter.

The correlation exists in a handful of other games this season, too, where the Steelers were more efficient when not using a huddle. It was not nearly as strong as it appeared to have been against the Vikings and Chargers.

“We’ve had no-huddle plays in the first drive (of a game), on third down, second down, different times,” offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. “Some of it is dictated by the game. When you see it a little bit more continually, we’ve gotten down a couple games were you have seen it more play after play. (But) we’re using it more as a tempo-changer at times.”

Roethlisberger long has embraced running the no-huddle and has not been shy about publicly campaigning to do it more frequently. The format allows the quarterback more freedom to call or adjust plays, though Roethlisberger is still beholden to a general menu.

According to nflsavant.com, only six of the other 31 NFL teams run no-huddle this season more often than the Steelers (12.36% of all their plays).

“Defenses sometimes can’t do as much (in substituting against a no-huddle),” Roethlisberger said. “Sometimes, you get into a rhythm, and you get going. There’s kind of a lot of little factors involved in (a no-huddle package’s success).”

In the end, perhaps there’s a reason for the phrase “too much of a good thing.” For factors ranging from fatigue over the course of a full 60 minutes of up-tempo to losing an element of surprise for the defense, don’t expect the Steelers to ditch the huddle for the entirety of Sunday’s home game against the Tennessee Titans.

Still, coach Mike Tomlin allowed it’s possible the Steelers will deploy it more often than they have been.

“Sometimes,” Roethlisberger said, “as you progress into a game, you see what’s going on, you start to … figure out what calls you should be making a little better. There’s definitely something to that. Sometimes we’ve come out in games and (run no-huddle) the first series. It’s hit and miss sometimes early in games.

“You never know.”

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