If you are looking for a lesson on how to play football, just watch the Pittsburgh Steelers go to work in the playoffs.
They are not flashy, they are not finesse, and they are not an offensive or defensive juggernaut.
They don't have a quarterback with over 4,000 passing yards, they don't have the NFL's leading rusher, and they don't have a wide receiver who spends hours pre-planning touchdown celebrations.
They don't have a defense that led the NFL in takeaways, sacks, or scoring, and they didn't rank highly in critical categories such as defensive third-down conversion percentage and passing defense.
So what has propelled them to Super Bowl in 2006?
Game planning, execution, and avoiding mistakes.
Starting with game planning, Bill Cowher and his coaching staff has done an excellent job of shielding their own Achilles heel, while exposing the weaknesses of their three playoff opponents.
The Steelers' main frailty is when they fall behind early and are forced to rely heavily on the passing game to recuperate. In the Steelers' three playoff games, they have played with the lead the majority of the time.
The second aspect of their wise game planning that stands out is their decision to pass the ball early in football games. Every analyst, coordinator, and pundit thought that the Steelers' only road to victory was by way of their running game. While that is true, the Steelers have come out early in each game with a passing emphasis. They have caught their opponents completely off-guard, particularly the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.
When you look at the execution of the Steelers in their three playoff games, one can only be impressed.
The Steelers have averaged 115 rushing yards per game in the postseason, which is almost 25 yards less than they averaged in the regular season.
But Ben Roethlisberger can't survive without a running game, right?
The supposed janitor, manager, or guy who just makes the first downs in between the times that the Steelers run the ball, has completed 49-of-74 pass attempts for 680 yards, 8 TDs, and 1 INT.
Want more evidence of flawless execution? After 16 regular season games, the Steelers only converted 35.4% of their third-downs and allowed opponents to convert 39.7% of their third-downs attempts.
In the playoffs, they've shaped up, converting 22-of-41 attempts (54%) while opponents have only converted 17-of-40 attempts (42.5%).
And lastly, the Steelers have avoided costly mistakes that have paralyzed their very opponents. They have a +4 turnover ratio in the playoffs and have committed fewer penalties than their opponents in two of the three games.
By the way, the Steelers were on the road for all three of those games.
In Lehman's terms, they just play a smart brand of football.
It's seems like a simple strategy, but quite obviously, not everyone can stick to the blue print.
Bill Cowher football and the Bengals, Broncos, and Colts mix like Mondays and me.
"There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction." — Winston Churchill
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