The Pittsburgh Steelers had a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and were pinned in their own territory on a fourth down. There was zero reason to expect the team to go for it, and that’s probably why a fake punt worked so well.
Steelers ran a beautiful fake punt with a double-digit lead to sink the Bengals
The Steelers stuck it to their rivals with a late trick play.
With the Cincinnati Bengals selling out to block the punt, the snap instead went to safety Robert Golden who threw a perfect pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey for a huge gain.
Heyward-Bey was uncovered on the play and Bengals cornerback Darqueze Dennard took off after him as soon as he saw the snap go to Golden. He wasn’t fast enough to make up the distance, though.
Mike Tomlin was happy about it.
The play set up the Steelers deep in Cincinnati territory and allowed them to run off more time before settling for a field goal that extended the lead to 29-14 and essentially ended any comeback hopes.
This isn’t quite as disrespectful as the Jaguars running a fake punt with a 37-0 lead, but the rivalry factor and smugness adds extra disrespect points. Fake punts are great.
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