One of the most critical moments in Sunday’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders was the 3-and-10 dagger touchdown from quarterback Derek Carr to wide receiver Henry Ruggs for 61 yards. The Pittsburgh Steelers had just made it a two-point game with more than 10 minutes to play, but from this they would not rebound.
There were multiple things that went wrong on that play. Tre Norwood was sent on a blitz, unblocked, and he didn’t get home. Minkah Fitzpatrick was drawn in by the threat of Darren Waller, left otherwise one-on-one with James Pierre. But on the other side was Ahkello Witherspoon, who was quickly trailing behind the speedster, with Fitzpatrick too far upfield to get back in time.