There are many reasons the Patriots dominated the Steelers in the AFC Championship Sunday night, but one of the most obvious was the coaching mismatch. Pittsburgh looked unprepared throughout much of the game, and we know of at least one play Mike Tomlin failed to warn his players about that they got burned on.
Not long after the Steelers scored their first touchdown of the night, Tom Brady hit wide receiver Chris Hogan on a perfectly executed flea flicker for a 34-yard score to give New England a 16-6 lead.
What a play!!! Flea Flicker Brady to Hogan to put the Patriots 17-6 #Patriots https://t.co/kpwd4PnQiq
— FOX Sports Radio1340 (@1340AMFOXSports) January 23, 2017
Pittsburgh safety Mike Mitchell later admitted his team had not gone over that play in practice.
Mike Mitchell said a flea-flicker wasn't on film study. "We were expecting some type of trick plays…like screen-and-gos and what not."
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 23, 2017
No coach can prepare his team for everything, but a great coaching staff would have at least mentioned that particular play. Why? Because the Patriots used it on Tomlin’s Steelers back in 2007. And if that was too far back to remember, footage of New England executing a flea flicker for a touchdown — to Chris Hogan, no less — just over a month ago would have been easy to find.
.@Patriots pull off the flea flicker!@LG_Blount tosses it back to TB12.
And Brady's pass is BEAUTIFUL. #BALvsNE https://t.co/RABVO3evZp— NFL (@NFL) December 13, 2016
Do you think there’s any chance Bill Belichick would have missed that while preparing for an opponent in a playoff game? We can assure you he wouldn’t have, and that’s what separates really good coaches from great coaches. If you want to know how focused Belichick was on the Steelers, check out what he said about his Super Bowl opponent.
No one expected Hogan to post the exact same numbers as Julio Jones on conference championship weekend, but the Steelers failed to adjust. A lack of preparation and inability to make in-game adjustments ultimately sent them packing.
