Jul 30, 2021 6 min read

Could 2021 bring the two-point conversion back into vogue in Pittsburgh?

In 2015 and 2016, no head coach was as aggressive when it came to going for 2-point conversions as Mike Tomlin.

Taking advantage of the rule change in 2015 in the NFL that moved PAT kicks back to the 15 instead of the 2, Tomlin would go for the two-point conversion 11 times that season. The Steelers converted eight of them.

But that was when Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Heath Miller and Le’Veon Bell were still on the team. The Steelers were a tough team to match up against down close to the goal line, when they could simply allow Ben Roethlisberger to pick the matchup he liked best.

The following season, with Miller retired and Bell limited to 12 games because of a suspension, Tomlin only called for the Steelers to go for two nine times. More important, they only converted three of them, with the capper being a 35-30 loss against the Cowboys that saw the Steelers miss on four conversions.

Since then, Tomlin has become more conservative when it comes to going for two, doing so just 14 times in the four seasons since, with most of those conversions being born out of necessity rather than being used as a weapon.

But the additions of Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth in this year’s draft could bring the 2-point conversion back into play for the Steelers in 2021.

Harris, the rookie running back, has drawn comparisons to Bell for his receiving skills, while Freiermuth, a second-round pick out of Penn State, converted 16 of his 92 collegiate receptions into touchdowns. Considering the depth the Steelers have at wide receiver with Diontae Johnson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and James Washington, let alone tight end Eric Ebron, the group is well-rounded.

“You know I’m always open to that,” Tomlin said last week. “When I feel comfortable with our ability to win those moments, I like to be thoughtfully aggressive. So certainly.”

Even though they haven’t gone for conversions quite as often as they once did, the Steelers still open every practice with a drill Tomlin calls “Seven Shots.” The play puts the offense on the field at the 2 against a defense in an 11-on-11 matchup.

The dynamic that Harris brings, in particular, makes the Steelers especially dangerous down close.

The rookie running back is 230 pounds and is certainly capable of scoring touchdowns on the ground, something he did 26 times on 251 carries last season at Alabama.

But he’s also an accomplished receiver, like Bell. Harris scored 11 receiving touchdowns in his final two seasons for the Crimson Tide.

If there was any question to whether that would translate to the NFL, witness what happened earlier this week.

On the play in question, Roethlisberger sent Harris in motion from the backfield, splitting him out wide beyond the two receivers on the left side of the formation.

Seeing inside linebacker Devin Bush go wide with Harris tipped Roethlisberger to the fact the defense was in man coverage.

At the snap, Harris, who has shown good skills in catching fades, jabbed to the outside, then broke inside, right behind the two receivers, who formed a natural pick on their own men. That left Harris one-on-one with Bush, who runs a 4.43 40-yard dash.

But his speed wouldn’t help him here. Roethlisberger hit Harris on a quick slant as Bush arrived just after the ball. Touchdown.

“We could have been a little closer to him initially. It’s hard when you play linebacker to not line up three or four yards away from somebody,” inside linebackers coach Jerry Olsavsky said. “If you watched it again like we did, it was like, ‘Hey Dev, just move up another yard and when you intersect the route, you’ll be in a little better position.” He was in good position. But his alignment would have made a better result for us.”

That’s the kind of pressure having a player such as Harris puts on a defense. If he slides outside like that and the defense is in man-to-man, he’s drawing a linebacker with him out to the boundary, where they aren’t accustomed having to cover. If the defense is in a zone, as happened in a rep of the same drill Thursday, it matched Claypool up on a linebacker, leading to an easy score on the inside.

With Johnson, whose ability to win off the snap is reminiscent of Brown, Smith-Schuster, one of the more physical slot receivers in the league, and the massive Claypool, the Steelers were already a matchup issue. Now, they might be even more dangerous.

“He’s a weapon. He’s definitely a weapon,” Olsavsky said. “You know, you expect Devin to nullify that. We’re talking about a foot in alignment, which is something you can easily take care of. It was a nice play to see. You’ve got two well-conditioned, mentally strong players going at it. I’m glad to see it happen.”

Plenty of opponents in 2021 might not be so happy to get that same matchup.

• The Pirates got two prospects last week from the New York Yankees in return for Clay Holmes, a pitcher with a career ERA of 5.52 in 120 innings.

When you’ve got deep pockets like the Yankees, you can afford to trade prospects – any prospects – for a bum. That the Pirates got more than a bucket of used baseballs in that deal was unbelievable.

• The Indians last week announced they’re changing their name to the Guardians for the 2022 season.

The Paperboys must have been taken.

Talk about a blah name.

• Canton, Ohio, is going to become Pittsburgh West later this week when the Steelers play the Cowboys in Thursday’s Hall of Fame game and Troy Polamalu, Donnie Shell, Alan Faneca, Bill Cowher and Bill Nunn are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the weekend.

Should be a lot of fun. But it might be a few years before we see another Steelers player go in – at least until five years after Roethlisberger retires.