Merril Hoge blames Ray-Ray McCloud for missed landing, not Mason Rudolph

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As for what actually happened on the pitch on Sunday, there probably was no play that was talked about more than the incomplete pass in the 3rd and the goal of the five from quarterback Mason Rudolph, destined to Ray-Ray McCloud, who had a career-high nine receptions.

The broad consensus was that Rudolph simply threw a bad shot. Watching it live during the broadcast, you just see the ball skidding near the wide catcher’s feet as he glides towards the play trying to retrieve it, after making its way into the end zone.

“No misunderstanding. The execution has just failed,” McCloud said when speaking to reporters yesterday. He did not however specify who owned the failed execution. “Fair, everything. throughout the game we didn’t play some plays, and that’s something that bit us in the butt towards the end. “

Former Steelers running back and current NFL analyst Merril Hoge offered an analysis of the play that goes against conventional wisdom and argues that it was partly McCloud’s fault and partly the fault of the Lions for unintentionally creating confusion for him.

“The history of the Detroit Lions this season, they constantly make mistakes in high school. They’re constantly doing busts, ”he said yesterday during an episode of Steelers Live, which we highlighted on Twitter. “The one in Washington was a bust. They don’t handle things very well. If you come back when they lost to the Ravens? A torso. Half of their matches, at the end of the match, fail ”. He then discussed McCloud’s incompleteness in particular:

Well that was actually another bust. The route probably unsettled Mason. I won’t blame Mason on this one, because [McCloud] came out and then he came back. I mean, he didn’t give him any clarity, and I think it was because he was confused because they broke the cover. He did not follow the route he was supposed to follow. He jumped on the route he was supposed to take, and that’s why it ends up being a bad pitch. People are going to point the finger at Mason, but if you look at the cover bust and confusion in the road, then really the onus is on the receiver, not the quarterback. You still have to do what you are supposed to do, even with the cover broken. It threw him more, quite honestly, into why he made a bad shot against, he just missed the shot.

The All-22 tape is actually quite revealing. The Steelers ran out of 11 staff five times in a 2 × 3 roster. Close end Pat Freiermuth was near the line in the right lunge, pushing Najee Harris out of the numbers on that side, with McCloud between them. The Lions were showing what looked like a male blanket.

However, both inside defenders immediately jumped up to cover Freiermuth, leaving McCloud open as he stopped and turned at the four-yard line after performing a short loop. It was then that he saw the opening and started to drift into the end zone that Rudolph released the ball.

It seems there is credit to what Hoge says – that McCloud’s route was basically designed to end near where Rudolph put the balloon, and that he didn’t get the time to adjust the pitch given the timing of McCloud’s unscripted hiatus.

So is this a case of the incompetence of the Lions who spare themselves a touch? Well, at least that helped trick the Steelers into making an unforced error on their own, failing to take advantage of what everyone knew during the broadcast should have been an easy touchdown, not knowing exactly why.

Oh man, Merril Hoge is going to be getting hate messages for blaming Mason Rudolph’s missed TD shot to Ray-Ray McCloud on the wide receiver. I wonder if Merril has ever played football before #Steelers pic.twitter.com/4mv3fCYmMg

– Steelers Depot 🦃 (@Steelersdepot) November 16, 2021

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