Bengals QB Joe Flacco absolutely abused the Steelers’ defense with quick passes, but not because they were unprepared for it—quite the opposite. In fact, defenders expressed that they knew it was coming. They just couldn’t stop it, and yet they don’t understand why they couldn’t. And perhaps that’s even more concerning than the lack of foresight to anticipate it in the first place.
“He was getting it out quick, but we had a game plan for that”, Alex Highsmith said of Flacco’s quick passes, via the Steelers’ website. “We just didn’t execute. Like I said, we didn’t make the plays that needed to be made tonight to win the game”.