Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey could not believe what he was hearing in their games against the Steelers last year.
The Pro Bowl corner revealed on “The Lefkoe Show” podcast that he knew what offensive plays the Steelers were running last season — thanks in part to the empty stadiums due to COVID-19.
“The craziest thing about this year: We played with no fans, and we played the Steelers, we walk on the field, and of course, it’s no fans so it’s kinda quiet,” he said. “I’m on the field, and like, I heard Big Ben [Roethlisberger] say something to the wide receivers. And I’m, like, listening, and I’m like: ‘Is he telling me the play? Did he just tell him the route he’s about to run?’
“And he does it again like the next play, and I’m just like, I couldn’t believe it. Like, I don’t know if they were in hurry-up, and that’s how they’d always done it or what, but he was just verbally telling them. And I was like, crap, I think I should be able to cover this route. And that happened a few times in the game. He didn’t throw it to me when he told them, but I couldn’t believe it that, like, that’s what happened.”
The advantage might have helped Humphrey keep the ball away from the man he was covering, but it did not appear to make too much of a difference in the outcome of the game.
The Ravens went 0-2 against the Steelers last year, losing 28-24 in Week 7 and 19-14 in Week 11 — the latter in which Humphrey had two pass deflections.
This is not the first time we have heard about the Steelers giving away their plays last year.
Following a Week 16 game against the Colts, JuJu Smith-Schuster acknowledged that the Colts defense was calling out their plays in the first half, shutting down the Steelers offense.
Pittsburgh came back from a 17-point deficit to win that game and changed the way they were calling plays — giving Roethlisberger that ability instead of offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and running a no-huddle offense.
Head coach Mike Tomlin said later that week that the Steelers knew the Colts’ plays, too, noting that Philip Rivers was calling out their adjustments.
It is certainly a unique X-factor that the empty stadiums brought last year, but it looks like that element will, hopefully, be gone by the 2021 season as stadiums may even be at full capacity as long as vaccinations continue to ramp up.
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