LANDOVER, Md. -- It was fourth-and-1 at the opponents' 29 and, in spite of a sloppy start for his side, Mike Tomlin opted to go for it.
To go for it all, actually ...
That, of course, was Antonio Brown spectacularly undoing double coverage to come down with the touchdown, one that thrust the Steelers toward a 38-16 throttling of the Redskins in their 84th season opener Monday night at FedExField.
It's the stuff of which cinematic football scripts are crafted, clichéd quotes and all.
"Our coach showed he believed in us!"
"The guys felt like we deserved a chance to get that yard!"
"We play to win!"
OK, so that last quote was real. "We play to win," which came without an exclamation point or the faux italics, was Tomlin's four-word response when asked what the fourth-down call says of his team's mindset. So it can at least be forgiven in that context.
Otherwise, though, cut the scene. Because that call, based on voluminous accounts from the visiting locker room, was most assuredly not aimed at getting anyone amped up.
"That play?" Marcus Gilbert repeated back my question. "That play's supposed to get us six points."
"There are a few things we can run there," Ramon Foster added from the next stall. "We went for the deep ball, so we set up for the deep ball.That's it."
With no emotional moment in the huddle?
No inspirational line that could be put to sweeping symphony music?
"Execute," Foster recalled of the feeling. "Just execute."
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