Carter's Classroom Classic: The day Roethlisberger upstaged Manning

When the Steelers came to Indianapolis to face the Colts for a second time during the 2005-06 NFL season, many things were different coming into the AFC Divisional Round game.

For one, the Steelers weren't just getting Ben Roethlisberger back from injury as they were in the first game, and they were on a five-game win streak this time around. After the 26-7 drubbing they faced at the hands of the Colts earlier in the season, they knew something had to be different to win.

The Steelers had established their identity of running the ball to get on their win streak that put them in the playoffs, relying on a solid offensive line and the thunder-and-lightning package of Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker to take over games.

So when Joey Porter spoke to the media about how "soft" the Colts were, he set the tone for what the Colts thought they could expect from the Steelers' offense. A ground-and-pound game that their Tampa 2 defense could eat up easily with its aggressive style of play.

That allowed for the Steelers' offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt, to come into the game with a less obvious plan of moving the ball down the field. What transpired was a first quarter that shook the NFL and put the heavy favorite Colts on alert for the entire game.

While many people looking back at that game remember the back-to-back sacks from Porter in the fourth quarter, Bettis' late fumble that was saved by Roethlisberger's amazing tackle, or Mike Vanderjagt missing his first field goal of the season to end the game, it was the the style of offense that built the big early lead.

Let's go back to the film room and see just they took over the first quarter:



LOOKING FOR THE RUN

Because of the Steelers' success earlier in the season, they could come out in run-heavy formations that normally would send a signal to the defense that the run was coming, but on this day it was as if the defense made a point to sell out and stop the run, even more so than normal.

That's when Whisenhunt called some of the most perfectly-timed play-action passes.

The first of those was out of a double tight end formation, deep down the field to a rookie Heath Miller. Watch how the strong side safety flies up to the line of scrimmage and opens up space for Miller deep:



This play completely fooled the Colts and was the first of a group that would make the Colts punch drunk and put the defense on its heels early in the game.

PICKING BETWEEN MAN AND ZONE

Thanks to the success of the play action, the Colts' defense was not able to be as confident about when it would prepare for the run, pin its ears back to rush the passer, or have any sense of what to look for when Roethlisberger was at quarterback.

That allowed the second-year star to drop back and have much clearer reads, which led to him making confident decisions as the game went on. Watch how he picks up on this zone read for his first touchdown pass of the day:



Antwaan Randle El was running a slant to the inside of the defense that was either going to attract a tight follower if the Colts ran man coverage or require Roethlisberger to be cautious of an inside linebacker or a safety coming up to interfere with Randle El's inside route.

As soon as Roethlisberger saw zone, he fired a strike into the end zone so fast that none of the defenders would have been able to break on the pass.

But it wasn't just zone that Roethlisberger was able to read, as he took advantage of the Colts' man coverage on third down later in the first quarter:



By this point, the Colts' aggressive defense had started to back off a little. The call on this third down was a conservative man coverage with two deep safeties. A look that allowed sharp route running receivers like Hines Ward to take advantage of cornerbacks like he did here.

The Steelers would still run the ball to keep the Colts honest, and that was just enough to take the surest thing the Colts had coming into the game, their ability to stop the Steelers' offense by running the ball, and stripping that confidence away.

GOING TO HEATH

The play that put the Steelers up by two touchdowns in the first quarter was another play-action pass, this time coming in the red zone and going to the developing Miller in the end zone.

Before, when the Steelers called play action, the Colts were so aggressive they flew to the line of scrimmage to destroy the run. Now because they've been beaten by the play action but are still looking for the power run game in the red zone, they're hesitant, making the decision to fire to Miller even easier for Roethlisberger:



This touchdown opened up the huge lead that the Steelers' elite defense could defend for the rest of the game. Even despite the offense committing multiple turnovers, the defense kept the legendary Peyton Manning out of the end zone enough for the Steelers to hold on and advance on their way to winning their fifth Super Bowl.

BUILDING THE LEGEND

Despite the Steelers going 15-1 in Roethlisberger's rookie season, the young quarterback had yet to show poise in the playoffs. Over the span of the three playoff games that led to Super Bowl XL in this season, Roethlisberger shined in the Steelers' offense.

The most surprising of those three wins was undoubtedly the upset pulled off at the RCA Dome. Not only had the Steelers lost in embarrassing fashion there earlier that season, but the Colts seemed like the unbeatable team of the NFL. They won their first 13 games of the regular season and finished at 14-2.

Manning was in his prime along with Marvin Harrison and a young Reggie Wayne, with Edgerrin James being a premier running back. That -- backed up with a tough defense -- easily made them favorites to win the Super Bowl after coming close multiple times over the previous few seasons.

Going into their home stadium and gutting out a win helped solidify Roethlisberger as one of the NFL's best and was a huge step in what made him the first quarterback from the legendary 2004 draft to win a Super Bowl.

But what allowed for that to happen was a scheme that played to Roethlisberger's strengths. His strong arm and playmaking ability made him a threat, but he needed a balanced attack to keep the better defenses of the NFL from keying in on his reads. Having the ground attack in 2005 gave him that balance, and Whisenhunt knew just how to play off their success on the ground in a huge game.

The Steelers today also have a supreme ground attack when Le'Veon Bell is healthy, which could be a key to getting Roethlisberger his best opportunities in 2017. When Bell and the Steelers' offensive line are firing on all cylinders, defenses have to key in on the run to prevent them from being run over.

That brand of offense helped them steamroll the Dolphins in the playoffs last season, and might have been the key to defeating the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game had Bell remained healthy.

But still, using this balance to work with Roethlisberger's talents, especially with his developed attention to detail, could open up easier opportunities for the passing game. The style of running game that the Steelers used back in 2005 is outdated in today's NFL, but the fashion which Bell runs the ball out of single-back formations -- without a fullback leading the way -- can allow them to impose their will in the ground game.

With the success the Steelers can have out of single-back formations and without needing run-heavy packages to succeed on the ground, play-action passes can come from three-receiver sets and still be effective in drawing safeties and linebackers closer to the line of scrimmage.

This time around, Roethlisberger would have a much more dynamic set of receiving threats to challenge the defense with when he targets down the field.