The Steelers Faced Four Important 4th Downs And Blew Them All

We’ve written a couple of times about the Steelers’ penchant for going for two instead of kicking PATs this year, and Thursday night’s game against the Ravens presented a few new wrinkles for the “kick it or go for it” decision matrix. There was a lot going on in this game, but the most interesting was four 4th down decisions Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had to make. We pick up the action with 2:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the Steelers up 20-17. Facing 4th-and-5 from the Ravens 31-yard line, Tomlin opted to trot out maligned kicker Josh Scobee, who had made 46- and 35-yarders earlier in the game. While a field goal wouldn’t put the game out of reach, it would force the Ravens to score a touchdown, rather than be able to tie with a field goal. Scobee missed. On t…