Good stuff here from Howe, and it seems like Dick Lebeau did in fact do just what we talked about last week in terms of doing the Mangini-esque “everybody walking around” presnap thing. Here’s a nice little nuggett:
The Steelers also used another effective tactic to disguise their blitzes. At the time of the snap, there were 24 occasions when at least six defensive players were in the box within one yard from the line of scrimmage, almost making it look like a picket fence. The Steelers show that look on a regular basis, but it’s extremely tough to recognize where the pressure will be generated. They used another wrinkle by occasionally using just one or two down linemen in the middle of that formation.
They blitzed with at least five pass rushers about half the time out of that look. Some of the blitzes were very basic and could have been recognized before the snap based on the location of the tight end or running back, but the Patriots didn’t pick them up as well out of that look. With that type of formation, the offensive linemen have to be perfectly on point with their blocking assignments because there’s almost no time to adjust.