Here’s a stat for you. While Dennis Allen has only won 11 of his 45 games in the NFL as a head coach, he’s taken down Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers twice back when he was coaching the Raiders. Now he’ll get another shot when Allen’s New Orleans Saints team flies out to visit Pittsburgh in Week 10.
So what gives? Did Allen just figure out the perfect formula for handling Tomlin’s team? Let’s take a look at each of those meetings to see whether anything might carry over.
First, back in 2012, we saw the Steelers kick off against the Raiders in Oakland — and they controlled that game for much of the afternoon, going into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead. But Allen’s defense shut down the Steelers offense in the final quarter, and a last-second field goal from Sebastian Janikowski sealed the 34-31 win. Pittsburgh had a good day on third down (converting 8 of 14 tries, plus both of their fourth down opportunities) and Ben Roethlisberger threw for 384 yards and 4 touchdown passes, only being sacked once. The Raiders had possession of the ball for just 23 minutes and 45 seconds in the game.
A year later, again in Oakland, the Steelers lost 21-18 but in vastly different circumstances. The Raiders scored all of their points in the first half, limiting Pittsburgh to just 3 points through the first three quarters. A furious fourth-quarter scoring output gave them a shot, but a botched punt return sequence set the Steelers offense up at their own 3-yard line without any timeouts. Allen’s defense showed up for this game, holding the Steelers offense to just 4-of-15 on third downs and sacking Roethlisberger 5 times while intercepting him twice. The Raiders offense ran at will with Terrelle Pryor (106 rushing yards and a touchdown run) and Darren McFadden (73 rushing yards with a pair of touchdown runs), throwing for just 88 passing yards.
So, no, there isn’t much to glean from this. And so much has changed over the decade since these games that it’s tough to take away much of it when forecasting this week’s Saints-Steelers game. Kenny Pickett is Pittsburgh’s quarterback now, and the Allen has a defense flush with more talent than he worked with on the Raiders now in New Orleans. Let’s see if he can make the most of it and recapture some of that success.