After dropping ball on fake punt, Steelers CB James Pierre comes through in the clutch

LANDOVER, Md. — For James Pierre — and perhaps only James Pierre — there was no element of surprise when the Pittsburgh Steelers ran a fake punt against the Washington Commanders.

The Steelers cornerback had practiced the trick play all week and knew the pass was coming his way. So when Pierre lined up wide left on fourth-and-15 at his own 16 in the first quarter, he was ready to play the hero.

Instead, he dropped the ball.

“I knew it was coming all week. I practiced all week for it. I caught it all week,” Pierre said. “When it came, I was ready to go. Too ready. And I missed the ball.”

THE STEELERS FAKE THE PUNT BUT THEY DON’T CONVERT! pic.twitter.com/J7X592C3eP

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) November 10, 2024

That mistake motivated Pierre to spend the rest of the game trying to redeem himself so he wouldn’t serve as the scapegoat. Pierre came through with a clutch pass breakup in the final two minutes to do just that and help the Steelers preserve a 28-27 comeback victory Sunday at Northwest Stadium.

First, Pierre had to swallow hard on blowing his shot at offensive stardom.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he “absolutely” planned to run the fake punt against the Commanders. Sure enough, jammer Percy Butler sprinted away from Pierre on the sideline in an attempt to block the punt. That left Pierre all alone, and he was certain he would make a game-changing catch.

The short snap went directly to Steelers personal protector Miles Killebrew, who lobbed a high-arcing pass to a wide-open Pierre along the left sideline only for Pierre to drop the pass at the first down marker.

Tomlin took blame for the play call, despite doubling down that he would do it again.

“But we didn’t execute it,” Tomlin said, “so it was a bad idea.”

Pierre was stunned by what he called a “freak” play, only made worse three plays later when Austin Ekeler scored a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7-7 with 3 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“I was really hard on myself,” Pierre said, “but my teammates helped me out, my coaches lifted me up and, next play.”

Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said the message to Pierre was to move on to the next play, reminding him that “we all mess up” and to “just let it go.”

“Every game is full of little squirts where guys make plays,” Heyward said. “Whenever something happens like that, we rally around him, and we make more plays.”

Pierre came through in two major moments for the Steelers. The first came when he smothered Commanders return man Olamide Zaacheaus on a muffed punt that was recovered by Ben Skowronek at Washington’s 14 early in the second quarter, setting up a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Pat Freiermuth for 14-7 lead.

When starting cornerback Donte Jackson left the game with a hamstring injury, Pierre replaced him on the outside. That put Pierre in position to make a game-altering play in the final two minutes, when he broke up a third-and-9 pass intended for Noah Brown. The Commanders came up short on fourth-and-9, when Jayden Daniels threw an 8-yard pass to tight end Zach Ertz.

“Our defense really got tight when they needed to,” Tomlin said. “Can’t say enough about the efforts of guys like James Pierre and guys like that that had an opportunity to step up because of the attrition component of play.”