PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers should feel right at home playing at the Detroit Lions on Sunday night, since they say the name of America's car capital so often.

The Steelers' "Detroit" personnel group has been a fixture in Pittsburgh's offense as long as 14-year veteran Ben Roethlisberger can remember. He must've heard the word yelled between plays thousands of times.

Ask the quarterback the backstory, though, and he stalls in the pocket.

"It's always been like that ... I have no idea," Roethlisberger said.

Neither do most of the Steelers when asked about it. But they know one thing: One of the offense's most popular formations gets two tight ends on the field at the same time.

That makes sense, given this explanation from one coach: Tight-end blocking requires toughness, and nothing symbolizes toughness quite like Detroit's motor and steel.

The Steelers played two tight ends on 44 snaps in Week 7 against Cincinnati, and they'll need that Detroit attitude again Sunday.

Roethlisberger calls Detroit a "pretty universal" name for league-wide personnel groups. Tight end Jesse James traces the name to the New England Patriots, whose former coordinator, Bill O'Brien, utilized the "Detroit" grouping at Penn State, where James was his tight end.

"I've heard 'Detroit,' 'Motown,' 'wheels' -- basically anything with a car is two tight ends for us," James said.

An NFL offense is a world of words, where formations turn into plays that turn into stories -- or backgrounds, in some cases. James said the Steelers once used a "Trojan" personnel group as a way to get former USC standouts JuJu Smith-Schuster and Xavier Grimble on the field at the same time. Another is "Terp," for former Maryland star Darrius Heyward-Bey.

One grouping can showcase up to 40 different plays.

"We come up with names for everything in the offense," James said. "Sometimes we name it after a person."

There are no trade secrets here, players say. Two tight ends are common in today's NFL, and when the Steelers offense lines up, the defense pretty much knows what's coming.

Unless you're an offensive lineman who doesn't have to worry about it.

"We just block," left tackle Alejandro Villanueva said.