The legendary coach Bill Walsh wrote in his book, Finding The Winning Edge, that a team needs to generate explosive plays to gain an advantage over their opponent. Walsh described an explosive play as any offensive play that gains 20 or more yards. At the time Walsh wrote that the current stats at the time showed that teams that had a two or more explosive plays than their opponent did, won the game 80-85 percent of the time.
In the tables below, I have broken down both the Steelers and Packers explosive plays by week and by run and pass for both the offense and defense. You will also see the + and – for that game. Through the regular season, you see the Steelers went 9-2 when they had the 2 more explosive play advantage that Walsh speaks of in his book. The Packers were 3-2 using that same stats. On the flip side though, the Packers went 3-1 when they lost in that stat by 2 or more. This is really shocking and the Packers were -2 to the Eagles in the Wild Card round as well and won. Both teams where a game over .500 in the regular season in games that they were in the +1 to -1 range.
Lastly the Steelers where only in the minus column just once and that was against the Browns in week 6 following the bye week. 3 of th6 explosive plays the Browns had in that game came late in the 4th quarter when the game was out of reach. It should also be noted that the Steelers defense has allowed just 3 explosive running plays through all of the season and including the two games played so far in the playoffs.
In closing, the explosive plays do include plays that had penalties tacked on to them. There were not many for or against either the Packers and the Steelers, but it should be noted just the same.
Regular Season
| Teams | +2 or more | +1 to -1 | -2 or more |
| Steelers | 9-2 | 3-2 | 0-0 |
| Packers | 3-2 | 4-3 | 3-1 |
Playoffs
| Teams | +2 or more | +1 to -1 | -2 or more |
| Steelers | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| Packers | 2-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 |
Explosive Play Stats 20 Yards Or More
| Steelers 20 Yards + Plays | Offense | Defense | |||||||
| Week | Opponent | Pass | Run | Total | Pass | Run | Total | +/- | W/L |
| Week 1 | Falcons | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +3 | W 15-9 |
| Week 2 | Titans | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | W 19-11 |
| Week 3 | Buccaneers | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 4 | +1 | W 38-13 |
| Week 4 | Ravens | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | L 17-14 |
| Week 6 | Browns | 5 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | -1 | W 28-10 |
| Week 7 | Dolphins | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +3 | W 23-22 |
| Week 8 | Saints | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | L 20-10 |
| Week 9 | Bengals | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +2 | W 27-21 |
| Week 10 | Patriots | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +4 | L 39-26 |
| Week 11 | Raiders | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +4 | W 35-3 |
| Week 12 | Bills | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +3 | W 19-16 |
| Week 13 | Ravens | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 | W 13-10 |
| Week 14 | Bengals | 6 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +4 | W 23-7 |
| Week 15 | Jets | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +2 | L 22-17 |
| Week 16 | Panthers | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +7 | W 27-3 |
| Week 17 | Browns | 5 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +2 | W 41-9 |
| Total | Reg Season | 61 | 16 | 77 | 38 | 2 | 40 | +37 | N/A |
| Divisional | Ravens | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | W 31-24 |
| Championship | Jets | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | W 24-19 |
| Total | Playoffs | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | +1 | N/A |
| Packers 20 Yards + Plays | Offense | Defense | |||||||
| Week | Opponent | Pass | Run | Total | Pass | Run | Total | +/- | W/L |
| Week 1 | Eagles | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | W 27-20 |
| Week 2 | Bills | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +4 | W 34-7 |
| Week 3 | Bears | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -1 | L 20-17 |
| Week 4 | Lions | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | -3 | W 28-26 |
| Week 5 | Redskins | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | L 16-13 |
| Week 6 | Dolphins | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +3 | L 23-20 |
| Week 7 | Vikings | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | -1 | W 28-24 |
| Week 8 | Jets | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | -3 | W 9-0 |
| Week 9 | Cowboys | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +3 | W 45-7 |
| Week 11 | Vikings | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +1 | W 31-3 |
| Week 12 | Falcons | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +3 | L 20-17 |
| Week 13 | 49ers | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | W 34-16 |
| Week 14 | Lions | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | L 7-3 |
| Week 15 | Patriots | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | L 31-27 |
| Week 16 | Giants | 8 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 5 | +3 | W 45-17 |
| Week 17 | Bears | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | W 10-3 |
| Total | Reg Season | 58 | 3 | 61 | 45 | 10 | 55 | +6 | N/A |
| Wild Card | Eagles | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -2 | W 21-16 |
| Divisional | Falcons | 6 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +4 | W 48-21 |
| Championship | Bears | 7 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | +4 | W 21-14 |
| Total | Playoffs | 14 | 2 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 10 | +6 | N/A |
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