ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine combined to put out list of the 20 current players who a 20-member Pro Football Hall of Fame panel and ESPN's very own John Clayton believe could excel in any era of the NFL. The top 20 was finalized today and four current Pittsburgh Steelers players made the top 10. Finishing 10th was linebacker James Harrison, finishing 8th was wide receiver Hines Ward, finishing 3rd was quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and finishing 2nd was safety Troy Polamalu. Harrison finished 4th as far as linebackers went behind Patrick Willis (7th), Brian Urlacher (5th) and Ray Lewis (1st). Read more [...]

The 2012 Senior Bowl week is underway in Mobile, Alabama and as always the official weigh-in takes place on Monday to get the latest heights and weights of the players prior to the 2012 NFL Combine in late February. Below are the official heights, weights, hand and arm length measurements of both the North and the South rosters and the height measurements are of course done in eighths per the standard. Meaning the last number of the four digits is the eighth measurement. 1 = 1/8, 2 = 1/4, 3 = 3/8, 4 = 1/2, 5 = 5/8, 6 = 3/4, 7 = 7/8. 2012 Senior Bowl Official Weigh-In Results NORTH ROSTER Read more [...]

The Divisional Round of the 2011-2012 playoffs are now in the books and the TOX stat did not let us down this week as the winning teams all had a plus 2 TOX number or better. The Baltimore Ravens let the Houston Texans beat themselves with the 4 turnovers and the Ravens defense allowed just 1 explosive play which was a 28 yard run by Arian Foster. Texans quarterback T.J. Yates could not stretch the field and made several ill-advised throws deep. The Texans were still in this game up until the end, but could never make the big play when they needed it. The New York Giants used a good balance Read more [...]

The Wild Card weekend of the playoff has come and gone and it is time to look at the TOX results from the 4 games. The Houston Texans had a plus 5 TOX and easily took care of the Cincinnati Bengals. The New York Giants had a plus 3 TOX against the Atlanta Falcons and easily won. The Pittsburgh Steelers did not reach the magic plus 2 number. Had they had one more explosive play or turnover, or allowed one less of each, they likely win that game against the Denver Broncos. How fitting that the final play was explosive as the Steelers were plus 2 at that point. The New Orleans Saints and the Detroit Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz Recently on nfl.com, former Ravens coach Brian Billick posted a breakdown of the 12 NFL playoff participants and their rankings in what he feels are the most significant categories related to winning (here is the link: ). Those categories are as follows: Rushing offense Passing defense Rushing defense Passing defense Turnover differential Explosive play differential 3rd down offense 3rd down defense Red zone offense Red zone defense Billick totaled teams rankings in these categories and employed golf wisdom to anoint the teams with the lowest scores as Read more [...]

The week 17 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers win this past Sunday against the Cleveland Browns is now complete and overall it was a very solid game for the offensive line as everyone scored 90% or higher. The Browns really did not get that much consistent pressure on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and there front 4 were very inconsistent at defending at the point of attack. Here are the scores and a recap of each lineman. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H LGChris Kemoeatu 75714 95%.51 0 LTMax Starks 82775 94%02 1 Read more [...]

Below are the Pittsburgh Steelers coverage stats for their week 17 win against the Cleveland Browns on the road in Cleveland. These stats are broken down by play and include down and distance, line of scrimmage, direction, yards gained, yards after catch, personnel the offense used, defensive package, number of pass rushers and whether or not the defense blitzed on the play. Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace was 16 of 41 for starters, with two incompletions being spikes. Those are not accounted for below. He also threw for just 177 yards on the day. William Gay was the most targeted in coverage Read more [...]

The 2011 NFL regular season is now over and it is time to look at the week 17 TOX stat results and the final totals for the season for each team. In week 17 the plus 2 TOX number went 6-2 and year to date in head to head games the plus 2 teams went 137-31 and the final regular season winning percentage ends at 82%, 2% higher than the expected 80% number for season. The lone plus 2 losers in week 17 were the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. Teams with a mere positive TOX stat went 7-7 this week. Teams with a positive turnover differential went 10-3 overall this week and teams with a Read more [...]

The final Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential Stats are now compiled for the 2011 NFL season and quite a reflective stat it has been this year. The top 10 teams in differential made the playoffs this year. The two stragglers are the Cincinnati Bengals, who finished 18th, and the Denver Broncos, who finished 28th. The top 4 offensive teams using the stat headed into the playoffs are the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints. The top 3 defenses for the season are also headed to the playoffs and they are the Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Read more [...]

The week 16 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers win this past Saturday against the St. Louis Rams is now complete and overall it was a pretty solid performance as everyone scored 86% or higher. The Rams run defense was pretty poor and the Steelers unit was able to push them around on quite a few plays and even get second level blocks on their linebackers, including James Laurinaitis. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H RT/TEMarcus Gilbert 220 100%00 0 CDoug Legursky 220 100%00 0 C/LGTrai Essex 51465 90%01 0 Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers veteran receiver Hines Ward needs just 5 catches on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns to reach 1,000 regular season receptions for his career. With Ward on the cusp of such a great feat, I thought I would post the career receptions of Ward by opponent. You can see in the table below that Ward has done well against the teams from Ohio as he has played against them twice a year since coming into the league. 252 of his career receptions, 25% of all of his regular season catches, have come against the Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. In addition to his receptions, 25 of his Read more [...]

I have compiled the Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential Stats now through week 16 and the Pittsburgh Steelers have slipped down to 4th place in net differential behind the Detroit Lions, who shot up 0.29 this past week in their win over the San Diego Chargers. The Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets were the two biggest sliders this week as the Cowboys slipped -0.47 in differential this week while the Jets dropped -0.45 in the stat. Despite their come from behind win over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday, the New England Patriots also slipped -0.25 in differential this past week. The Read more [...]

Week 16 is now in the books and all but three playoff spots remain up for grabs now. Here is our weekly look at the explosive plays and turnovers for the games this past week. The plus 2 number went 10-1 this past week and year to date in head to head games the plus 2 teams are now 131-29 and the winning percentage clicks up to 82%, 2% higher than the expected 80% number with 1 week remaining in the regular season. Teams with a mere positive TOX stat went 11-4 this week. Teams with a positive turnover differential went 9-4 overall this week and teams with a positive explosive play differential Read more [...]

Below are the Pittsburgh Steelers coverage stats for their week 16 Saturday shutout win against the St. Louis Rams at Heinz Field. These stats are broken down by play and include down and distance, line of scrimmage, direction, yards gained, yards after catch, personnel the offense used, defensive package, number of pass rushers and whether or not the defense blitzed on the play. The pass defense in this game was as close to perfect as it gets and the longest completion of the 9 by Rams quarterback Kellen Clemens was for 17 yards and 12 of those 17 came after the catch on the pass to running Read more [...]

The week 15 offensive line breakdown report for the Pittsburgh Steelers loss Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers is now complete and overall it was not a good night as far as pass protection went up the middle and on the left side as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had pass rushers on him quite a bit and not a lot of room to step up into the pocket with his lead bad ankle. The pass protection started off OK, but deteriorated, especially in the second half. The run blocking was adequate, just not great. TOTAL POSPLAYER PLAYSGOOD BADGOOD % SP H RGRamon Foster 71656 Read more [...]