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 Pittsburgh Steelers beat the St. Louis Rams 27-0 Saturday at Heinz Field and improved their record to 11-4 on the season. I have made it back through the game again twice and here are my further observations from the game not included in the regular game recap. The opening stop of Rams running back Steven Jackson by Troy Polamalu, as he blew by the attempted block of wide receiver Danario Alexander, set the tone for the type of day he would have. Polamalu finished the game with 6 total tackles, second most on the team. he was all over the field Saturday. Ike Taylor would have had the Read more [...]

Below are the Pittsburgh Steelers coverage stats for their week 15 Monday night loss against the San Francisco 49ers. 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. Keep in mind that the Steelers do play quite a bit of zone coverage, so the coverage stats are not really reflective of play. 49ers quarterback Alex Smith had only 3 completions in this game that were thrown more than 10 yards Read more [...]

Below is the defensive participation chart for the Pittsburgh Steelers week 15 Monday night game versus the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park. The Steelers were in their base defense a whopping 48 of the 61 non-penalty plays Monday night against the 49ers. 8 times they were in nickel, 3 times in dime and 2 times in goal-line. In the dime, linebacker Lawrence Timmons was the linebacker off the field. Both Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark were pulled very late in the game and that is how Ryan Mundy and Will Allen got their snaps. Stevenson Sylvester was also in for the final 2 kneel downs Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the San Francisco 49ers 20-3 Monday night and dropped to 10-4 on the season. I have made it back through the game again and here are my further observations from the game not included in the regular game recap. The first drive started well and included several quick, short passes that were easy throws for Ben Roethlisberger. The interception was him forcing the ball as neither David Johnson nor Mike Wallace had any separation. The throw he should have made was to Antonio Brown underneath on the shallow cross. Roethlisberger also showed the predictable early signs Read more [...]

Several Pittsburgh Steelers players will have cameo roles in in the newest Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises, that was filmed in Pittsburgh. A member of the Steelers ownership group, Thomas Tull, is the film's executive producer and a football game scene was filmed at Heinz Field for the movie. Wide receiver Hines Ward is one of the many Steelers players that have a cameo in the football game scene and Ward has surfaced in the latest leaked trailer for the film that you can see below. Ward is running into the endzone with the football as the ground collapses behind him and he turns around to see Read more [...]

The Dallas Cowboys game Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was pretty much a laugher from the get-go, but two Pittsburgh Steelers players did not get a laugh out of the Cowboys final defensive play of the game. On 4th down and 12 from the Buccaneers 18 yard-line, Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman threw a pass down the right sideline to wide receiver Michael Spurlock, who had a step on Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman. The ball seemed to be slightly overthrown and Spurlock let up when he caught Cowboys safety Abram Elam closing out of the corner of his eye. The pictures below show Read more [...]

Oh joy, the NFL has released a new video that shows new examples of legal and illegal hits on defenseless players. The seven-minute video, narrated by NFL Vice President of Officiating Carl Johnson, views more like something that the Iraqi Information Minister put out years ago. In the video, Johnson tries to show how players on defense are to lower their target when hitting a receiver. Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark is featured as a player delivering an illegal hit on Baltimore Ravens tight end Ed Dickson several few weeks ago. On the flip side, Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace is Read more [...]

Season 2, Episode 55 of The Terrible Podcast is up and David Todd and I dive right into the Tuesday Mike Tomlin press conference and go over the Steelers injury situation as they head into the long week. Does Ben Roethlisberger really have to practice this week to play Monday night? Tomlin told the 49ers media something totally different in his conference call on Wednesday. Is Emmanuel Sanders really going to play this week? We have our concerns. We move on to talk about the one game suspension of linebacker James Harrison and how Tomlin handled it differently than the fine handed down to Ryan Read more [...]

Below are the Steelers coverage stats for the week 14 Thursday win against the Cleveland Browns. 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. Keep in mind that the Steelers played quite a bit of zone coverage in this game so the coverage stats are not really reflective of play. The Steelers defense held both Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace to a 53% completion rate in the game and picked Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger showed why he is the toughest quarterback in the league Thursday night as he returned from a high ankle sprain suffered in the second quarter to lead the team to a 14-3 win over the Cleveland Browns. The gimped up Roethlisberger was 16 of 21 passing on the night for 280 yards with 2 touchdown passes to Jerricho Cotchery and Antonio Brown. He also had one interception in the game. He left the game with just under 6 minutes left in the first half after being sacked by Scott Paxson. On the play Roethlisberger had his ankle twisted severely during Read more [...]

The Steelers wrapped up their on-field practice preparations on Wednesday in preparation to play the Cleveland Browns Thursday night at Heinz Field and the game will be broadcast on the NFL Network. The final injury report of the week is now out and it shows that nose tackle Chris Hoke (neck), linebacker Chris Carter (hamstring), running back Jonathan Dwyer (foot), wide receiver Arnaz Battle (hamstring) and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders are all listed as out as expected. Hoke will be placed on injured reserve very soon thus ending his season and perhaps his career. Dwyer injured his foot against Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers hit the practice field Tuesday for the first time this week in preparation for the week 14 Thursday night game at Heinz Field against the Cleveland Browns. The Tuesday practice was a walk-through and the team was not in pads today. The injury report is now out and it shows linebacker LaMarr Woodley (hamstring), wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (foot), running back Jonathan Dwyer (foot), nose tackle Chris Hoke (neck) and linebacker Chris Carter (hamstring) all sat out today. Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said earlier in the day that Sanders will likely sit out against Read more [...]

Below are the Steelers coverage stats for the week 13 Sunday win against the Cincinnati Bengals. 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 Steelers defense held both Andy Dalton and Bruce Gradkowski under a 50% completion rate on the day. 5 of the 14 completions were of the screen variety. The secondary also allowed only 2 explosive plays of 20 yards or more on the afternoon, with Read more [...]

The Steelers first injury report for the week is up for their week 14 game Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers did not practice today so the first injury report is a speculative one based on if the Steelers would have practiced. Listed on the Monday speculative report is wide receiver Arnaz Battle (hamstring), linebacker Chris Carter (hamstring), safety Ryan Clark (shoulder), wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery (knee), running back Jonathan Dwyer (foot), linebacker James Farrior (thumb), linebacker Larry Foote (hamstring), guard Ramon Foster (ankle), linebacker James Harrison Read more [...]