All the eyes of Steeler Nation were fixed firmly upon Memphis nose tackle Dontari Poe this week at the 2012 NFL Combine and with good reason. The Steelers will certainly be in the market for a young nose tackle during the 2012 NFL draft and Poe certainly seems to fit the bill of what they will be looking for. You have likely heard over the last few weeks that Poe best resembles Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, not only in build and measurables, but also in his style of play. That comparison is certainly justified. The defensive linemen have now finished their on the field work Read more [...]

The 2012 NFL Scouting Combine is getting underway now in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Lucas Oil Stadium and we are starting to compile the 2012 NFL Combine Results. The scouting combine is an invitation only event, open only to invited college players and NFL team officials. The testing and evaluations include: physical measurements, injury evaluation, drug screen, cybex test, wonderlic test, interviews, 40 yard dash, 225 lb bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, 20-yard shuttle, 60-yard shuttle, three-cone drill and position-specific drills. Below are links to each specific player position Read more [...]

There was an interesting discussion this morning on Trib Live Radio in regards to 36 year old wide receivers in relation to Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward this morning and how effective those receivers were at that age. I pulled the numbers that you can see below in the table from Pro Football Reference of receivers that played at 36 years old and also included their AV number for that season. In short, the Approximate Value (AV) method is an attempt to put a single number on the seasonal value of a player at any position from any year. It is not without faults though. According Read more [...]

By Jeremy Hritz Prior to the 2011 season, there was no doubt of who was the premier quarterback from the 2004 NFL Draft. Ben Roethlisberger, selected 11th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers, sported a resume jeweled by three Super Bowl appearances, two Super Bowl victories, and an aptitude for last minute victories. The success he had experienced in his short career carried more weight than the other quarterbacks that were drafted in the first round the same year as Roethlisberger. But after the New York Giants Super Bowl win against New England Patriots, Eli Manning has now knocked a leg or Read more [...]

Now that it looks certain that Todd Haley will be named the Pittsburgh Steelers new offensive coordinator, I have put together a time line of Haley along with the offensive stats dating back to 2007, his first year as an offensive coordinator with the Arizona Cardinals through his time as head coach with the Kansas City Chiefs. You will see the run/pass ratios that are based on attempts, sacks and recorded quarterback scrambles as well. These are of course not 100% guaranteed ratios, but pretty damn close based on drop backs. The stats are also regular season stats and do not included the playoffs. 2007 Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner has been at the top of my potential candidates to replace Bruce Arians as the offensive coordinator since it was announced that Arians would not return in 2012. The reasons are obvious as he already has a good grasp of the talent on the Steelers roster, he has a good relationship with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and he has had an association with head coach Mike Tomlin dating back to 1998 when they both were on the Arkansas State coaching staff. Tomlin in fact hired Fichtner to his staff when he was hired back in 2007. Fichtner also runs 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 [...]

By Jeremy Hritz This weekend, many Pittsburgh Steelers fans are content, not because the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots are on the verge of a Super Bowl appearance, but because the oft-derided offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will not be returning for the 2012 season. There seems to be two camps regarding the Arians-as-offensive-coordinator issues: those that believe in his efficacy, and those that believe he is inept. The bottom line is that Arians is and has always been average. The table below provides a detailed look at Arians’ performance as offensive coordinator not just Read more [...]

One of the biggest gripes you will hear from Steeler Nation concerning the play calling of Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is his use of the wide receiver bubble screen. Everyone screams bloody murder when one goes for negative or minimal yardage and to hear the fan base talk, Arians uses it 10 times a game and 10 times too much. The bubble screen is predominantly used as a run game alternative and is effective in getting the ball in the hands of your best play makers using a high percentage throw. The use of it can help in keeping defenses honest in regards to over-committing 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 [...]

By Jeremy Hritz There is going to be much debate moving forward about which current Pittsburgh Steelers free agents will return to the for the 2012 season. The debate will be much less about which soon to be free agents on other NFL teams will join the black and gold next year. Historically, the Steelers are wary of signing coveted free agents, opting for mid-tier to somewhat above average guys such as Jerricho Cotchery this year, or a few years back, Cedrick Wilson. Some of these offseason free agents have worked out well for the Steelers in longtime captain James Farrior, who came from the 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 [...]

I wanted to do some in-depth research tonight on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger since he suffered his left high ankle sprain late in the first half against the Cleveland Browns in week 14 and found quite a few things that stuck out to me in the research. Below you will see a table of every pass that Roethlisberger has thrown from the second half of the Browns game on. This table includes the down and distance of the play, the targeted receiver, whether or not the pass was complete and both the yardage gained and yardage that the ball traveled in the air to the intended receiver. First 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 [...]

I have tracked the TOX stat all season long as it relates to wins and losses every week in the NFL as I love the stat. Half of that stat revolves around explosive plays, plays of 20 yards or more, and the ability of teams in the NFL to not only create them on offense, but not allow them on defense. Many have criticized the Steelers run defense all year long, especially how it relates to allowing explosive runs this year. The defense allowed just 1 run last year of 20 yards or more and this year they have allowed 7. That might seem like a big deal, but it really isn't when you factor in that Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown was voted the 2011 team MVP on Thursday and while there are some good arguments that can be made that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger or cornerback Ike Taylor should have won the award, Brown was every bit deserving just the same. Brown has 63 catches for 1,018 yards entering the final game of the regular season against the Cleveland Browns, but what is more amazing is that 26 of those 63 catches came on 3rd downs and 22 of those 26 3rd down catches resulted in a Steelers first down with another going for a touchdown. Brown has been targeted 39 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 [...]