I was asked via email if I had time to break down the blame of the 50 sacks allowed last year against the Steelers. We are linking to each play on NFL.com so you can watch each sack yourself and agree or disagree below in the comments. We are missing one sack against the Vikings. We have it, we just need to find it. We will update the results when we find it tonight. Updated: We found the missing play and updated everything below. It was a busted play. Steelers 2009 Sacks Allowed Name Blamed Ben Roethlisberger 10.5 Justin Hartwig 7.5 No Blame 7 Trai Essex 5 Max Read more [...]

I have finished the coverage stats of the week 2 game versus the Tennessee Titans and it was quite obvious how dominating the linebackers and defensive backs were in the game. I noted only plays that were obvious and there were two screens I believe that had no coverage. I indicated the Steelers defensive player in coverage as well as the Titans pass target on the day. As you can see, both Vince Young and Kerry Collins combined in these plays to go 22 of 32 passing for 195 yards with only 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. These 32 plays calculate out to a QB rating of 56.1 and a 6.09 yards per pass Read more [...]

It is amazing how much grief Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch is getting across Steeler Nation this week. I swear I think most people only listen to the game on radio or only watch the game the original airing. They then rely on the NFL gamebook to tell their story or base their argument on. Let's face it, the Steelers offense looked spotty at times on Sunday, but to put the blame on Batch is idiotic. What happened on Sunday offensively, falls mostly on the receivers more than anything. Heath Miller, Mike Wallace, Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El all failed to execute on some key catches in the Read more [...]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics! Surely you have heard that phrase before. Unless you own Roddy White in a PPR fantasy football league, a truer statement has never been uttered. I have read around the forums of how Steeler Nation is concerned about the numbers that White put up for the Falcons this past Sunday against the Steelers defense and if you look deep into the game tape and break the numbers down into hidden stats, you will see that it just was not a big deal and actually a great job by the Steelers secondary. First, let us start off with the facts. The NFL gamebook would have you Read more [...]

I have uploaded the NFL team offensive stats from week 1 in excel format for everyone to view. The top portion are the stats and the bottom portion is the NFL rank compared to all other teams. The Steelers rank 4th in the NFL in rushing yards per game thanks in part to the Rashard Mendenhall walk-off 50 yard touchdown run and 7th in the NFL in yards per play thanks to the Mendenhall run and the Mike Wallace long reception. Enjoy these week 1 stats.

Attached is the defensive player participation chart for all plays on Steelers defense in the week 3 preseason game versus the Denver Broncos and does not include penalties considered no plays. You can follow along play by play withe the gamebook here. Please make sure to credit us if you lift this information. The thing that sticks out the most on defense this week is just how late Joe Burnett is getting into games and also Sunny Harris only getting 8 snaps. I think both of these players are sitting squarely on the bubble at the moment and need strong games versus Carolina. CLICK ON THE IMAGE Read more [...]

Attached is the preseason Broncos game Steelers offensive player participation chart for all plays on offense and does not include penalties considered no plays. You can follow along play by play with the gamebook here. The thing that jumps out the most this week is that veteran Justin Hartwig received so many snaps in relief of Maurkice Pouncey and Doug Legursky received no snaps at center and all snaps at right guard in relief of Trai Essex. It makes you think that both Hartwig and Legursky might both make the 53 man roster. Ramon Foster and Kraig Urbik rotated series at the end at left guard Read more [...]

Below is the Steelers 2010 preseason offense play direction report of both the rushing and passing plays through the first 2 games against the Lions and Giants. Included is the NFL rank compared to the rest of the teams in the league. Do not read too much into these stats, but they are fun to track regardless. Read more [...]

I received an email asking me to post the cumulative pass target stats through the Steelers first two preseason games of 2010. I got these together in a hurry, so here they are for those that value them. You can see that rookie Antonio Brown leads the way with 5 catches of 5 targets thus far for 96 yards and 1 touchdown. Player TARG REC YDS AVG LG TD Antonio Brown 5 5 96 19.2 68 1 Emmanuel Sanders 5 4 56 14.0 24 0 Mike Wallace 5 3 91 30.3 68 1 Antwaan Randle El 5 3 37 12.3 17 0 Heath Miller 4 4 37 9.3 13 0 Arnaz Battle 3 2 62 31.0 51 0 Isaac Read more [...]

Attached is the defensive player participation chart for all plays on defense in the week 2 preseason game versus the New York Giants and does not include penalties considered no plays. You can follow along play by play withe the gamebook here. Please make sure to credit us if you lift this information. CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR FULL VERSION Read more [...]

Attached is the offensive player participation chart for all plays on offense and does not include penalties considered no plays. You can follow along play by play with the gamebook here. The thing that jumps out the most this week is that rookie Maurkice Pouncey received another 32 snaps strictly at center and none at right guard. In my opinion Pouncey is close to, if not already overtaken veteran Justin Hartwig for the week one job at center. It is hard to imagine that Pouncey would be started at right guard with so little preseason work. Doug Legursky received 27 snaps at right guard behind Read more [...]

Attached is the defensive player participation chart for all plays on defense and does not include penalties considered no plays. You can follow along play by play withe the gamebook here. A few things that stick out is the great amount of playing time Thaddeus Gibson got in relief of LaMarr Woodley. Gibson will be able to look at a large selection of film to help correct his errors for sure. William Gay received some limited time at the right corner spot and Joe Burnett got time at both the right and left corner spots. Anthony Madison also was given time at both corner and safety once again. Read more [...]

Attached is the offensive player participation chart for all plays on offense and does not include penalties considered no plays. You can follow along play by play withe the gamebook here. The thing that jumps out the most is that rookie Maurkice Pouncey received 33 snaps at center and only 7 snaps at right guard. If Pouncey continues to get this many preseason snaps at center, it could signal the end of the line for veteran Justin Hartwig. Doug Legursky received 21 snaps at right guard behind Trai Essex who received 22 snaps as the starter. Let me know if you see any errors as I will have the Read more [...]

I received an email asking about how the Steelers performed against 4-3 defenses last year and I thought I would pop up some quick stats on it. In the 1st table, I listed the 8 games in which the Steelers faced a true 4-3 defense or in the case of the 1st game against the Ravens, a predominate 4-3 look through most of the game. The 2nd table are the stats against 3-4 defenses. Firstly, the 6-2 record against 3-4 defenses jumps out versus the 3-5 record versus 4-3 teams. Next, the Steelers rushed for almost 25 yards more a game and passed for almost 85 yards more a game on average against 3-4 Read more [...]

It is hard to believe that after this past weekend’s Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions that only 21 receivers are currently enshrined in Canton. The latest was a no-brainer, first ballot enshrine in Jerry Rice. That discussion should have lasted all of 2 minutes as Rice’s stats dwarf everyone both active and retired. Every year following the induction ceremonies, the talk begins of next year’s class as well as current players chances of one day getting a bust of their own. Several Steelers come to mind with the list being led by Jerome Bettis, Dermontti Dawson and Hines Ward. I have Read more [...]

There has been a ton of talk that second year receiver Mike Wallace will have big shoes to fill in 2010 with the loss of Santonio Holmes, because the assumption that Wallace will see better coverage competition going forward. The reality though is when Wallace was in games in 2009, he was often lined up outside and against the teams No. 1 or No. 2 corner. He worked against some good cover men in 2009 albeit not seeing much double coverage. The biggest shoes for Wallace to fill of Holmes in 2010 will be his short and intermediate route running against that same competition. It is no secret that Read more [...]

The most significant thing that came out of the Steelers Friday Night Lights practice in Latrobe last night was that punter Daniel Sepulveda was allowed to show what he could do on kickoffs. Sepulveda has been working on kickoffs for years now, and head coach Mike Tomlin finally let him show off what he had in relief of regular kicker Jeff Reed. Sepulveda kicked off four times during the second special teams period, to the liking of Tomlin. "Sepulveda may provide us with a legitimate option there," Tomlin said. Sepulveda slipped on his first attempt and still sent it eight yards into the end zone Read more [...]

Lawrence Timmons said on Wednesday in an interview that he knows where the money is and it lies in the sack stat column. Timmons is shooting for double digit sacks in 2010 after recording 7 in 2009. According to a recent blog post of his, Timmons says he has been working out like a dog so camp will be easy for him and that he is in some serious shape. Timmons was inactive for two games in 2009 and also slowed all season with an ankle injury, but it did not stop him from putting up a strong year. According to Pro Football Focus, Timmons clocked in at number 9 overall in their rankings of inside Read more [...]

This post is going to be a close spin off to the Steelers and Rashard Mendenhall needing to run better against the division post I did a few days ago. Tuesday, Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians talked with John Seibel and Joe Starkey about the running game where Arians said in the first 15 seconds of the interview, "We ran the ball well last year from the 20's, 20 to 20!" Stop the tape right there. In all of my recent research, I thought something did not sound right so I researched the numbers. In the first table below, I compiled all 32 teams running back stats from their own 20 Read more [...]

I have a new stats program I am playing with an wanted to isolate some running game stats against the teams in the division. I compiled stats all the way back to 2002 of just the running backs and their rushing stats versus the other teams in the AFC North. In the same table I also compiled the stats of the Steelers running back with the most carries in each year against the Ravens, Bengals and Browns as well for comparison. Lastly in the bottom tables I broke down the individual stats of Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall against the division in 2009 and all games outside of the division. Mendenhall Read more [...]