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 [...]

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 [...]