The 2013 NFL Scouting Combine is getting underway now in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Lucas Oil Stadium and we are starting to compile the 2013 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 [...]

The 2013 NFL combine gets underway later on this week and Southern Illinois outside linebacker Jayson DiManche is one player that did not receive an invite. Adam Caplan came across the Youtube video of the small school prospect, and while his technique is certainly tough judge based on the several camera angles, he is a kid that I feel needs more examination as possible late round selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers, especially if they are unable to draft an outside linebacker early on in the draft. The Salukis play a 3-4 defense and DiManche has experience playing on both sides as you will Read more [...]

The 2013 NFL combine gets underway this week in Indianapolis and thus we will have quite a few numbers to chew on as official measurements and drill results will be posted. While the numbers certainly are fun to dissect and play with, you should be reminded that all of them should be used to back up what you have seen from each and every player on the field. The tape is the end-all, do-all of each and every draft hopeful. Should a player run slower or lift less than expected than you might want to go back and look at the tape to see if you missed something on him. On the flip side, if a player Read more [...]

The big talk on Tuesday is of course revolves around the report from John Harris of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that stated Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and his agent Bill Parise were not interested in taking a pay cut in 2013. Parise, however, did say that they are willing to do a restructure to help the Steelers clear some salary cap space, but as I pointed out in my most recent post, that simply does not look like a feasible alternative. Harrison will turn 35 years of age in May and that is historically not an age that has been conducive to success for linebackers dating Read more [...]

We continue on with our look at potential early round draft prospects for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We are currently looking at the top rated running backs in the draft and will now discuss Eddie Lacy out of Alabama. Below is my quick profile on Lacy along with his college stats and a few videos on him. In the comments below please add the strengths and weaknesses that you feel that he has and why you think that he is or isn't a prospect for the Steelers. Lacy is a power back that is amazingly light on his feet for a player with his size and build (5102/220). At Alabama he ran mostly out of Read more [...]

Last month we started our look at potential early round draft prospects for the Pittsburgh Steelers by breaking down a few of the early round outside linebacker prospects. Today we will shift our focus to the running back position and start a discussion on Giovani Bernard out of North Carolina, who you have probably seen associated elsewhere as a prospect for the Steelers. Below is my quick profile on Bernard along with his college stats and a few videos on him. In the comments below please add the strengths and weaknesses that you feel that he has and why you think that he is or isn't a prospect Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers named Danny Smith, formerly of the Washington Redskins, as their new special teams coach on Wednesday and a few people have asked if I could post the kickoff and punting stats of Smith during his nine years in Washington in one easy to find place. I have pulled all of the stats in the tables below along with the Steelers stats during that same span of years as a means of comparison. I will make these sortable for you by the end of the day. Kickoff Returns YEAR TEAM Ret Yds Avg Lng TD 20+ 40+ FC FUM 2012 WAS 38 892 23.5 55 0 24 3 0 1 2012 PIT 43 1,086 25.3 68 0 29 6 1 0 2011 WAS 56 1,239 22.1 47 0 34 3 0 2 2011 PIT 35 877 25.1 52 0 27 2 0 0 2010 WAS 73 1,680 23 96T 1 48 5 0 2 2010 PIT 49 1,153 23.5 97T 1 32 3 0 2 2009 WAS 65 1,413 21.7 42 0 44 1 0 0 2009 PIT 66 1,581 24 83 0 44 4 2 1 2008 WAS 55 1,382 25.1 87 0 39 4 1 0 2008 PIT 50 1,013 20.3 43 0 27 1 1 1 2007 WAS 65 1,544 23.8 80 0 45 2 0 0 2007 PIT 52 1,145 22 98T 1 33 1 1 1 2006 WAS 73 1,631 22.3 100T 1 48 2 1 0 2006 PIT 55 1,214 22.1 76 0 36 3 0 3 2005 WAS 62 1,438 23.2 94T 2 37 3 0 2 2005 PIT 56 1,208 21.6 74 0 22 4 0 2 2004 WAS 55 1,203 21.9 70 0 28 3 0 0 2004 PIT 62 1,335 21.5 48 0 34 2 0 4 Punt Read more [...]

We still have a pretty good wait until the San Francisco 49ers will play the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII so now is as good of time as any to look back at the playoff games as it relates to the TOX stats. The TOX stat measures the difference between turnovers and explosive plays in each game and a team with a plus two TOX differential should win the game 80% of the time. In the 10 playoff games that have been played thus far there has been a final differential of plus two or better in each and every one of them. Only once has the team with the plus number lost the game and that happened Read more [...]

The 2013 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 2013 NFL Combine in late February. Below are the sortable 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. Source: H/T NFP TEAM # PLAYER SCHOOL POS HGT WGT HAND ARM WING South72Aboushi, Read more [...]

On Monday we started our look at potential early round draft prospects for the Pittsburgh Steelers by breaking down LSU outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo and today we will look at Oregon defensive end/outside linebacker Dion Jordan, who you have probably seen associated elsewhere as a prospect for the Steelers. Below is my quick profile on Jordan along with his college stats and a few videos on him. In the comments below please add the strengths and weaknesses that you feel that he has and why you think that he is or isn't a prospect for the Steelers. Jordan is another defensive end/outside Read more [...]

It is safe to say that the Pittsburgh Steelers offense wasn't the same when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returned to the lineup after sitting out three games due to injuries that he suffered in the week 10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Team president Art Rooney II was looking for words during his Wednesday Q & A session with several members of the Pittsburgh media to describe what happened when Roethlisberger came back from his injury. "The injury obviously changed things and we really never regained our rhythm or balance or whatever the right word is after the injury and when Ben Read more [...]

For those of you that follow the Pittsburgh Steelers closely you probably realize by now that team president Art Rooney II didn't drop any earth shattering nuggets on Wednesday when he gave his year-end interviews to the members of the Pittsburgh media. In fact, this was probably one of the worst question and answer sessions we have seen following a season in several years as no real hints were given in relation to their own priority free agents that they want to re-sign and things of the sort. Rooney did, however, have one interesting quote while dismissing fans' complaints that centered around Read more [...]

Wild Card weekend is now behind us as the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans all advanced to the divisional round with wins. Below are the ANYPPAD (Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential) stats for this past weekend for all of the teams that played. If you want to get a better understanding of the stat, read here and here is the final 2012 regular season ANYPPAD stats as well. If you have followed this stat closely throughout the season you certainly know that the losses by the Indianapolis Colts and the Minnesota Vikings are not surprising Read more [...]

It certainly wasn't a great season for the Pittsburgh Steelers when it came to running the football in 2012. In fact, it was a down right lousy one. They ended the season with 1,537 net yards rushing and that was the lowest output since 2003 when they rushed for 1,488 yards. The Steelers offensive line once again suffered through several injuries in 2012 on their way to starting 7 different line combinations over the course of the season and that certainly played a role in the running game being lousy. The hardest position hit on the line this season was right tackle where Marcus Gilbert started Read more [...]

The 2012 regular season is now complete and below are the ANYPPAD (Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential) stats for the season. If you want to get a better understanding of the stat, read here and here is the final regular season ANYPPAD stats from last year. It should be noted that the 7 teams that finished the regular season with a 1.00 or better differential all made the playoffs. 3 other teams that made the playoffs had a positive differential as well. That leaves the Minnesota Vikings and the Indianapolis Colts as the two teams that made the playoffs with a negative differential. Read more [...]

There is just one week left now in the 2012 NFL regular season and here now are the week 16 TOX stats along with the year to date numbers for all 32 teams at the bottom. The +2 teams had a perfect 10-0 week 16 and that brings the year to date +2 number heading into the final week to 125-31-1 (80%). With one week left the number is right at the expected number of 80%. Teams with a +1 TOX stat finished 3-1 for the week and are now a meaningless 36-19 overall. The Pittsburgh Steelers lead the way in explosive play differential year to date with a +30 number, but their turnover differential has Read more [...]

Below are the coverage stats for the Pittsburgh Steelers following their 13-10 loss Sunday to the Cincinnati Bengals. The completion percentage of 60% is a bit higher than what you would like to see as is the yards per attempt of 6.95. The 5.29 yards after the catch is also a bit higher than what you would like to see, but as a whole the tackling was much better this week as opposed to last week in the loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The two interceptions by Cortez Allen really makes the stats above more palatable. It is too bad that the Steelers offense couldn't capitalize on them. Keenan Read more [...]

There is just one week left now in the 2012 regular season and here now are the ANYPPAD (Adjusted Net Yards Per Passing Attempt Differential) stats year to date. This stat is great for tracking teams success over the season and is a great measuring stick to show which teams might be headed for the post season and which teams might be staying at home as it is based around the passing offense and passing defense of all 32 teams. If you want to get a better understanding of the stat, read here and here is the final regular season ANYPPAD stats from last year. The Seattle Seahawks keep amazing Read more [...]

It is no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense has struggled for a second consecutive season at getting turnovers and sacks. Those of course are two pretty big elements in winning football games, but outside of those glaring deficiencies the unit has not been awful. Through the first 14 games of the 2012 regular season the Steelers defense ranks first in yards allowed per game (273.3), passing yards allowed per game (180.6), and first downs allowed per game (17.1). They rank second in yards allowed per play (4.63) and passing yards allowed per play (5.62), and fourth in rushing yards allowed Read more [...]

There are now just two weeks left in the 2012 NFL regular season and here now are the week 15 TOX stats along with the year to date numbers for all 32 teams at the bottom. The +2 teams had another great week as they were 11-1 in week 15 and that brings the year to date +2 number through week 15 to 115-31-1 (78%). With two weeks left the number is 2% lower than the expected number of 80% so the +2 teams need a strong finish. The lone defector this week of course were the Pittsburgh Steelers thanks to their overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Teams with a +1 TOX stat finished 1-0 for that week Read more [...]