Below are the coverage stats for the Pittsburgh Steelers following their Sunday win against the Washington Redskins. The completion percentage of 46% was helped by the drops in the game. The yards after the catch numbers were good considering how good the Redskins had been coming into the game at getting yards after the catch. Overall it was a good game coverage wise and the Redskins wide receivers certainly made it better. These stats show quarter, down and distance and liner of scrimmage as well. The lone passing touchdown allowed was charged to Keenan Lewis. Steelers Defensive Coverage Stats Read more [...]

Week 8 of the 2012 NFL season is now behind us and here are the TOX stats for the week along with the year to date numbers for all 32 teams at the bottom. The +2 teams went 8-2 this week and that is right at the expected 80% number. This brings the year to date +2 number to 58-17 (77%), which is still 3% lower than the expected number. It should continue to inch back up to 80%. Teams with a +1 TOX stat finished 1-0 for the week and that brings that year to date number to 16-12 overall. A really meaningless stat as I have piointed out several times before as the premise of the TOX stat is the Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are now seven games into their 2012 season and the one thing that they lack more than anything is splash plays on defense. If you pull out the kneel downs by opposing quarterbacks that the Steelers have faced so far this year, you come up with only 15 plays that the defense has registered a loss on. Now I use an adjusted number for my thrown for loss stats as I remove the sacks and the kneel downs from the regular TFL numbers. The sacks are removed so I can show those separately as a splash play and kneel downs are removed for obvious reasons. As you can see in the Read more [...]

Many like to call the new offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers a "dink and dunk" one, but perhaps a better name for it would be an "upright" offense. Upright because that is exactly what quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been for a good part of this season. Through the first 7 games of the season Roethlisberger has been sacked only 13 times. He is on pace to be sacked 30 times in total and that would easily be a career low for him outside of his rookie season when he was sacked 23 times after taking over for the injured Tommy Maddox. The Steelers as a team have been sacked 14 times this season Read more [...]

Roughly half of the 2012 season is now behind us as week 8 is now in the books. Here are the final 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 Pittsburgh Read more [...]

Below are the week 8 official gamebook offensive and defensive snap counts from the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-12 win over the Washington Redskins Sunday at Heinz Field. The Steelers starting five linemen made the whole game for a second consecutive game. Cornerback Curtis Brown saw a few snaps again this week in the dime. Keenan Lewis, Ike Taylor and Will Allen were the only defensive players to play every snap against the Redskins. Jerricho Cotchery only received 3 snaps this week on offense while Leonard Pope saw his snaps increase to 4. Steelers Versus Redskins Week 8 Offensive & Read more [...]

By now you all should be well aware of the record that Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has against rookie quarterbacks since his return to Pittsburgh in 2004. If you are not, it is 14-1. When LeBeau was the Steelers defensive coordinator the first time around in 1995 and 1996, he was 2-0 against the two rookie quarterbacks during that span of time, so essentially his career record in Pittsburgh is 16-1. The lone rookie quarterback to beat LeBeau was Troy Smith when he was with the Baltimore Ravens back in 2007. That win really deserves an asterisk, though, as it happened Read more [...]

You have likely heard Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau stress over the years the importance of tackling the catch as this is one of the main focal points of his defense year in and year out. The hidden yardage in football can certainly make the difference between winning and losing games. On Sunday the Steelers will face a Washington Redskins offense that is led by rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, who has put together an impressive start to the 2012 season. The Baylor product has completed 70.4% of his passes so far and has only thrown 3 interceptions on his way to Read more [...]

There has been a lot of talk this week about quarterback Robert Griffin III as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to host the Washington Redskins on Sunday. The talk is indeed warranted as the rookie is off to a great start. Instead of focusing on the Redskins offense today, I want to bring a couple of things to light about their defense, especially their pass defense. Heading into this weekend the Redskins defense ranks last in the league in passing yards allowed a game with an average of 328.4. They also rank 27th overall in passing yards allowed per play with an average of 7.71. Where offenses Read more [...]

Below is the week 7 offensive line breakdown for the Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night. This was perhaps the best effort I have seen from an entire unit in some time as the run blocking was excellent. Outside of the three sacks allowed, and a few deep pressures, there wasn't much to complain about as the group really did a good job in the power running game and above average in pass protection, which is aided by Roethlisberger getting the ball out quick most of the time. Those quick slants and wide receiver screens sure save wear and tear on a unit. PLAYER #TOT + - TOT Read more [...]

Week 7 of the 2012 NFL season is in the books and here are the TOX stats for the week along with the year to date numbers for all 32 teams at the bottom. The +2 teams went 3-5 this week and that is the correction I feared was on the way, but I didn't expect it to over correct as the number usually hovers around 80% for the season. This brings the year to date +2 number to 50-15 (77%), which is now 3% lower than the expected number. Have no fear, it will jump back to 80% soon. Teams with a +1 TOX stat finished 1-2 for the week and that brings that year to date number to 15-12 overall. This stat Read more [...]

Below are the coverage stats for the Pittsburgh Steelers following their Sunday night win against the Cincinnati Bengals. While the completion percentage was very manageable at 56% and the defense did do a better job tackling after the catch. Not shown are the two passes tipped by Ziggy Hood and the interception by LaMarr Woodley that was thrown into a helmet of a Bengals lineman. These stats show quarter, down and distance and liner of scrimmage as well. The lone passing touchdown allowed was charged to Ike Taylor. Steelers Defensive Coverage Stats Versus Bengals PLAYER ATT COMP COMP Read more [...]

Week 7 of the 2012 NFL season is now in behind us and here are the final 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 Pittsburgh Steelers are getting better Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers (2-3) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (3-3) Kickoff: 8:20 p.m., ET Site: Paul Brown Stadium (65,515) • Cincinnati, Ohio Playing Surface: Synthetic TV Coverage: NBC (locally WPXI-TV, channel 11) Announcers: Al Michaels (play-by-play) Cris Collinsworth (analyst) Michele Tafoya (sideline) Local Radio: Steelers Radio Network WDVE-FM (102.5)/WBGG-AM (970) Announcers: Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play) Tunch Ilkin (analyst) Craig Wolfley (sideline) National Radio: Dial Global Sports Announcers: Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Dave Sims, James Lofton, Steve Tasker Spanish Read more [...]

The Pittsburgh Steelers face the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night and below is the play direction report for the Bengals offense and defense against both the run and the pass through their first six games. This will give you a sense of how the team is directionally and the NFL ranks are included as well. I will have my first preview up of the game later on today. 2012 Regular Season Play Direction Report for Cincinnati Bengals Rushing Offense LE LTLGM RGRT RE Plays: 17Plays: 26Plays: 17Plays: 34Plays: 23Plays: 15Plays: 14 Rank: 16Rank: 6Rank: 15Rank: 23Rank: 5Rank: 21Rank: 17 Avg: 2.18Avg: Read more [...]

Week 6 of the 2012 NFL season is in the books and here are the TOX stats for the week along with the year to date numbers for all 32 teams at the bottom. The +2 teams went 8-3 this week and that brings the year to date +2 number to 47-10 (82%), which is still 2% higher than the expected number. Both the Oakland Raiders and the St. Louis Rams lost despite having a whopping +5 TOX number. It is not surprising that both lost by only 3 points as both teams should have won their games. Teams with a +1 TOX stat finished 1-1 for the week and that brings that year to date number to 14-10 overall. You Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor and I apparently have something in common. We both love stats. Taylor has made his affection for stats known several times this season on his weekly show on Trib Live Radio and he made a point to start off his show Tuesday, which you can watch below, by rattling off some of the rankings for the Steelers defense. As much as I love stats, I accept that they can be easily cherry picked, and can more times than not lie to you. Taylor went out of his way on Tuesday to point out that the Steelers overall pass defense is ranked 3rd on ESPN.com and 4th on NFL.com. Read more [...]

Week 6 of the 2012 NFL season is now in the books and here are the final 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 Green Bay Packers, and more specifically Read more [...]

Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II said after the 2009 season that he and head coach Mike Tomlin agreed that moving forward the offense needed to run the football better. "I think Mike and I certainly agreed coming off the season that we need to run the ball more consistently to get to where we want to get to," Rooney told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back in January of 2010. "So that's part of the thinking in the offseason: We need to figure out how to get better running the football." In 2010 the offense finished the season ranked 18th in the league with a 4.08 yards per carry average Read more [...]

Below are the coverage stats for the Pittsburgh Steelers following their Thursday night loss to the Tennessee Titans. While the completion percentage was a manageable at 57%, the defense did not do a good job tackling after the catch as the Titans had 106 in YAC with 20 coming on the final completion to tight end Jared Cook with Steelers linebacker James Harrison in coverage. Not shown is the pass interference calls on Ike Taylor, which were pretty big plays to say the least. These stats show quarter, down and distance and liner of scrimmage as well. The passing touchdown allowed was charged to Read more [...]