Week 14 is now in the books and I have compiled the explosive plays and turnovers for the games this past week for our weekly look at the TOX stat. The plus 2 number went 7-2 this week with the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals being the two teams to lose. It should be noted the Bengals were seconds away from a win against the Houston Texans, but a loss, is a loss, is a loss. Year to date in head to head games the plus 2 teams are now 110-28 and the winning percentage remains at the expected 80% number. Teams with a mere positive TOX stat went 11-3 this week. Teams with a positive Read more [...]

The 2011 NFL season kicks-off tonight with the Packers hosting the Saints and it is time once again to throw out my prediction for the entire 2011 NFL standings and records. Last year I sold the Steelers short and had the Packers winning it all over the Jets and you can see that post from last year at this time here. This year I think the AFC is once again pretty cut and dry with Patriots, Steelers, Texans and Chargers winning their respective divisions with the Jets and the Ravens both earning wild card spots. The Colts are the real mystery here depending on the status of Peyton Manning. Even Read more [...]

Another day and yet another Tiki story. Last night Tom Pedulla of USA Today had a story on running back Tiki Barber and how his short list of teams that he wanted to sign with included the Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This afternoon Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune blogged that the Bucs will have no interest in signing Barber whenever free agency opens, as he doesn’t fit in with the current youth movement taking place in Tampa. Barber's agent, Mark Lepselter said on WFAN last month that two teams had shown significant interest in Barber and it is indeed looking more and more like Read more [...]

Another week and yet another story has surfaced linking former Giants running back Tiki Barber to the Steelers. The latest story by Tom Pedulla in the USA Today says Barber noted that the Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the short list of teams that Barber wants to sign with as he attempts to come back after being retired for the last four seasons. Barber's agent, Mark Lepselter, was quoted in the article as saying, "We're not looking to turn this into an auction," he says. "There are only a handful of coaches he would want to play for." The quote is to suggest that money is not the Read more [...]

The other day I posted about the Steelers and the passer rating differential stat tracked by Cold Hard Football Facts, but wanted to explore it further going back to 2002. There are two tables below that make up this study. The top table is the passer rating differential by year of each team and is colored with blue for teams that won their division that year and yellow for teams that earned a wildcard birth. The differential is determined by subtracting the defensive passer rating from the offensive passer rating. You hope your team has a positive number and the greater the number the better of Read more [...]

Draft day buzz and rumors are always fun to follow and you see even more of it these days thanks to social media. The latest buzz stems from the latest Rick Gosselin mock draft in which he has Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara falling all the way down to the #25 spot where the Seahawks pick, even though Eagles beat writer Jeff McLane says via Twitter there is no way that the Eagles would pass on the Prince at #23. Let's say for some reason that Amukamara makes it past the Buccaneers at #20, this would put the Chiefs on the clock with the #21 pick, just 10 picks ahead of the Steelers. The Read more [...]

The NFL handed out 32 compensatory draft picks for the 2011 NFL Draft that are awarded to teams that suffered a net loss of certain quality unrestricted free agents last offseason. The Steelers as expected did not receive any after receiving 3 last year. The compensatory draft picks will supplement the 221 regular picks in the regular seven rounds of the draft this April, with picks positioned within the 3rd through the 7th rounds based on the value of the free agent lost. Below are the compensatory draft picks awarded by round with overall selection in parentheses: 3 (97) Carolina Panthers 4 Read more [...]

The Steelers are going to lose another practice squad body as rookie defensive lineman Al Woods will be signed off the Steelers practice squad by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after having to place their own rookie defensive tackle Brian Price on injured reserve. By NFL rules, Woods must be signed to the Bucs 53 man roster. Woods, originally drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round, was signed to the Steelers practice squad on September 7th after he was released by the Saints after training camp. He was termed a project and expected to be groomed as a 3-4 defensive end. Earlier in the day Read more [...]

Below is the Steelers week 3 defensive participation chart versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from this past Sunday. Please comment with any discrepancies you find.

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Below is the Steelers week 3 offensive participation chart versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from this past Sunday. I have also designated where each player lined up at the snap of the ball. Example: LOWR = Left Outside Wide Receiver. RITE = Right Inside Tight End etc. The defensive chart will be up upon completion as soon as our intern finishes. I also am including snap counts by player and the formation used. Keep in mind the formation goes by where a player lined up at the snap of the ball. If Rashard Mendenhall lines up at wide receiver, I list that as a wide receiver in the formation groupings. Offensive Read more [...]

Most of Steeler Nation was upset after the 2009 preseason that Steelers running back Isaac Redman was released and jettisoned to the practice squad. Redman had a great preseason carrying the ball, but was not up to par in his conditioning or the finer details of playing the running back position. 3 games into the 2010 season and you can see now why Redman made the 2010 roster. Plain and simple, he has become a complete back. As the video of 5 clips below will show you, he not only understands the game, but his conditioning and willingness to do the little things like picking up blitzers is evident. Read more [...]

If you missed the Sports Science episode on the ESPN NFL Countdown show in which thy tested the pass rushing skills of Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley, you can view it below. John Harris has a closer look at the impact that Flozell Adams is making at right tackle thus far and how he is loosening up around his new teammates and has bought into the Steeler way. Also the Ryan Clark video he did as a Jim Rome consultant is up on the Jim Rome Facebook page. Clark makes his way around the locker room interviewing several fellow players very candidly. Although the game was blacked out in Read more [...]

Below is the play by play break down of the offensive line from the Sunday week 3 game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It is merely a pass or fail grade on if I think they did their job. It also should be noted that we go under assumptions that we know what the assignment on each play was. We have to grade on what we see and go from there. we added small notes to each play as well. As always if you disagree with any play, do so respectfully in the comments and give your reason so I can go back through and re-watch your disagreement. It should be noted that Max Starks seemed real gimpy on that Read more [...]

The Steelers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-13 in the 3rd game of the 2010 season. Below are my recap notes and nuggets I kept on the game along with my observations. I have much more coming on this game and am working through the night. These are initial reactions of mine as I am about to watch the game a second time and begin working up tape selections. Below are the notes I compiled throughout the game. remember these are initial reactions one time through the game. What can you say about Charlie Batch? As I showed you last week, he played a good game. This week the receivers caught the Read more [...]

Audio from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin post game press conference following the 2010 week 3 38-13 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday September 26th, 2010. Transcript to follow on Monday! [flv:http://ll.video.nfl.com/films/s2010/nflcom/w03/steelers_presser_w03_700k.mp4 550 345] [audio:http://www.steelersdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mike-tomlin-buccaneers-press-conference-sep-26-2010.mp3|titles=mike-tomlin-buccaneers-press-conference-sep-26-2010] Mike Tomlin: That’s a good road victory for us. We don’t take these for granted. We came into a hostile environment Read more [...]