After taking a closer look at the redzone woes of the Steelers yesterday and measuring by successful plays, I wanted to dig even further into the red zone running stats of not only the Steelers, but how they matched up against the other 31 teams as well.
The numbers below are for running backs and fullbacks only that carried the ball inside the red zone during the 2010 regular season. Below is the heading description for each column in the table.
PLY – Number of total running plays by a running back or fullback in the red zone.
YDS – Total combined rushing yards by a running back or fullback in the red zone.
YPC – Yards per carry by a running back or fullback in the red zone.
S – Number of stuffed runs for no gain or that lost yardage
S% – Stuffed percentage of total running plays in the redzone.
4-G PLY – Number of total running plays by a running back or fullback from 4 yards and in.
4-G YDS – Total combined rushing yards by a running back or fullback from 4 yards and in.
4-G YPC – Yards per carry by a running back or fullback from 4 yards and in.
4-G S – Number of stuffed runs for no gain or that lost yardage from 4 yards and in.
4-G S % – Stuffed percentage of total running plays from 4 yards and in.
4-G TD – Number of rushing touchdowns by either a running back or fullback from 4 yards and in.
20-5 PLY – Number of total running plays by a running back or fullback from 5 yards and out.
20-5 YDS – Total combined rushing yards by a running back or fullback from 5 yards and out.
20-5 YPC – Yards per carry by a running back or fullback from 5 yards and out.
20-5 S – Number of stuffed runs for no gain or that lost yardage from 5 yards and out.
20-5 S% – Stuffed percentage of total running plays from 5 yards and out.
20-5 TD – Number of rushing touchdowns by either a running back or fullback from 5 yards and out.
What sticks out at you first is obviously the default sort which is the total yards per carry by all running plays by a running back or fullback in the red zone. The Steelers were last in the league with a 1.76 average and the Packers were second to last with a 1.80 average. I do not need to tell you that these two just played in Super Bowl just a short while ago. Just goes to show you do not have to run the ball well in the redzone when you have defenses like both these two teams had and great quarterbacks in addition.
Next up that I found interesting was the total stuffs percent column. The Steelers were stopped for no gain or negative yardage on 30% of their 66 red zone running plays by a running back ball carrier. On running plays from the 20 to the 5 yard line inside the redzone, the Steelers were stuffed a league worst 29% on 42 running plays in this area of the field. The Packers on the other hand were just stuffed 14% of the time in this area of the field, but also only had a running back or fullback carry it 28 times in this part of the field. Pretty amazing as that is not even 2 times a game average running the ball in that area.
It is no secret that most teams choose to run when on the 4 yard-line and in. The Steelers were no different as they ran 24 times. The chart does not show it, but the Steelers only ran 4 pass plays from the 4 yard-line and in during the regular season and 3 of those 4 came in the final game against the Browns. One each by Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich and Antwaan Randle El. If you want to say offensive coordinaor Bruce Arians is predictable anywhere on the field, it is in this area. However, the Steelers scored 9 touchdowns on those 24 carries.
I broke down the offensive line play every week during the 2010 regular season and can attest to the offensive line having it\’s ups and downs. The stuffs clearly show the problems they had getting things blocked when running in the red zone and this is part of the reason the red zone touchdown percentage was not where it should of been. The offensive line was consistently in flux in 2010 and I suspect these numbers will be better in 2011. Can they get worse? I don\’t think so.
| TEAM | PS | YDS | YPC | S | S% | 4-G PS | 4-G YDS | 4-G YPC | 4-G S | 4-G S % | 4-G TD | 20-5 P | 20-5 YDS | 20-5 YPC | 20-5 S | 20-5 S % | 20-5 TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NE | 79 | 278 | 3.52 | 13 | 16% | 15 | 17 | 1.13 | 5 | 33% | 8 | 64 | 261 | 4.08 | 8 | 13% | 6 |
| PHI | 46 | 154 | 3.35 | 8 | 17% | 5 | 14 | 2.80 | 0 | 0% | 2 | 41 | 140 | 3.41 | 8 | 20% | 2 |
| JAC | 59 | 196 | 3.32 | 14 | 24% | 12 | 9 | 0.75 | 4 | 33% | 4 | 47 | 187 | 3.98 | 10 | 21% | 3 |
| NYJ | 53 | 176 | 3.32 | 6 | 11% | 8 | 11 | 1.38 | 2 | 25% | 5 | 45 | 165 | 3.67 | 4 | 9% | 2 |
| DET | 36 | 109 | 3.03 | 5 | 14% | 7 | 10 | 1.43 | 1 | 14% | 4 | 29 | 99 | 3.41 | 4 | 14% | 5 |
| IND | 66 | 197 | 2.98 | 13 | 20% | 17 | 15 | 0.88 | 5 | 29% | 7 | 49 | 182 | 3.71 | 8 | 16% | 5 |
| SD | 72 | 209 | 2.90 | 17 | 24% | 23 | 21 | 0.91 | 9 | 39% | 9 | 49 | 188 | 3.84 | 8 | 16% | 6 |
| BAL | 85 | 243 | 2.86 | 15 | 18% | 14 | 7 | 0.50 | 6 | 43% | 6 | 71 | 236 | 3.32 | 9 | 13% | 3 |
| KC | 68 | 193 | 2.84 | 14 | 21% | 17 | 22 | 1.29 | 6 | 35% | 9 | 51 | 171 | 3.35 | 8 | 16% | 2 |
| MIA | 51 | 144 | 2.82 | 9 | 18% | 7 | 8 | 1.14 | 1 | 14% | 5 | 44 | 136 | 3.09 | 8 | 18% | 2 |
| BUF | 42 | 116 | 2.76 | 7 | 17% | 8 | 13 | 1.63 | 1 | 13% | 4 | 34 | 103 | 3.03 | 6 | 18% | 1 |
| NYG | 74 | 201 | 2.72 | 17 | 23% | 17 | 19 | 1.12 | 5 | 29% | 9 | 57 | 182 | 3.19 | 12 | 21% | 4 |
| TEN | 58 | 155 | 2.67 | 12 | 21% | 17 | 7 | 0.41 | 8 | 47% | 5 | 41 | 148 | 3.61 | 4 | 10% | 5 |
| WAS | 61 | 158 | 2.59 | 19 | 31% | 15 | 9 | 0.60 | 7 | 47% | 5 | 46 | 149 | 3.24 | 12 | 26% | 3 |
| CLE | 46 | 119 | 2.59 | 11 | 24% | 10 | 15 | 1.50 | 1 | 10% | 5 | 36 | 104 | 2.89 | 10 | 28% | 5 |
| CIN | 72 | 186 | 2.58 | 19 | 26% | 18 | 11 | 0.61 | 8 | 44% | 6 | 54 | 175 | 3.24 | 11 | 20% | 2 |
| TB | 48 | 124 | 2.58 | 13 | 27% | 14 | 5 | 0.36 | 8 | 57% | 3 | 34 | 119 | 3.50 | 5 | 15% | 4 |
| HOU | 90 | 232 | 2.58 | 18 | 20% | 21 | 13 | 0.62 | 6 | 29% | 11 | 69 | 219 | 3.17 | 12 | 17% | 3 |
| DAL | 67 | 171 | 2.55 | 22 | 33% | 27 | 22 | 0.81 | 13 | 48% | 6 | 40 | 149 | 3.73 | 9 | 23% | 1 |
| ARI | 39 | 98 | 2.51 | 8 | 21% | 9 | 7 | 0.78 | 2 | 22% | 4 | 30 | 91 | 3.03 | 6 | 20% | 1 |
| CAR | 43 | 107 | 2.49 | 8 | 19% | 8 | 11 | 1.38 | 1 | 13% | 3 | 35 | 96 | 2.74 | 7 | 20% | 2 |
| ATL | 92 | 214 | 2.33 | 29 | 32% | 25 | 15 | 0.60 | 12 | 48% | 10 | 67 | 199 | 2.97 | 17 | 25% | 3 |
| OAK | 64 | 148 | 2.31 | 16 | 25% | 18 | 29 | 1.61 | 5 | 28% | 10 | 46 | 119 | 2.59 | 11 | 24% | 2 |
| CHI | 58 | 132 | 2.28 | 21 | 36% | 17 | 8 | 0.47 | 10 | 59% | 4 | 41 | 124 | 3.02 | 11 | 27% | 3 |
| MIN | 58 | 130 | 2.24 | 14 | 24% | 16 | 17 | 1.06 | 5 | 31% | 8 | 42 | 113 | 2.69 | 9 | 21% | 3 |
| SF | 53 | 115 | 2.17 | 17 | 32% | 15 | 12 | 0.80 | 7 | 47% | 5 | 38 | 103 | 2.71 | 10 | 26% | 4 |
| NO | 74 | 153 | 2.07 | 19 | 26% | 21 | 5 | 0.24 | 9 | 43% | 7 | 53 | 148 | 2.79 | 10 | 19% | 1 |
| DEN | 40 | 79 | 1.98 | 13 | 33% | 16 | 10 | 0.63 | 9 | 56% | 6 | 24 | 69 | 2.88 | 4 | 17% | 1 |
| SEA | 62 | 118 | 1.90 | 20 | 32% | 22 | 8 | 0.36 | 11 | 50% | 6 | 40 | 110 | 2.75 | 9 | 23% | 2 |
| STL | 61 | 115 | 1.89 | 18 | 30% | 11 | -6 | -0.55 | 8 | 73% | 2 | 50 | 121 | 2.42 | 10 | 20% | 4 |
| GB | 45 | 81 | 1.80 | 14 | 31% | 17 | 5 | 0.29 | 10 | 59% | 6 | 28 | 76 | 2.71 | 4 | 14% | 1 |
| PIT | 66 | 116 | 1.76 | 20 | 30% | 24 | 20 | 0.83 | 8 | 33% | 9 | 42 | 96 | 2.29 | 12 | 29% | 2 |
