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 times in total on 3rd downs and those 26 catches compute to a 67% completion percentage. Not bad at all.
3rd down certainly is the money down, but Brown has been able to move the chains on all downs as well. 52 of 63 catches have resulted in either a 1st down or a touchdown. He averages 16.2 yards per catch and 9.1 yards per target. When you add in his 989 return yards, you can certainly see why Brown should not be a total surprise to win the MVP award.
3rd Down Stats For Antonio Brown
| 3RD & YTD | TARG | REC | YDS | 1ST | COMP % | YPC | YPA | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 3-7 | 16 | 12 | 154 | 12 | 75% | 12.8 | 9.6 | 1 |
| 8-10 | 11 | 6 | 104 | 5 | 55% | 17.3 | 9.5 | 0 |
| 11+ | 11 | 8 | 155 | 6 | 73% | 19.4 | 14.1 | 0 |
| 1-5 | 11 | 7 | 88 | 7 | 64% | 12.6 | 8.0 | 1 |
| 6+ | 28 | 19 | 325 | 16 | 68% | 17.1 | 11.6 | 0 |
