By Alex Kozora
With the 2013 season now over for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s time to wrap a bow and review the sacks and penalties allowed by the team.
Starting with another look at the final 2013 Sack Breakdown counter.
Sacks (Season)
Kelvin Beachum: 7
Marcus Gilbert: 6
Ben Roethlisberger: 4.5
David DeCastro: 4.5
Ramon Foster: 3
Mike Adams: 3
Defensive Scheme/Coverage: 3
Guy Whimper: 2.5
Todd Haley/Bad Playcall: 1.5
LaRod Stephens-Howling: 1
Fernando Velasco: 1
Wide Receivers: 1
Felix Jones: 1
Heath Miller: 1
Cody Wallace: 1
Isaac Redman: .5
Le’Veon Bell: .5
Those are the numbers we’ve followed along all season. Some other food for thought.
A quick look at the week-by-week sacks given up with links to eack of the post.
Week 12: 0
Week 13: 0
Week 17: 1
A total of 42. 35 of which that came in the first ten weeks compared to just seven over the last seven. From that aspect, it’s encouraging.
To break it down a little bit further, the number of blockers and rushers on the sacks allowed for the year. Number of Steelers’ blockers on the left and the number of rushers on the right below.
Five vs Four: 11
Six vs Five: 9
Five + block/release vs Four: 7
Six Block vs Four: 4
Six vs Six: 4
Seven vs Six: 2
Eight Block vs Eight rushing: 1
Seven vs Five: 1
Five vs Six: 1
Eight vs Five: 1
Six + block/release vs five: 1
An amazing 36 sacks occurred despite the Steelers keeping in more blockers than what was rushed. A troubling statistic.
One area I’ve kept an eye on all season long are the Steelers issue in picking up simple T/E (tackle/end) stunts. A quick count shows that eight sacks were the result of mental lapses in picking up simple defensive stunts. This doesn’t even count the sacks where the stunt was picked up and the lineman was still beat. Nearly 20% of the team’s sacks that were pure mental errors. Even more troubling.
To end, a quick look at penalties allowed by the lineman.
Penalties (Season)
Marcus Gilbert – 7 (4 false start , 1 trip, 1 hold, 1 illegal formation)
Kelvin Beachum – 4 (3 hold, 1 false start)
Guy Whimper – 2 (1 hold, 1 false start)
Mike Adams – 2 (1 hold, 1 personal foul/hands to the face)
Cody Wallace – 2 (1 false start, 1 personal foul)
Ramon Foster – 1 (1 hold)
Fernando Velasco – 1 (Illegal block below waist)
David DeCastro – 1 (false start)
And a week-by-week breakdown of penalties.
Week 1: 0
Week 2: 1
Week 3: 1
Week 4: 1
Week 6: 5
Week 7: 1
Week 8: 0
Week 9: 2
Week 10: 0
Week 11: 3
Week 12: 1
Week 13: 2
Week 14: 1
Week 15: 1
Week: 16: 1
Week 17: 0
Just a total of 20 infractions, or an average of 1.18 per game. Lot of credit to Foster, Velasco, and DeCastro who all played well over 700 snaps and had just one penalty.
It’s a stat that is not relative to anything so impossible to say how it ranks among the league but you have to figure it’s one of the better numbers. A big reason why the team was one of the least penalized in the league (80 – tied for 5th best).
