As Alex Kozora did for the defense, I will do for the offense, using our charting from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ games to provide notes and insight into how the team is conducting the offense either in a specific game or over a given period of time.
- The first game against Washington obviously provided some surprises given the fact that this is the first game of the year with a full game-plan, in which a lot of things are revealed for the first time, but one thing that didn’t change is the fact that the Steelers predominantly used three wide receivers.
- The personnel groupings broke down like this based on usage:
- 11 (3WR, 1RB, 1TE): 65% (44/68)
- 12 (2WR, 1RB, 2TE): 16% (11/68)
- 13 (1WR, 1RB, 3TE): 15% (10/68)
- 01 (4WR, 0RB, 1TE): 3% (2/68)
- V-32 (aka victory formation: 1% (1/68)
- It is interesting to note that the Steelers used multiple-tight-end sets over 30 percent of the time during the game, which I wrote about yesterday, yet they still used extra wide receivers on 68 percent of their plays. This can be attributable to the absence of fullback Roosevelt Nix, as evidenced by the lack of multiple-back sets (of the 2X form).
- Ben Roethlisberger was six-for-seven on targets 15 yards or more down the field for 150 yards and two touchdowns, averaging over 21 yards per attempt.
- On 27 attempts with a pass distances of under 10 yards, he was 19-of-27 with a touchdown and an interception for 123 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt.
- Average depth of target: 6.5 yards.
- Average depth of target by receiver:
- Antonio Brown: 13.1 (11 targets)
- Eli Rogers: 4.7 (7 targets)
- Sammie Coates: 14 (3 targets)
- Jesse James: 5.6 (7 targets)
- DeAngelo Williams: -1.7 (9 targets)
- The Steelers actually utilized play action on six of their 37 pass attempts, a usage rate of about 16 percent. This is more than they typically have used it in the past few years, closer to around 10 percent, among the lowest in the league.
- Of those six pass attempts, three were completed for a total of 56 yards and a touchdown, averaging 9.3 yards per attempt.
- The offense ran out of the no-huddle on 24 of 68 snaps, about 35 percent of the time, below what the preseason would have predicted.
- The offense came out using it early, but struggled through their first two drives. They abandoned it for a bit opening their third drive with multiple tight ends to settle down.
- The Steelers’ receiver produced 107 yards after the catch on 27 receptions, averaging just under four yards per catch. This total includes seven pass attempts thrown behind the line of scrimmage for -23 yards.
- I have down four passing targets that I deemed drops, one each for Antonio Brown and Sammie Coates, both on screen passes, and two for DeAngelo Williams. One was a high pass and the other was a shovel pass that he should have been prepared for.
- Of Jesse James’ 68 snaps during the game, he lined up as a wide receiver 11 times. 38 were designed pass attempts, meaning that he lined up as a wide receiver on 29 percent of the Steelers’ passing plays. Ladarius Green did so last year nearly two-thirds of the time.
