While he certainly hasn’t caught everything that has been thrown his way so far this season, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Sammie Coates has managed to register 19 receptions for 421 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first fives games.
Coates, by the way, currently leads the NFL with a 22.2 yards per catch average and that is the third-best average all-time by a Steelers wide receiver through Week 5 of a season.
Coates has managed to get that lofty average by catching several deep passes from Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and has registered at least one reception of more 41 yards or more in each of the team’s first five games.
I compiled a passing chart of Coates’ targets so far this season for you and as you can see below, his deep sweet spot is down the right side of the field. In fact, 11 of his 19 receptions have come on the right side of the field outside of the numbers with 3 of those being quick screen passes.
While Coates is slowly establishing himself as one of the league’s top deep threats, he’s also starting to show that he can also function as a medium range pass catcher as well as 7 of his catches so far this season have come between 5 and 13 yards past the original line of scrimmage.
While the chart below doesn’t show it, 9 of Coates’ receptions this season have also come on 3rd downs
Moving forward, Coates just needs to start fine-tuning his game as not only has he slowed down on a few passes that were intended for him, he’s also had his share of drops, several of which happened on Sunday in the game against the New York Jets.
Legend:
Blue = Completed Pass
Red = Incompleted Pass
White – Intercepted Pass
Yellow = Pass Intended But caught By Another Player
