Charting this week took a little longer for me this week than it usually does, so I’m bringing to you Sunday’s offensive charting notes late in the process, but it’s better late than never. The Pittsburgh Steelers struggled as an offense against the Dolphins, but especially so after Ben Roethlisberger suffered a knee injury.
- Offensive personnel packages:
- 11: 38/56 (67.9%)
- 12: 5/56 (8.9%)
- 13: 3/56 (5.4%)
- 21: 4/56 (7.1%)
- 22: 5/56 (8.9%)
- V-22: 1/56 (1.8%)
- As you can see, the Steelers ticked up their usage of the 11 personnel, which has been a pattern in the games in which they have been losing, for obvious reasons. Multiple-tight end sets came in a variety of looks, and three different players were used as an extra back.
- Prior to his injury, Roethlisberger was taking the ball mostly from under center. When he returned in the second half, he worked exclusively out of the shotgun.
- The Steelers also used the no-huddle offense dramatically more when Roethlisberger returned in the second half, and you can bet that that had in mind helping to protect him by keeping the defense winded. 14 of their 29 offensive snaps in the second half, compared to zero in the first, came out of the no-huddle.
- In spite of the fact that he only got 16 touches, Le’Veon Bell was on the field for 54 of 56 snaps. He and DeAngelo Williams lined up on the field together five times, though never in the backfield together.
- Likewise, tight end Jesse James was on the field for all but three snaps, but yet again, it was Xavier Grimble who was on the field as the lone tight end, out of the 11 formation, on each snap.
- In his first game back, Eli Rogers did not see a lot of time early in the game, even in three-receiver sets. He played just nine snaps in the first half, but 21 in the second half.
- Likewise, Sammie Coates was pretty inactive for most of the game, but he saw almost all of his snaps in the third quarter and the early minutes of the fourth.
- Play-action passing was unsuccessful, with Roethlisberger going 1-for-3 with an interception for 12 yards.
- The Dolphins’ blitzes were successful, however, as Roethlisberger was held to 2-for-7 passing for 18 yards, plus a sack.
- Average depth of target: 8.91
- Antonio Brown: 12.38 (8 targets)
- Eli Rogers: 6.4 (5 targets)
- Sammie Coates: 17.5 (4 targets)
- Cobi Hamilton: 16 (2 targets)
- Darrius Heyward-Bey: 25 (2 targets)
- Le’Veon Bell: -.71 (7 targets)
- Jesse James: .67 (3 targets)
- David Johnson: 8 (1 target)
- Xavier Grimble: 13.5 (2 targets)
- Bonus trivia: the tackler following both of Ben Roethlisberger’s interceptions was Jesse James.
- Incredibly, the Steelers only ran a total of 11 plays inside of Miami territory, while running 44 plays on their own side of the field.
- The only ‘play’ that the Steelers ran from inside the red zone was the two-point conversion attempt, which does not register as a play. Their two touchdowns both came on explosive plays, so they were never in the red zone.
