I won’t deny that it’s a little more enjoyable to talk about Pittsburgh Steelers games and charting notes after they win, rather than after they lose. It’s been a while since we have gotten the chance to talk charting notes from a victory, but the Steelers finally changed that after they beat the Browns on Sunday. And as a bonus, they even managed to produce some interesting tidbits on the offensive side of the ball to discuss.
- Personnel formations:
- 11: 33/71 (46.5%)
- 12: 18/71 (25.4%)
- 13: 11/71 (15.5%)
- 21: 6/71 (8.5%)
- 22: 3/71 (4.2%)
- As you can see, the Steelers really limited themselves with the 11 personnel this week, and this is in contrast to last week, when they had the same personnel available. This was an instance in which they chose to run more tight end- or running back-heavy looks.
- I do believe this is the first time all season in which the team spent the majority of the game with additional tight ends or running backs on the field. They clearly went into Cleveland with a plan. And it wasn’t just a late-game thing. 20 of their first 32 plays came out of run-heavy looks.
- In order to achieve this, they used a variety of options. Chris Hubbard was used as an extra lineman over a dozen times, which I believe accounts for all of the 13 personnel looks. They even used a fullback a number of times—including using Jesse James there a few snaps.
- The Steelers barely used the no-huddle at all. Two plays. They used play-action five times.
- Neither Le’Veon Bell nor Antonio Brown ever came off the field. Jesse James only missed one snaps, and Ladarius Green was the tight end on the one snap he did not play.
- Speaking of Green, the Steelers reportedly had him on a pitch count, which limited him to nine snaps, one of which was a pre-snap penalty. But it is worth noting that they actually lined him up as a wide receiver on five of those plays. He did not align as a receiver on any of his snaps last week. All of his snaps have come on passing plays.
- This shouldn’t be much of a surprise given the limited number of wide receivers they are working with, plus the relatively low number of three-receiver sets they ran out of, but Eli Rogers probably doubled the total number of snaps he previously had from two-receiver sets Sunday when 12 of his snaps came from such formations.
- Only 10 of Bell’s snaps came as a wide receiver. That’s actually a relatively low number at this point. He was also the only player to drop a pass for the Steelers.
- Average depth of target – 7
- Antonio Brown – 11 (12 targets)
- Cobi Hamilton – 6.8 (5 targets)
- Eli Rogers – 7.5 (6 targets)
- Le’Veon Bell – -1.2 (9 targets)
- Jesse James – 7.25 (4 targets)
- David Johnson – 7.5 (2 targets)
- Ladarius Green – 18 (2 targets)
