We are at the third-quarter poll when it comes to the 2016 regular season. That means we are painting a broader and more detailed picture of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ year as it pertains to how they have conducted themselves on offense and defense. I, of course, have been handling the offense, so here is a look at the year to date from that side of the ball.
- Personnel formations
- 01: 9/822 (1.1%)
- 11: 504/822 (61.3%)
- 12: 131/822 (15.9%)
- 13: 77/822 (9.4%)
- 14: 1/822 (.1%)
- 20: 3/822 (.4%)
- 21: 42/822 (5.1%)
- 22: 43/822 (5.2%)
- 23: 2/822 (.2%)
- 31: 1/822 (.1%)
- 10 men: 1/822 (.1%)
- V-22/32: 8/822 (9.7%)
- As you can see, there are some clear overarching trends here. The Steelers ran with three receivers on the field roughly 60 percent of the time. I’m willing to wager that that that is toward the bottom of the league.
- A good chunk of snaps—a little more than half of the number of snaps from 11 personnel—came with multiple tight ends on the field, just a bit over 30 percent of their total snaps. We have seen that percentage on the rise in recent weeks, as has the looks with multiple backs.
- We do have to dig into the 2X personnel looks, though, because that has seen a bit of an evolution. 26 of those snaps came with two halfbacks on the field, and that often came with Le’Veon Bell split as a wide receiver. In fact, that was the case on all but one snap.
- Veteran lineman Chris Hubbard has played over 250 snaps this year. He has logged time at center, tight tackle, and tight end.
- As for Bell, he has logged 110 snaps thus far this season as a wide receiver out of just under 600 snaps. He has been on the field for 367 designed pass plays. 89 of those snaps came with him as a wide receiver, so on designed passing plays, he has functioned as a wide receiver almost 25 percent of the time. Overall, he has played 594 of 617 possible snaps, or over 96 percent.
- 25 of Ladarius Green’s 89 snaps have also come lined up as a wide receiver. He has functioned as a wide receiver on about 40 percent of the passing snaps that he has played.
- No huddle? Not so much. The Steelers have used the no-huddle on just 156 snaps this year, which is less than 19 percent of the total.
- Play-action? Not much of that either. Just 55 passing plays have incorporated play-action this season, out of 510 opportunities. That is lower than 11 percent. On their 55 play-action passing plays, they have gained an average of 11 net yards per play with three touchdowns.
- The offense has faced a blitz 106 times this year, or close to 21 percent of all passing plays. Those plays have produced a net yardage average of 7.7 yards per play.
- Average depth of target: 9.22
- Antonio Brown – 10.8 (127 targets – Roethlisberger); 9.6 (11 targets – Jones)
- Sammie Coates – 21 (44 targets – Roethlisberger); -3 (2 targets – Jones)
- Eli Rogers – 9.6 (48 targets – Roethlisberger)
- Darrius Heyward-Bey – 25.8 (8 targets – Roethlisberger); 1.1 (9 targets – Jones)
- Cobi Hamilton – 10.1 (16 targets – Roethlisberger); 6 (6 targets – Jones)
- Markus Wheaton – 15.5 (10 targets – Roethlisberger)
- Le’Veon Bell – 0 (65 targets – Roethlisberger); 6.4 (13 targets – Jones)
- Fitzgerald Toussaint – 1 (2 targets – Roethlisberger)
- DeAngelo Williams – -.5 (23 targets – Roethlisberger)
- Jesse James – 5.6 (49 targets – Roethlisberger); 6 (3 targets – Jones)
- David Johnson – 5.3 (8 targets – Roethlisberger); 2.5 (2 targets – Jones)
- Xavier Grimble – 6 (14 – Roethlisberger); 2.6 (5 targets – Jones)
- Ladarius Green – 13.5 (21 targets – Roethlisberger)
