It’s that time again. Time to have some fun with numbers. And it’s always more fun when it comes after a win, or more specifically, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fourth consecutive win, most recently against the Bills. And as you’ll see below, and perhaps have already guessed, there were definitely some interesting trends that we saw throughout the game.
- Personnel formations:
- 11: 29/77 (37.7%)
- 12: 10/77 (13%)
- 13: 13/77 (16.9%)
- 21: 4/77 (5.2%)
- 22: 18/77 (23.4%)
- V-32: 3/77 (3.9%)
- As you can see, while the 11 personnel package was still the most frequently-used of the groupings, the Steeler used it substantially less often than normal. This is the first time all season that its usage has dipped below 40 percent—probably the first time it has been below 45 percent.
- The use of multiple tight ends, however, was the story of the game, as, excluding the final kneel down downs, the offense executed with at least two of the field on 41 of their 74 snaps, or over 55 percent of their total meaningful offensive snaps.
- It’s interesting that they rarely make use of the fullback position in and of itself. The vast majority of the time, when a fullback is on the field, there is only one wide receiver on the field as well, going with an extra tight end instead.
- For all but one relevant snap, the third blocker, so to speak, was Chris Hubbard. He was involved in all 18 of the Steelers’ 22-personnel snaps, and all but one of the 13 snaps from the 13 personnel. His 30 snaps played is a season-high for him when not in the starting lineup.
- As I wrote about previously, so I won’t got into too much detail here, suffice it to say that there was a start contrast between the run-pass ratio and the number of wide receivers on the field between the first and second halves. Anybody who watched the game knows which half more heavily favored the running game and their corresponding personnel looks.
- Running back Le’Veon Bell got only one snap off until the final three kneel downs, and that came after four consecutive carries, the final one being a 33-yard run. He is a true workhorse back that can do everything asked of the position.
- The Steelers started out the game roughly rotating between Ladarius Green, who played all of the first drive, and Jesse James, who played all of the second. They mixed and matched until the end of the first half, during which Green played in the end-of-half uptempo offense.
- But he barely played in the second half. James logged 29 meaningful snaps in the second half, while Green had three. I’m sure that says something about how they feel about his run-blocking ability right now. one of those snaps was a pre-snap penalty and the other two were pass attempts.
- The Steelers used play-action five times. It led to two interceptions, but also completions of 9, 14, and 29 yards, the former two converting third-down attempts.
- Average depth of target – 9.6
- Antonio Brown – 16.4 (11 targets)
- Eli Rogers – 2 (3 targets)
- Cobi Hamilton – 5 (2 targets)
- Ladarius Green – 12.5 (6 targets)
- Jesse James – 11 (3 targets)
- David Johnson – -1 (1 target)
- Le’Veon Bell – -1 (5 targets)
