Post-Bye Charting Data Cornerback Comparison

I wrote an article yesterday that…let’s say didn’t go over too well with some people, so I thought some clarification might be in order. For starters, I want to make it clear that the aforementioned article was far from intended as a hit piece about second-year Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Artie Burns, nor was it intended to cast doubt on his future success.

In truth, he did have a good rookie season, even if it required the team to simplify their coverages in order to mask some of his ‘rookie’ deficiencies. While he definitely needs to clean up his tackling and his angles, and learn to read his receiver better when it comes to pulling double moves, he played above the expectations that most set for him, and for that he should be commended.

There’s also no reason that he shouldn’t be expected to continue to grow. But I also don’t want to look back at his rookie season through rose-colored glasses, especially as it relates to one particular narrative that I tried to bring attention to, which was building up Burns while tearing down Ross Cockrell. There was a false notion that quarterbacks began to avoid throwing in his direction that doesn’t mesh with reality.

To that end, I want to bring some data to the table, using our own charting over the course of the season. Alex Kozora was the one responsible for charting the team’s defensive snaps, as you probably know, while I handled the offensive snaps, so credit for the labor here goes to him.

Alex included in his charting a ‘target’ category for some, but not all, passing plays. He did so very conservatively only when it was readily identifiable who had a specific coverage, and that it wasn’t simply a hole in a designed zone.

For example, we charted over 1000 total defensive snaps during the regular season, but we marked just 160 or so targets, while the Steelers officially faced nearly 600 pass attempts. I want to put that into perspective before presenting the data.

Below, however, I want to offer a side-by-side comparison of the targets and the results of those targets for both Burns and Cockrell after the former entered the starting lineup through the end of the regular season. You can look at the data and take from it what you want, but I will say that one thing that is clearly untrue is that teams avoided Burns in favor of Cockrell as the regular season evolved.