It’s always so much more enjoyable to write about the Pittsburgh Steelers after a win. And it’s definitely much more enjoyable interacting with the rest of the fan base, even if they can still be a bit gloomy (or we, I should say, though I try not to be gloomy).
The Steelers never managed to actually put the game away, needing a James Harrison sack to close things out during a potential game-winning drive with not much more than a minute left, but if you look at per-snap efficiency, the offense ran—literally ran—awfully well, outside of some drive-killing exceptions.
- Personnel groupings:
- 11: 37/64 (57.8%)
- 12: 10 (15.6%)
- 21: 3 (4.7%)
- 22: 12 (18.8%)
- V-32: 2 (3.1%)
- What? Under 60-percent usage of three or more wide receivers on the field? I wasn’t even sure if that was still possible. It was the first time that that even came close to happening this season, and I’m not sure that it happened more than once or twice a year ago.
- As you can see, fullback Roosevelt Nix got himself some work, playing almost a quarter of the team’s meaningful snaps, 15 of 62 when you take out the victory formation snaps—though technically he did play them too, so it’s 17 of 64.
- Excluding the victory formation snaps, the Steelers averaged 6.3 yards per play when he was on the field. That includes a net loss of six yards on one play when JuJu Smith-Schuster was called for a hold. Outside of that play, they averaged 7.1 yards.
- Tight end Vance McDonald also received substantial work, playing 29 of 62 meaningful snaps, eight of them coming as the lone tight end on the field. The Steelers averaged 6.6 yards per play when he was on the field.
- If Martavis Bryant had complaints about his playing time entering this game, then he didn’t feel any better exiting it, as he played just 32 snaps, exactly half of the total. McDonald almost outsnapped him.
- Of course, as Alex noted yesterday, that didn’t stop him from being a contributor, showing effort as a blocker, and I saw nothing in his body language that exhibited checking out.
- On 35 running plays, the Steelers faced an average of 7.3 men in the box. I have them facing seven or fewer 20 times, averaging 5.45 yards per rush, with 15 runs against eight or nine, averaging 5.13 yards per rush.
- The Steelers averaged 8.3 yards per carry when David DeCastro
- Both JuJu Smith-Schuster and Jesse James got a snap apiece lined up as a halfback.
- Average depth of target – 9.7 (26 targets; 25 official)
- Vance McDonald – 26 (2 targets)
- Antonio Brown – 11 (10 targets)
- Jesse James – 21 (1 target; 0 official)
- Le’Veon Bell – 4.3 (6 targets)
- JuJu Smith–Schuster – 5 (3 targets)
- Martavis Bryant – 9 (3 targets)
