The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off their third victory in a row after posting their second blowout victory over the course of the past three games, defeating the Cleveland Browns by a score of 33-18, of which the offense contributed 31, the defense chipping in a safety. They did so through a balanced attack that featured a lot of heavy personnel.
- Personnel groupings:
- 01: 2/73 (2.8%)
- 11: 55/73 (75.3%)
- 12: 2/73 (2.8%)
- 13: 4/73 (5.5%)
- 22: 9/73 (12.3%)
- V-32: 1/73 (1.4%)
- Or so it seemed, didn’t it? Turns out, the Steelers actually had one of their highest totals of the season, and of the past couple of seasons in fact, of utilizing three or more receivers on the field. on Sunday, they played 57 out of 72 meaningful snaps lined up in either three- or four-receiver personnel, which is just under 80 percent of the time.
- Why? Because they had success running the ball out of 11 personnel. On 23 carries, they racked up 157 yards on the ground as well as two touchdowns, averaging 6.8 yards per rush while still having three wide receivers on the field.
- 14 of those 23 plays were successful for the offense for an impressive 61 percent. If you can produce a successful play on the ground with three receivers on the field 60 percent of the time, you’re doing something right, and might as well stick to it.
- One of the observations I noted early on was that Vance McDonald was only on the field for seven of the team’s 30 runs, but seeing how much of it came from the 11 makes more sense now.
- As you might have noticed, the Steelers are starting to phase out the 01 personnel package, but that doesn’t mean Ryan Switzer isn’t playing. He actually played 20 snaps against the Browns, which I believe is a season-high. That’s what happens when you don’t have an established number three receiver.
- The Steelers are legitimately a three-tight end offense, as they continue to give Xavier Grimble He has become their primary tight end when they go to their 22 personnel package with a tackle-eligible. Of the 11 snaps that Chukwuma Okorafor played, Grimble was on the field for 10 of them.
- Play action was a decent presence in the game, accounting for six of 38 dropbacks, over 15 percent. It averaged 6.8 yards per attempt with five completions—one for a loss and another for no gain.
- The Ravens blitzed over 25 percent of the time, which proved to be hit or miss. While they only averaged 5.6 yards per play, that includes a one-yard touchdown. They only blitzed twice on third down, one resulting in an incompletion, they other a 15-yarder on third and 11.
- Average depth of target: 8.3 (37 targets; 36 official)
- Vance McDonald: 9.3 (3 targets)
- Antonio Brown: 14.1 (8 targets)
- Jesse James: 2 (3 targets)
- James Conner: -.17 (6 targets)
- Stevan Ridley: 1 (2 targets)
- JuJu Smith–Schuster: 10.7 (7 targets; 6 official)
- Justin Hunter: 18.3 (4 targets)
- Ryan Switzer: 6 (1 target)
