Steelers Offensive Charting: First 13 Games

Following Alex Kozora’s lead with the defensive charting I am here to bring you some numbers about the offense.  The following data is based on our hand-done offensive charting. If there are any numbers we you’d like to see, let us know in the comments and we’ll look it up (if we track it.)

Through thirteen games the offense has been on the field for 910 plays and average of 70 plays per game.

Here is the breakdown by offensive personnel.

The Other column includes sacks, aborted plays, interceptions, scrambles and no plays.  The V32 personnel or victory formation consists of kneel downs at the end of half or game.

Over the last 5 games, there was an 8% increase in the usage of 11 personnel and 4.5% drop in 12 personnel. They have run the ball 34.7% of the time and thrown the ball 63.6%.

No Huddle – 92 snaps which is about 7 per game. There were 12 runs for 19 yards (1.58 yards per carry) and passing they were 62 of 78 for 699 net yards and 5 touchdowns. That averages 11.3 yards per completion and there were 2 sacks.

Play Action – 54 snaps with 31 completions in 53 attempts (57.4%) for 270 net yards which includes one sack for minus 10 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Motion – 140 plays with a player moving at the snap. There were 107 runs for 371 yards (3.47 yards per carry) and passing they are 21 of 30 for 91 yards (4.33 ypc) with one sack for minus 10 yards.

Quarterbacks

Ben Roethlisberger was on the field for 885 plays and was in shotgun for 710 of those plays. That is 80.2% up from 74.5% in the first half of the season. Mason Rudolph had 22 snaps with 11 in shotgun.

By Down – Roethlisberger’s passing statistics by downs

Vs Blitz – He has faced a blitz on 167 plays completing 101 of 164 passes (61.6%) for 1,099 net yards and eight touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Spreading it Around

Where do the throws go? Here is a look at Roethlisberger’s throws by direction.

Throwing deep to the left has been much more productive with 4 more completions in 24 less attempts than throwing deep right.

Running Backs

The running game has been under much scrutiny as of late and it should be with plenty of blame to go around.  In the first 8 games the Steelers ran the ball 36.6% of time. In the last five games that number has dropped to 26.5%.

Here is a look by run direction.

A narrative we often hear is Benny Snell doesn’t have the speed to run outside. Well speed helps but it’s not everything. He is averaging 6.00 per carry around the ends. Some say McFarland can’t run inside, yet behind the left tackle and left guard is averaging 5.72. Conner is best behind the right tackle with nearly 8 yards per carry.

Short Yardage

There have been 50 short yardage situations (needing 2 yards or less) this season where they have run the ball. They were successful gaining the yardage needed 31 times (62%). They have also throw the ball 40 times completing 26 (65%) to get the first down.

11 vs 6

Teams want to run the ball in advantageous situations.  The Steelers offense is most often in 11 personnel so I wanted to take a look at their play selection on first and second down when the other team has 6 or few players in the box.

In 416 opportunities the Steelers ran the ball just 136 times (32.7%). Over the last 5 games that number has dropped to 26.6 %. Against a box where at worst they will be even with 6 blockers versus 6 defenders they barely ran the ball. They averaged 4 yards per carry over the season and 3.5 in last 5 games as the running game has been less effective.

Conversely, against a box that had 7 or more defenders again on first or second down they ran the ball 24 times in 32 opportunities with 9 of those 24 runs coming inside the 5 yard line. Against a stacked box they ran the ball 75% of the time. They averaged 3.5 yards running the ball overall with that average per carry dropping to 1.56 over the last 5 games.

They need to run more versus fewer in the box and throw more with the box stacked.  Seems simple so why aren’t they doing it?

Wide Receivers

The ball gets spread around enough that the defenses can’t focus on one player. I looked at where they aligned compared to the first half of the season and they are all about the same except for James Washington.

In the first eight games he aligned more on the outside. In 255 plays he was in the slot on 87 plays (34.1%).  Over the last 5 games that number rose to 47.8% with him being used more in the slot.

Where They’re Targeted

Chase Claypool’s is targeted almost twice as much to the right side. James Washington is used primarily outside the numbers. Diontae Johnson has double digit targets in 5 of the last 6 games. The symmetry of JuJu Smith-Schuster’s targets is impressive.

Depth of Target

After seeing that JuJu Smith Schuster has produced 19 receptions for only 84 yards (4.4 yards per catch) over a recent three game stretch I wanted to take a look at the depth of the passes downfield.

A total of 159 targets at or behind the line of scrimmage and 203 total (51.1%) within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. The intermediate level is used 26.1% of the time and they throw it deep on 22.7% of attempts.

Here are the completion percentages on those targets.

Claypool gets 44% of the deep targets but completes only 20%. He also has drawn 7 defensive pass interference penalties adding 171 yards. The other receivers have combined for 17 completions in 50 deep attempts. Smith-Schuster is rarely used deep yet has 6 completions in 11 attempts.

McCloud has 16 receptions in 19 targets but 10 of those are at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Tight Ends

Well actually it’s just tight end.  Vance McDonald has only been targeted twice since week 9 and has no receptions.

Here are Ebron’s statistics based on the location of the throw.

Ebron’s production based on completion percentage and yardage is pretty consistent on all three levels.

Offensive line Snap Counts

There have been a lot of players moving in and out of the offensive line but one player persists. Alejandro Villanueva has played every snap this season.