Taking one last look at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 preseason, I’ve gone through my weekly charting and wanted to pass along a couple of notable notes from the Steelers’ offense. This won’t be as expansive as what we do during the regular season and will focus more on the individual than the collective Steelers’ offense. This is out of 193 offensive snaps.
Quarterbacks
– Overall, the quarterbacks lined up in shotgun 73% of the time and under center 27% of the time..
– Just one snap was in the pistol formation and that was with Kenny Pickett in the game
– Mason Rudolph threw 26 of his 43 passes outside the right hash (60%). Mitchell Trubisky attempted 26 of his 38 outside the left hash (68%). Pickett was the most balanced with 15 outside to the left hash (38%) and 19 outside the right hash (49%).
– Rudolph used thirteen different targets with his favorite being Tyler Vaughns.
– Pickett attempted throws to 16 different receivers with Vaughns also being his favorite.
– Trubisky used 12 different receivers with George Pickens being the most often.
– Trubisky also led the way in deep throw percentage with 31.5% of his passes going at least 15 yards down field. Rudolph was next at 16.7% and Pickett had just five deep throws for 13.5%.
Running Backs
– Jaylen Warren led the way in snap count with 63 followed by Anthony McFarland (39), Najee Harris (31), Benny Snell (27) and Mataeo Durant (19).
– McFarland led the way with 63 yards rushing and 5.72 yards per carry with most of that coming in the first preseason game.
– Warren had the most carries (16) and averaged 3.0 yards per carry. He led the running backs with 7 receptions for 54 yards.
– McFarland has the longest run by a running back at 24 yards.
Wide Receivers
– Ten wide receivers logged snaps in the preseason with Gunner Olszewski leading the way with 93. Rounding out the top 5 were George Pickens (82), Steven Sims (78), Miles Boykin (65) and Cody White with 57.
– Chase Claypool had the fewest number of snaps with 15. He had one target and one reception for 29 yards.
– Pickens led the way in targets with 12 followed by Olszewski and Vaughns with 9, Tyler Snead with 8 and Miles Boykin with 7.
– Pickens also led in receptions with eight, Vaughns and Snead had seven each, followed by Olszewski and Boykin with six.
– Five different receivers had a reception of at least 25 yards with Diontae Johnson having the longest at 38 yards.
– Vaughns led the way with 97 receiving yards, Pickens with 84 and Johnson was next with 71.
– Steven Sims had the longest run from scrimmage at 38 yards.
Tight Ends
– Connor Heyward logged the most snaps with 80. The next highest was Pat Freiermuth with 53.
– All five tight ends in camp received at least one target and the all had at least one reception.
– Freiermuth co-lead the group with seven targets and led the group with 6 receptions. He also had the longest reception of the group at 24 yards.
– Heyward also had seven targets pulling in five.
– Zach Gentry saw just one target and had a nine yard gain.
– Gentry, Freiermuth and Jace Sternberger each averaged at least nine yards per reception.
– We got a look at how they will move Heyward around the formation. He lined up inline on 11 snaps, nine times in the slot, three times out wide and even one snap at fullback.
Offensive Lineman
– Snap breakdown by position.
Left tackle – Dan Moore – 111, Trent Scott – 51, Chaz Green – 31
Left Guard – Kendrick Green – 101, Kevin Dotson – 59, C. Green – 33
Center – Hassenauer – 106, Mason Cole – 80, Ryan McCollum – 7
Right Guard – John Leglue – 95, James Daniels – 80, William Dunkle – 18
Right Tackle – Chukwuma Okorafor – 80, Joe Haeg – 50, Scott – 45, Leglue – 18
There were seven holding penalties on the offensive line including Daniels, Scott, Okorafor and Green with one each and Moore committed three. Dotson added a false start as well.
Miscellaneous
– Player movement before the snap was something we expect from Matt Canada’s offense. This preseason he had some kind of pre snap movement on 119 of 193 plays (62%). On 13% of the plays there was a player in motion as the ball was snapped. That number is down from 21% last preseason.
– Play action was used on 22 of 132 passing plays (17%). Last preseason it was 21%.
– The personnel groupings were very heavy on 11 personnel with 157 plays (81%). Next up was 12 personnel with 28 snaps (15%). Lastly was the three tight end alignment, 13 personnel, with just 8 snaps (4%).
