One of the reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers had success in the second half of last season was reducing penalties. After averaging 6.3 penalties per game over the first eight games of the 2022 season, they reduced that number to 4.7 per game in their final nine games, in which they went 7-2. Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis broke down the good and bad of how penalties impacted the Steelers, and that finding was one of several “good” findings of how the Steelers managed penalties last season.
For a team that didn’t throw the ball a lot, the Steelers managed to rank in the top five of passing-play penalties. Diontae Johnson and George Pickens were the No. 1 receiver duo in drawing pass interference penalties, while Kenny Pickett drew four roughing the passer penalties.
Defensively, the Steelers did a good job limiting penalties.
“They ranked 26th in penalty yards per game against in the four categories. Perhaps even more impressive is on average they allowed just 8.1 yards per infraction,” Sharp writes. “If you are going to commit a penalty on a passing play, better to not give up a lot of yards. The Steelers did this exceptionally well in 2022. On a side note, Pittsburgh was one of only four teams to not have an illegal contact penalty assessed against them the entire season.”
On the bad side, Pittsburgh was penalized 25 percent more on the road than at Acrisure Stadium, and it had the second-highest number of ineligible downfield penalties. The Steelers also tied with the Las Vegas Raiders as the dubious leaders in unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Sharp gave the Steelers an A-plus in terms of how penalties impacted the team, meaning they helped the Steelers a lot more than hurt. With a lack of explosive plays, drawing penalties downfield on passing plays was obviously key and something that should hopefully continue to be beneficial to the Steelers. For a team that relies on its defense, not being penalized much in that facet of the game helped prevent teams from flipping the field due to a bad play.
The Steelers had some bad penalties last season, namely Marcus Allen’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Carolina Panthers. But in general, penalties were actually a benefit to Pittsburgh last season, and that’s a testament to the discipline instilled in the players by the coaching staff across the board.
Mike Tomlin, Teryl Austin, Grady Brown, Karl Dunbar and the rest of the defensive coaching staff deserve credit for keeping a physical defense disciplined and generally not taking stupid penalties, while Frisman Jackson deserves some credit for helping the wide receivers draw PI calls. If penalties can positively impact the Steelers the same way in 2023, Sharp writes that Pittsburgh could “make some noise in a stacked AFC field.”
Preventing penalties on your team and drawing penalties on the opponent is an underrated part of football. Hopefully, the Steelers remain on the good side and continue to draw penalties at a more favorable rate than they commit them.
