Welcome back to your weekly Pittsburgh Steelers mailbag. As always, we’re here for the next hour to answer whatever is on your mind.
To your questions!
Ethan Fager: Hey Alex, how do you think the snap count is going to play out between Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris this week?
Alex: About the same as it’s been. A little gameplan dependent since Warren is the third down back. More situations they’re in like that, the more he plays. But it’s been about 55/45 so far in favor of Harris and it’ll probably be similar this weekend. Hopefully with a better ground game, a little more work for Harris and more success all-around.
Steve Mc: Hi Alex, Thanks for the great coverage! Could you see this being the week that J. Warren supplants Najee as the Steelers RB1?
Alex: I don’t. That’s not the team’s intention and it’s justified. Warren is a really good player. He has not been better as a runner this season. There’s no evidence to support that. I like their roles just the way they have them.
i58:
Not a Steelers specific question, but something I see on the site all the time
Can you provide some context for the PFF grades? I know that a higher number is obviously better, but what ranges would you say indicates a “solid starter” vs “below average”, “about average” and “elite”?
I’m trying to understand whether a rating of 65 for example is good, bad or indifferent. I always thought that they were out of 100, but I get the impression that something in the 60’s is actually pretty good
Alex: You’re asking about the stuff Clayton does? I honestly don’t have a lot of help for you in that regard because I don’t spend a lot of time analyzing their grades. I like PFF for more objective measures, alignment and snap count and things like that but I don’t have a exact list of what is elite and what is average, etc. I would say that they seem to be out of 100 and 90’s do happen so they use the full range. 65 seems more like average. But if you find Clayton Eckert and his articles, ask him in the comments. I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer.
Peter-Petersen: Hey Alex,
I’ve been waiting all week to ask you this. So vs the Browns, Harvin had himself a game with multiple punts within ten yards. But the Steelers punted three times from the 42 or 41 yard line which would have been like a 58-59 yard field goal. I personally felt like Boswell had 60 yards in his leg after that day especially since he scored easily from 52. Now even if he only had a 66% hit ratio (his 50+ yard ratio is more like 82% or so) those are still 6 points. With the poor performance on offense it would make sense to try to go for more ST plays. Like the offense could have gotten 18-22 points if they trusted Boswell more. How do you feel about that?
Alex: That’s pushing it. Boswell has been great from 50-plus but we’re talking more like 50 to 55 as a max. Anything near 60 and your odds really reduce. And it’s dependent on field conditions, weather, wind. They figure out a max range in pre-game warmups and go from there.
In a game like that, you play field position. Pin them deep. You miss a kick from that distance and the Browns basically start a drive at midfield. Always a risk/reward but I’m fine with punting in all those scenarios.
Wreckless: I’ll spare you from the redundancy of more Pickett/Canada discourse lol. How do you see the D line rotation shaking out with the “addition” of Fehoko? Adams played more than double Benton’s snaps so do you see Fehoko taking those snaps or Benton playing most of them with Fehoko backing him up on some early down work? Also, do you see Adams playing more DE over a guy like Watts?
Alex: Ha, thank you. We’ll see. Fehoko is an old-school plugger which fits well against the Raiders two-back/man and power scheme. It doesn’t work as well against the Browns’ outside zone and I suspect that’s why Fehoko wasn’t elevated. I’m not sure how the rotation goes but anytime the Raiders bring out their big people, 21/12/22 personnel, and they love to use a fullback, I’m putting Fehoko in the middle to eat up those blockers. You know what’s coming.
Adams hasn’t played much base end. He gets work over a guy like Watts in sub-package. In nickel and dime.
Gluebucket: Hey Alex, through these first two weeks, I’ve noticed that the snaps to Pickett seem to be slow or off target. I’m wondering if he’s a step late getting to his reads because he’s having to concentrate on catching the ball. I don’t remember seeing this last year – have you noticed something similar or am I imagining things?
Alex: I hadn’t studied it in-depth. Some of the snaps might be off to the right a little but nothing that’s going to derail a player. Nothing super high or low or where Pickett has to make any obvious recovery. Maybe there’s a grain of truth there but I don’t know, that feels pretty nitpicky. I wouldn’t put it high on the list of issues going on with him. He’s pressing, there’s no run game, they suck on first down, all those things are higher on the list.
Banastre Tarleton: Hi Alex,
When I watched MT’s press conference live, I saw it as a shot over the bow of Matt Canada. Jeff Saturday then came out and said something similar. For me to want a coach gone mid-season, it means it is bad. I’m 100% in on “The Steelers’ Way,” and am not one to call for scalps. However, if the offense remains putrid, is there a chance we see a move during the bye week?
One more if you have the time.
The defense moved on and modernized after LeBeau. It seems like the offensive philosophy has changed little other than jet sweeps. Why can’t we steal someone who has coached under an innovative offensive coach like Reid or Shanahan and play a more modern system? I’m not necessarily talking about an air show, as the 49ers can surely play “bully ball” and put their young QB in positions to succeed.
Alex: Yeah, I think there was a callout to the coaches. Mike Tomlin doesn’t talk to you or I or the media in his pressers. He talks to his team. But I thought the comment about the team not anticipating schematics was more of the dig than what I think Saturday said about Tomlin “appreciating” the fans chanting to fire Canada. That, ok, he is talking to the fans. He’s not trying to piss them off when they’re already angry. That was pure coachspeak. You gotta lean into the punch a little bit there.
Is there a bye week change? I’m not going to say there’s no chance. But Pittsburgh doesn’t do this stuff, really ever. We’ll see how it looks at that point. No need to decide or know now.
Yeah it’s a fair question. I don’t know exactly why, I don’t think anyone has a good answer to why they hire the coaches they hire. A lot of behind-the-scenes stuff we’re not privy to. Obviously, the successful OCs become head coaches instead of making lateral moves but you could get a bright QB coach somewhere.
St36: Great work again Alex! I know it early to be throwing names out for oc but what kind of syestem/schme do you want to see or think would fit our talent?
Darrell bevell is a name that sounds like a tomlin hire that I would be ok with and maybe pep hamiltion as a qb coach. You on board?? Thanks again for the awesome content.
Alex: Like last year, I have spent about 0.5 seconds thinking about Canada’s replacement. There’s plenty of other things happening that have my attention. Pep Hamilton was one I mentioned last year and he was interviewed prior to hiring Canada. But I’ve really spent no time on that kind of stuff and won’t until a change happens.
