Yards after catch (YAC) is a very important factor for a successful passing game. Today, I wanted to look at and provide data on Pittsburgh’s new OC Arthur Smith’s team results at previous coaching stops along with the Steelers and their NFL ranks for comparison.
Using data from Sports Info Solutions (SIS), I calculated YAC percentages (YAC/total yards), seeing which teams benefited from receivers creating yardage since 2019. Also, squads with more YAC tend to throw for shorter air yardage, so we’ll see the other side of the coin as well.
Here are Pittsburgh and Smith’s YAC percentages the last five seasons:
What jumps out right away is Pittsburgh having the top four percentages of the focused teams, also ranking top 35 out of the 160 qualifying NFL clubs.
An encouraging aspect of this is getting playmaking from receivers, including last year, when Pittsburgh ranked 35th in the time frame. That was high on the radar for improvement last season compared to landing 154th in 2022, which bottomed the visual and was seventh-worst leaguewide since 2019.
It does make sense that Pittsburgh fared better overall in YAC, considering it has a history of targeting receivers in short areas of the field on average, of course presenting more opportunities for YAC.
For example, an injury-riddled QB position in 2019 required simplifying the offense and leaned on getting the ball into playmakers hands quickly, resulting in a 10th-ranked YAC percentage.
We also see that Smith teams landed more average or toward the bottom of the YAC results leaguewide. While higher rates would be fantastic, an encouraging side was he has clearly pushed the ball downfield more than Pittsburgh, as I highlighted in this Smith air-yard data study.
Another bright side of his five-year results is having his best YAC last season with the Falcons. They ranked 76th in the span at 45 percent, which was just above average. Pairing this with his strong air yard results in several of his previous coaching stops is the hope and will be fascinating to watch unfold with the Black and Gold.
We have already seen Smith’s impact on the offense at the beginning stages of training camp, which is encouraging after seeing stale offensive schemes for too long in Pittsburgh. Of course, quarterback play is a huge part of this equation. I did a similar study recently, focusing on Russell Wilson and Justin Fields’ YAC. Last season, they got ample contributions from receivers in YAC, with Wilson ranking fourth-most and Fields at 11th.
Wilson ranking so high makes sense, considering that OC Sean Payton’s offensive scheme is predicated on the quick pass game. While Fields also had a respectable YAC ranking, his air yardage was above-average too, putting him on the healthier side of the yardage splits.
Similar splits are what I’m hoping Pittsburgh can achieve in 2024. Marrying in Smith’s offensive scheme, the revamped QB room being able to execute that more downfield attack overall while still getting acceptable YAC contributions from playmakers as Pittsburgh has been able to do.
The combination of being strong in both YAC and air yards is obviously most ideal, and hopefully that is the recipe we enjoy this season with the 2024 Steelers offense.
