With Week 10 in the books, I wanted to provide a favorite stat at Steelers Depot: Adjusted Net Yards Per Pass Attempt (ANY/A). ANY/A is Passing yards – Sack Yards + (20 * Passing TD) – (45 * Interceptions)) / (Passes Attempted + Times Sacked).
First, here is a visual for passing offenses (OANY/A) and defenses (DANY/A):
The Pittsburgh Steelers continue to land above the mean on both offense and defense, thankfully aiding their strong 7-2 record. Their 6.7 OANY/A ranks 12th, and a 5.1 DANY/A ties for eighth. Great to be one of the nine above the mean, among some of the best teams in the NFL.
Comparatively, the last time I looked at ANY/A Stats Week 7: OANY/A (6.6, 10th), DANY/A (5.2, T-ninth). So, both numbers improved slightly, but a dip in offensive rank, while the defense went up a notch.
Next up for the Pittsburgh are the Baltimore (7-3), who “break” the chart on offense. Their whopping 9.8 OANY/A is over two more than second-best, with the 49ers and Commanders tied at 7.7.
The Steelers just came away with victory on the latter, and face a similar style in the Ravens offense with Lamar Jackson. The familiarity in the division will hopefully be able to limit their potent passing attack that has skyrocketed in 2024 more than most to date.
The flipside for them has been on defense, with a lowly 7.3 DANY/A that ranks 29th, with only the Cowboys (7.4), Panthers (7.5), and Jaguars (7.6) below them, slightly. This group of three have a combined 8-21 record, putting into context just how crazy the Ravens spread is on offense and defense.
Pittsburgh’s remaining schedule is also interesting to scope out, and here are how the rest of those teams rank to date: Cleveland (OANY/A-last, DANY/A-28th), Cincinnati (OANY/A-fifth, DANY/A-T-22nd), Philadelphia (OANY/A-11th, DANY/A-T-second), Kansas City (OANY/A-17th, DANY/A-16th).
The Chiefs are still unbeaten with nine wins, the two-time reining Super Bowl Champs, and buck this stat unlike most teams with the multitude of ways they can win. That daunting challenge presents itself in Week 17. The most balanced are the 7-2 Eagles, a challenging Week 15 proposition.
The backloaded divisional games remain, with Cincinnati boasting a top five offense in the stat, while the defense, not so much. And the Browns are the Browns.
So, the upcoming Steelers challenges pose more offensive threats that Pittsburgh’s top ten defense is ready to stifle, while the offense seemingly will have an easier path on paper overall.
Let’s look at the weekly results for offenses by quarterback.
While we have seen several improvements with QB Russell Wilson starting the last three games, his ANY/A number has down trended, and was below the line last game. That number landed at 6.03 last week, below the ideal 6.5 mark (blue line). This came despite throwing for three passing TDs, more than any Steelers quarterback since 2021.
That of course is encouraging, and obviously the ultimate goal to win on the scoreboard. But, Wilson was 14-28 for a lowly 50-percent completion rate, along with throwing his first interception, least passing yards in three starts (197), and took three sacks for 23 lost yards (most to date).
Definitely things that need to be cleaned up against a tough schedule to hopefully continue building on Pittsburgh’s four game winning streak.
Here are Pittsburgh’s numbers by week:
Fields Week One: 5.32.
Fields Week Two: 5.91.
Fields Week Three: 6.09.
Fields Week Four: 7.95.
Fields Week Five: 5.17.
Fields Week Six: 4.07.
Wilson Week Seven: 10.0.
Wilson Week Eight: 8.72
BYE
Wilson Week Ten: 6.03.
This gives context to my last statement being reasonable, with Wilson posting great marks in his first two starts. His 10.0 ANY/A in his debut was the fourth-best mark that week, and obviously where the trend returns to. Wilson posted 264 passing yards, two TDs, no INTs, going 16/29 (55.2-percent), taking just one sack (loss of four) in the 37-15 win versus the Jets.
Week Eight was also great, going 20/28 for season-highs in completion rate (71.4), passing yards (278), but also sacks (four). The latter lost 19 total yards, more than last game on one less sack. No interceptions was also on the positive side of things that Wilson hopefully gets back to, and we can see his first two games of 2024 were less volatile than his last. Let’s hope for just that against a tough remaining schedule.
Next, here is a visual for total offenses (OANY/A) and defenses (DANY/A) through seven games:
Other than the Week Three 20-10 win against the Chargers, we can see that Pittsburgh wins and losses have correlated to the DANY/A stat. Their seven wins included their two best marks out of the gates, and similar marks throughout their current four game winning streak.
The teams only two losses were back-to-back in Weeks Four-Five against Indianapolis (27-24) and Dallas (20-17), close games that could have swung the other way if the defense was above the ideal blue line (DANY/A < 6.0).
If they can do that more often than not the rest of the way, it would bode well to continuing to stack wins against a tough slate of offenses, and likely be the story if that’s the case. Fingers crossed.
Steelers weekly DANY/A results, and stats breakdowns (TDS allowed are subjective):
Week One vs. ATL: 2.39. QB Kirk Cousins – 16/26 (61.5), 155 pass yards, 1 TD (CB Beanie Bishop Jr.), 2 INTS (CB Donte Jackson, S DeShon Elliott), 2 sacks (ED T.J. Watt, DL Cam Heyward, DL Montravius Adams), 18 sack yards.
Week Two vs. DEN: 3.81. QB Bo Nix – 20/35 (57.1), 246 yards, 0 TD, 2 INTS (CB Cory Trice Jr, S Damontae Kazee), 2 sacks (Watt, ED Alex Highsmith), 15 sack yards.
Week Three vs. LAC: 6.45. QB Justin Herbert (injured) – 12/18, 125 yards, 1 TD (S Minkah Fitzpatrick), 0 INTS, 2 sacks, 16 sack yards.
Week Four vs. IND: 6.93. QB Joe Flacco – 16/26 (61.5), 168 yards, 2 TDS (Bishop, CB Joey Porter Jr.), 0 INTS, 2 sacks (Heyward, DL Larry Ogunjobi), 14 sack yards.
Week Five vs. DAL: 6.5. QB Dak Prescott – 29/42 (69.0), 352 yards, 2 TDS (both S DeShon Elliott), 2INTS (Porter, Jackson), 2 sacks (Watt, ED Nick Herbig), 16 sack yards.
Week Six vs. LV: 4.71. QB Aidan O’Connell – 27/40 (67.5), 227 yards, 1 TD (Bishop), 1 INT (Jackson), 1 sack (Heyward), 9 sack yards.
Week Seven vs. NYJ: 4.98. QB Aaron Rodgers – 24/39 (61.5), 276 yards, 1 TD (Fitzpatrick), 2 INTS (both Bishop), 1 sack (Ogunjobi), 7 sack yards.
Week Eight vs. NYG: 4.57. QB Daniel Jones – 24/38 (63.2), 264 yards, 0 TDS, 1 INT (Bishop), 4 sacks (Watt, Highsmith), 27 sack yards.
Week Ten vs. WAS: 4.92. QB Jayden Daniels – 17/34 (50.0), 202 yards, 0 TDS, 0 INTS, 3 sacks (Heyward two, Smith), 20 sack yards.
Starting with recency, we can see the defense had a strong day against Daniels last game overall. Gave up some yardage, but no TDs and the lowest completion rate allowed to any QB this season is impressive with how well their passing game has been doing (T-second best OANY/A before the matchup). Second most sacks on the season was part of making him uncomfortable, but he still took care of the football with no INTs.
The latter has not occurred since Week Four, when it happened in back-to-back weeks. Something else that has yet to occur is a pick six, and clamoring for that to happen soon in this takeaway culture Pittsburgh has created.
Pittsburgh has posted their two highest sack totals the last two games, with three or more in each. Here’s to hoping that trend continues, a huge element to their hopes of limiting all these strong offenses the rest of the way.
Here’s to hoping Wilson continues to boost the OANY/A and passing offense, married with the defense being on a roll overall, including this four-game win streak the team is on.
To close, here’s a table of the 2024 ANY/A results, sorted by differential with the goal of showing the most balanced teams:
The Pittsburgh Steelers currently have a 1.6 ANY/A differential, ranking eighth-best in the NFL. What a breath of fresh air compared to last season, when the offenses abysmal play had them towards the bottom of these ranks consistently. Here’s to hoping they continue to be strong in these terms, which has aided their strong 7-2 record thus far, which would bode well for the ultimate goal of playoffs and hopefully beyond.
The tough schedule looms, but they rose to the occasion against Washington last game, a strong performance that will ideally be a launch pad the rest of the season.
