Matthew Marczi and I have decided to write a weekly article based on our charting notes from the previous week’s game. Every month or so, I will also have “yearly recap” article, like we did last year. So let’s get to some of the notable from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week Two win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
– Excluding those of the “no play” variety, the Steelers defense had 73 snaps against the Bengals.
– Of those 73, the Bengals ran just 21 plays in Steelers’ territory. Only four of those occurred before the last minute of the first half.
– This is largely due to Pittsburgh winning the field position battle. 21.9% (16 of 73) of Bengals’ snaps were from their 20 yard line or closer. 15% (11 of 73) of them were from their 10 and in.
Compare that to a week ago when Washington had just two snaps on are inside their 20.
– Pittsburgh was in sub-packages, nickel or dime, for 61 of 73 snaps Sunday. That’s 83.6%. 30 plays came in dime. In the regular season last year, the Steelers used dime just 61 times. Factor in Week One and we’re already closing in on the same usage amounts.
– Believe it or not, Keith Butler actually blitzed his usual amount Sunday. Officially, 13 of 57 opportunities and there were a couple of blitzes that came on run plays. That’s 22.8%, right in line with what he did last year (21.7 and 22.7).
– He rushed five or six defenders nine times. They were all blitzes.
– Robert Golden blitzed three times. Ryan Shazier blitzed on another five, four of them by himself. He registered two pressures.
– The Steelers lone sack was by Arthur Moats, a play where he originally dropped into coverage.
– All of Javon Hargrave’s official snaps came in the Steelers base 3-4. There was one more when he was in dime but the play was negated by penalty.
– Stephon Tuitt dropped into coverage, peeling off onto the back in the flat, three times. Saw that a lot in the preseason and it carried over.
– Shazier lined up off the edge 13 times Sunday.
– Outside linebacker coverage percentages.
James Harrison: 37.8% (11/29)
Jarvis Jones: 30.2% (13/43)
Arthur Moats: 14.8% (4/27)
Anthony Chickillo: 6.7% (1/15)
– Because of all the dime used, Lawrence Timmons saw the field less than 60% of the time. There were stretches where he went six and ten consecutive snaps without seeing the field. Value of the position just isn’t there to justify re-signing him.
– Ross Cockrell was moved around all day, staying on top of A.J. Green. 26 snaps at left corner, 45 at right corner.
– The Steelers still haven’t used a goal line package once this season, preseason or regular season, and decided against it Sunday as well even when the Bengals had the ball at their one. They made almost no personnel changes to their base 3-4 with one exception. Sean Davis replaced Ross Cockrell as the RCB.
– Davis played nearly as many snaps at safety (29) as he did as the nickel corner (31).
– Only two defenders have played every single snap for Pittsburgh this year: William Gay and Golden.
Week 1:
We are basing this off 55 full plays from Week One, not including any that were designated as “no play” because of penalty. We will continue that throughout the year, likely making our numbers slightly lower than the actual ones listed elsewhere. Unless you guys want to use a different set of criteria. Let me know.
– Washington ran 27 plays in Steelers’ territory Monday night. But only 12 of those came in the second half.
– Division of personnel:
Nickel: 36/55 (65.5%)
3-4: 10/55 (18.2%)
Dime: 9/55 (16.4%)
This is because the Steelers match up based on personnel and Washington was in 11 personnel (3 WRs) 45 times.
– Only once did Keith Butler send a five man rush and never sent more than that. It’s the fire zone we broke down yesterday morning, resulting in an incompletion in the end zone, tipped away by Ryan Shazier.
That means he rushed five guys 2.3% of the time. His lowest mark in any game last season? 16.3%.
He sent four rushes 31 times and three defenders 8 times.
– Excluding the final 4th quarter drive, with the game over, Butler blitzed just eight times and only three times during the first three quarters. Even including the final drive (3 blitzes – 11 for the game), he blitzed just 25%. If you exclude that last series, the number drops to 21%.
Using that 21% as our guide and comparing it to last year, it would make the third least aggressive game he’s called.
– On average, the Steelers allowed 4.8 yards after the catch per completion.
– The only player I have targeted more than once Monday is Shazier. Against him, Kirk Cousins went 0/2 with an interception.
– Javon Hargrave saw only six snaps as a nickel rusher. Four of those came in the final drive. He saw only seven snaps as a base nose. Just one of those was a run play, a gain of five yards.
– Stephon Tuitt played 34 straight defensive snaps before being subbed off. Cam Heyward went 22 in a row. Tuitt missed just two more snaps the rest of the way, excluding the games final drive. Heyward missed three.
– Daniel McCullers did not play his first snap until the Steelers’ 33rd play with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter.
– Shazier lined up at OLB nine times. He dropped into coverage all nine times.
– Other LB drop percentages:
Anthony Chickillo – 35.7% (5/14)
Arthur Moats – 31.8% (7/22)
James Harrison – 31.8% (7/22)
Jarvis Jones – 30% (9/30)
– Breakdown of where William Gay lined up (out of 55 snaps).
Right corner: 43
Slot corner: 9
Left corner: 3
All nine of those in the slot occurred when the Steelers came in dime, putting Artie Burns at RCB and kicking Gay inside.
– In all dime looks, Sean Davis moved to traditional safety while Robert Golden played in the box as the dime defender/faux linebacker.
– Excluding those dime snaps, Golden was in the box 7 times. Mike Mitchell lined up there once.
– Excluding those of the “no play” variety, the Steelers defense had 73 snaps against the Bengals.
– Of those 73, the Bengals ran just 21 plays in Steelers’ territory. Only four of those occurred before the last minute of the first half.
– This is largely due to Pittsburgh winning the field position battle. 21.9% (16 of 73) of Bengals’ snaps were from their 20 yard line or closer. 15% (11 of 73) of them were from their 10 and in.
Compare that to a week ago when Washington had just two snaps on are inside their 20.
– Pittsburgh was in sub-packages, nickel or dime, for 61 of 73 snaps Sunday. That’s 83.6%. 30 plays came in dime. In the regular season last year, the Steelers used dime just 61 times. Factor in Week One and we’re already closing in on the same usage amounts.
– Believe it or not, Keith Butler actually blitzed his usual amount Sunday. Officially, 13 of 57 opportunities and there were a couple of blitzes that came on run plays. That’s 22.8%, right in line with what he did last year (21.7 and 22.7).
– He rushed five or six defenders nine times. They were all blitzes.
– Robert Golden blitzed three times. Ryan Shazier blitzed on another five, four of them by himself. He registered two pressures.
– The Steelers lone sack was by Arthur Moats, a play where he originally dropped into coverage.
– All of Javon Hargrave’s official snaps came in the Steelers base 3-4. There was one more when he was in dime but the play was negated by penalty.
– Stephon Tuitt dropped into coverage, peeling off onto the back in the flat, three times. Saw that a lot in the preseason and it carried over.
– Shazier lined up off the edge 13 times Sunday.
– Outside linebacker coverage percentages.
James Harrison: 37.8% (11/29)
Jarvis Jones: 30.2% (13/43)
Arthur Moats: 14.8% (4/27)
Anthony Chickillo: 6.7% (1/15)
– Because of all the dime used, Lawrence Timmons saw the field less than 60% of the time. There were stretches where he went six and ten consecutive snaps without seeing the field. Value of the position just isn’t there to justify re-signing him.
– Ross Cockrell was moved around all day, staying on top of A.J. Green. 26 snaps at left corner, 45 at right corner.
– The Steelers still haven’t used a goal line package once this season, preseason or regular season, and decided against it Sunday as well even when the Bengals had the ball at their one. They made almost no personnel changes to their base 3-4 with one exception. Sean Davis replaced Ross Cockrell as the RCB.
– Davis played nearly as many snaps at safety (29) as he did as the nickel corner (31).
– Only two defenders have played every single snap for Pittsburgh this year: William Gay and Golden.
Week 1:
We are basing this off 55 full plays from Week One, not including any that were designated as “no play” because of penalty. We will continue that throughout the year, likely making our numbers slightly lower than the actual ones listed elsewhere. Unless you guys want to use a different set of criteria. Let me know.
– Washington ran 27 plays in Steelers’ territory Monday night. But only 12 of those came in the second half.
– Division of personnel:
Nickel: 36/55 (65.5%)
3-4: 10/55 (18.2%)
Dime: 9/55 (16.4%)
This is because the Steelers match up based on personnel and Washington was in 11 personnel (3 WRs) 45 times.
– Only once did Keith Butler send a five man rush and never sent more than that. It’s the fire zone we broke down yesterday morning, resulting in an incompletion in the end zone, tipped away by Ryan Shazier.
That means he rushed five guys 2.3% of the time. His lowest mark in any game last season? 16.3%.
He sent four rushes 31 times and three defenders 8 times.
– Excluding the final 4th quarter drive, with the game over, Butler blitzed just eight times and only three times during the first three quarters. Even including the final drive (3 blitzes – 11 for the game), he blitzed just 25%. If you exclude that last series, the number drops to 21%.
Using that 21% as our guide and comparing it to last year, it would make the third least aggressive game he’s called.
– On average, the Steelers allowed 4.8 yards after the catch per completion.
– The only player I have targeted more than once Monday is Shazier. Against him, Kirk Cousins went 0/2 with an interception.
– Javon Hargrave saw only six snaps as a nickel rusher. Four of those came in the final drive. He saw only seven snaps as a base nose. Just one of those was a run play, a gain of five yards.
– Stephon Tuitt played 34 straight defensive snaps before being subbed off. Cam Heyward went 22 in a row. Tuitt missed just two more snaps the rest of the way, excluding the games final drive. Heyward missed three.
– Daniel McCullers did not play his first snap until the Steelers’ 33rd play with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter.
– Shazier lined up at OLB nine times. He dropped into coverage all nine times.
– Other LB drop percentages:
Anthony Chickillo – 35.7% (5/14)
Arthur Moats – 31.8% (7/22)
James Harrison – 31.8% (7/22)
Jarvis Jones – 30% (9/30)
– Breakdown of where William Gay lined up (out of 55 snaps).
Right corner: 43
Slot corner: 9
Left corner: 3
All nine of those in the slot occurred when the Steelers came in dime, putting Artie Burns at RCB and kicking Gay inside.
– In all dime looks, Sean Davis moved to traditional safety while Robert Golden played in the box as the dime defender/faux linebacker.
– Excluding those dime snaps, Golden was in the box 7 times. Mike Mitchell lined up there once.
