Finishing in second place but having an inferior draft position versus the first place team.

+1

And so ends another season in less than perfect fashion. The glass is not half full, but it’s a long way from empty, and closer to half full than the last two years combined.

Let us be grateful for the many positives of the 2014 edition of the Steelers. Here are some of them off the top of my head.

• The Steelers reclaimed the division crown.
• Despite the above, the Steelers will have better draft positioning than the Ravens and possibly the Bengals.
• The offense has grown to the brink of greatness and has not yet peaked.
• Elements of the defense solidified although much work remains to be done.
• One Hairball is gone from the league.
• Although they won, the Ravens continue to suck. Suggs is still butt ugly and stupid as dirt.
• Andy Dalton… enough said.
• The Factory of Sadness remains the destination where high draft picks go to die, and Comedy Central of the NFL.
• We are one year closer to the end of Tom Brady’s career. Please, god, let it happen soon.

Please add your positives. There will be plenty of time for whining and hand-wringing later.

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42 Years Ago Today

Watch a nice take on the play: http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/pittsburgh-steelers-immaculate-reception-franco/njY5L/

Sure looks to me like it hit Tatum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMuUBZ_DAeM 

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Hey, we’ve been asking that question all year, as it seems the Steelers can shine one week and stink the next.  But perhaps it’s time to give credit where it’s due. Through 15 games, the Steelers have never had a losing streak longer than one game. Meanwhile they’ve had two 3-game winning streaks and with a final victory over Cincinnati they could push the current streak to 4 games. They are 7-2 in their last 9 games and have had only one truly putrid performance in that span, versus the Jets.

Although this more stable and positive period has more or less coincided with the resurrection of James Harrison, perhaps greater credit goes to the solidification of the offense and stabilization of what had been a horrid defense (and now is approaching sort of average). The biggest variable during this period has been the play of Ben Roethlisberger.. In their current configuration, the fate of this team is tightly tied to Ben’s performance. If he is hot in the playoffs, they can have a good run.

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Our grouchy football uncle Ed Bouchette posted this in his slog this morning.

Worilds told me after six games that he was not rushing the passer as often as he did last season, so I went to Pro Football Focus to see how they had it. They do a good job of charting the number of plays, and they break down when a defender rushes the passer or covers a receiver on passing downs. After six games, according to their count, Worilds rushed the quarterback 57.1 percent of the time. Last season, he rushed 79 percent of the time.

After six games, Worilds told me this about having to cover receivers more often in 2014 than he did in 2013, “I would hope that they know that I rush the passer, so if they put me out of position, they do it knowing that they’re taking me out of position to make plays.”

Since then, Worilds has rushed the quarterback more often and his percentage is up to 69.8 rushing and 30.2 covering for the season. That still pales to last season’s 79 percent rushing (an 11.6 percent drop), but it’s a lot more than the 57.1 he had after six games. The numbers after 14 games for Worilds, according to PFF: 372 pass rushes, 161 pass coverages.

So, armed with what I can assume is fairly accurate info on snap counts and pass rush opportunities, I decided to see how productive Worilds has been since the change in week seven.

While only using averages based upon games played and total opportunities to rush (total pass plays); Worilds was rushing the passer approximately 21.7 times per game in the first six weeks. Since then he has rushed the passer approximately 30.2 times per game and dropping approximately 7.8 times per game (or rushing the passer approximately 79% just like last year), bringing his average up to almost 70% on the season. How has his productivity changed since week six, I wondered.

Well, as the chart below illustrates, he’s not even doing as well getting to the QB as he was doing in weeks one through six. And, with an average of 9 more opportunities to get to the QB per game, he’s out of excuses.

Assuming the pass rush stats are correct and there has been a marked uptick in Worilds pass rush opportunities, he is no better after getting more opportunities than he was when he was rushing the passer less frequently.
In the first six weeks, Worilds had 2 sacks and 7 QB hits combined. That averages to 0.333 sacks per game and 1.1667 QB hits per game.
In the ensuing eight games, when he has dropped back less frequently and rushed a lot more often, he has a combined 2.5 sacks and 5 QB hits. That averages to 0.31 sacks per game and 0.625 QB hits per game.
In other words, since becoming the Steelers primary pass rush threat in week seven, Worilds is actually less productive. Oh, and he makes $10M this season.

Again, for the guys holding onto the belief that the Steelers have held Worilds back. Worilds has been given a lot more opportunities since week six and his effectiveness has actually dropped. He has had one “franchise” type game this year in 14 weeks. It was the Saints game where he recorded 5 solo tackles, 5 assists, 1 sack, 2 tackles for loss, no passes defensed and a QB hit.

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