Two-year extension for Jaylen Warren

I think we maybe talked about this before.

The D was bad at getting off the field "normally".

But they generated lots of turnovers.

So when they got turnovers (especially more than one), my guess is that we mostly won.

But when they didn't get turnovers, my guess is that we mostly lost because they weren't good at stopping teams on 3rd. Both when compared to the rest of the league. And when compared to last year.

So my guess is that the D was a big part of a bunch of the wins.

And also a bunch of the losses.

I also think if you look at raw stats (instead of rates), you'd expect us to look good. We averaged 65.4 plays against per game. This was 2nd worst in the league (Indy @ 65.5). But that 0.1 plays per game is basically 2 plays across the season. Median plays per game was ~ 61.7. SO our defense played 63 more snaps across the season vs. the average team. Which is a little more than an average game.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-plays-per-game

It is still impressive that we were still essentially average in points allowed given all the plays the D spent on the field IMO.

 

On the advice of my legal council I have nothing further to say on this subject

 

Now think of how much longer they would have spent on the field without the turnovers.

 

Actually what I just thought is it’s not hard to tell when you break for lunch

I logged on and had 12 alerts between 1:36 and 2:16 and most of them came from you

 

Yep.

If they were bad at generating turnovers in addition to bad at stopping teams get yards (on 3rd down in particular), it would have been much worse.

And last year was still a team that was supposed to lead through defense. I get that the D was probably tired from carrying the O for the previous 5 years or whatever...but I don't think they were necessarily the better unit last year.

Being bad at drafting (particularly on the offensive side of the ball) has really put the Steelers in a bind IMO. Because now we're not above average on either side of the ball IMO. Hopefully some fresh systems change that up.