Time of possession and AFC North

The four teams in the AFC North are four of the top six spots in Time of Possession this year. Interesting but I don’t know what it means, if anything. But here’s a possibility.
For those of us too young to have seen such a thing, perhaps the Steelers are planning to go way back, to a ball control offense and a tough defense. These are teams that are a) frustrating for other teams to play against, because they win by not giving the other team the ball to play with, b) not necessarily that much fun to watch, as they are risk averse by nature, moving the rock and burning the clock, and c) not very comebackable offenses. If that kind of team gets down by over ten points it is tough for them to come back. They are just not built for that. They can also seriously wear down a defense while keeping their own pretty fresh.
Some of Canada’s play calling does make more sense, if that’s what they are up to.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot

 

That’s what you do with young QBs.

 

So the Tennessee Titans?

 

That's old times steeler football. You already mentioned the problem with a team like this, in regards of being able to do a large comeback. The other problem with this type of offense, is that they consistently have to put in long drives to succeed. We all know that the steelers are good at the stupid penalty to kill a promising drive. The steelers have to be close to the top of the rankings for 10+ play drives. I would lay odds they are the only team this year to have a 20+ play drive, and that one ended with a touchdown.

 

This is the small ball idea I mentioned in the off-season.
If we win we will win in "boring" games.
Personally, I w.joy these games.
It's still comes down to splash plays there is just significantly less of them.

 

When we win, it’s a great game

 

At some point,the steelers are going to need to have way more big play that this....Canada need to be much better that this.In 2004 and 2005,when the Cowherball were at his peak,Ben had often no more that 20 pass attempts in a game but it was a pass attempts,it was often for a big play!

 

100%

 

That comes with a good rushing attack. We have been able to run the ball well with consistency for weeks now. Churning up clock, and Pickett has done a good job on 3rd down so we are extending drives. The Browns and the Ravens both have great rushing attacks, and the Bengals just have a really good offense with playmakers at QB, RB, WR and TE.

I still think we can do better than Canada, but he has improved over the year with this team. If we plan on this approach, we need a CB and ILB badly. Draft there, sign on the OL and try to be competitive next season. Also, red zone efficiency will have to be an improvement for next year (I'm sure it will with Pickett progressing). If we score more TD's our offense can easily be a 25ppg offense. That should be enough to win a lot of games.

 

Ah.. old school.

 

Play action was what we did so well back then. A great running game makes it possible. If only our current OC knew this.