Steelers Statistics - Interesting Tidbits

It is absolutely POURING where I'm at. Watched two movies yesterday ('The Longest Day' from 1962 and a British independent film called 'Little Voice'). That's how bored I am. The Longest Day was about three hours long. Aaaaand . . . it just started snowing.

With that said, I have been looking at everything Steelers today and was looking at stats, among other things, and came across some things I thought were interesting so I thought I'd share:

*James Harrison (77) is only 3 sacks shy of overtaking Jason Gildon (74.5) as the team's all-time (official) sack leader. Perhaps added inspiration for returning this season?

*Carnell Lake (21.5) recorded more sacks among DB's than any other Steeler. I would have thought it was Polamalu (12). Surprisingly, even Deshea Townsend (15.5) had more than Polamalu (and Woodson (13.5)). Reminds me of how awesome those Dom Capers (and Dick Lebau) Blitzburgh defenses were.

*Linebackers Jack Ham (32) and Jack Lambert (28) both had twice as many interceptions as Ike Taylor (14). Probably not a surprise to many, but still . . . a couple of linebackers with that much more production than our team's lockdown corner for 12 seasons? That's pretty incredible.

*William Gay, in less seasons, has as many pick-sixes (5) as Rod Woodson did in his Steelers career. Woodson took 5 of his 38 picks to the house while Gay has returned over half of his 9 career picks to the house. Kinda funny in light of all the 'Gay bashing' among Steeler nation over the years.

*James Farrior, the greatest free agent signing in team history, is the all-time tackles leader (followed by Lake, Lloyd, Kirkland, and Woodson).

*All-time leader in fumble recoveries? Terry Bradshaw (recovering his own). On the defensive side? Ernie Stautner (23) followed by Rod Woodson (21). Jason Gildon returned more fumbles for touchdowns (3) than any other Steeler.

*Franco Harris fumbled more than any other player (90) -- followed by Bradshaw (84) and Roethlisberger (80). To put in perspective how often Franco fumbled, Jerome Bettis (in his Steelers career) only fumbled 28 times (once at a very inopportune time in Indianapolis) meaning Franco fumbled 3x more per attempt than Bettis. Franco fumbled 3% of the time and Bettis only fumbled 1%. No running back in NFL history fumbled more than Franco (Tony Dorsett also recorded 90 fumbles). Walter Payton had 86 so, good company? The Clowns' Greg Pruitt had 83 and is the only running back near the top of the list that's not (or nowhere near being) a Hall of Famer.

*Greg Lloyd is the career leader in forced fumbles (34) but they clearly didn't start keeping track of that statistic until (it appears) around 1990 as Lambert and Ham appear nowhere on the list (nor do Merriweather, Nickerson, Little, etc.

*We all know Iron Mike Webster played more games (220) than any other in team history but, when Hines Ward retired, he was only 3 games back (217).

*According to Pro Football Reference's 'Approximate Value' rating system, the most valuable players in team history are, in order: 1) Mike Webster 2) Jack Ham 3) Ben Roethlisberger 4) Joe Greene 5) Terry Bradshaw 6) Jack Lambert 7) Mel Blount 8) Franco Harris 9) Dermontti Dawson 10) Alan Faneca 11) Donnie Shell 12) Hines Ward 13) Rod Woodson 14) Troy Polamalu 15) Greg Lloyd 16) James Farrior 17) Andy Russell 18) John Stallworth 19) L.C. Greenwood 20) James Harrison

*Kicker Todd Petersen, who sucked for us in his only season with the team (2002) making only 12 of his 21 field goal attempts, finished dead last in that same statistical category (Approximate Value System).

*Ernie Stautner and Bill McPeak top the category of safeties by recording three apiece.

*Team leaders in passer rating (minimum 200 attempts): Ben (94.0) followed by O'Donnell (81.8), Batch (79.0), Maddox (76.7), Kordell (72.3), Tomczak (71.6) . . . and then Bradshaw (70.9)

*Terry Bradshaw (.677, 107-51) has a better career winning percentage than Ben Roethlisberger (.668, 113-56)

*With a 4,000 yard season, Ben Roethlisberger would move into the top ten on the NFL's all-time passing yardage leaderboard.

*20 more td passes also puts Big Ben in the top ten in that category in NFL history. He's currently only 1 behind Joe Montana for 13th place.

*Terry Bradshaw threw more TD's per pass attempt than Ben (5.4%>5.0%) but threw twice as many interceptions per pass attempt (5.4%>2.7%).

*If Ben continues his pace of being sacked an average of 36.5 times per season, then he would move into 6th place on the all-time list of most times a qb has been sacked (only .5 sacks behind Phil Simms). Brett Favre leads the list with 525.

*Ben is tied for 9th (with Eli Manning and Johnny Unitas) in NFL history with 27 fourth-quarter comebacks. Peyton Manning leads with 45. Brady has 37.

*After missing half of 2015, if Le'Veon Bell runs for 1,300 yards this season, he would already find himself in fifth place on the teams career rushing yardage list after only 3.5 seasons.

*Even more revealing about how anemic our individual rushing performances have been over the years (largely dominated in every statistical category by Franco and Bettis), the third and fourth place guys on the team's all-time rushing td's list? Kordell Stewart (35) followed by Terry Bradshaw (32). Franco (91) and Bettis (78) lead the list. Mendenhall (29) is fifth.

*Longest rushing td in team history? Why, Bob Gage of course! 97 yards in either 1949 or 1950.

*Highest average yards per carry in team history with minimum 500 attempts? Hall of Famer John Henry Johnson (4.4). Several are tied at 4.3 (Willie Parker, Barry Foster, Le'Veon Bell). Franco is down the list at 4.1 and Bettis quite a ways down at only 3.9. With four more attempts, Kordell would be, far and away, the leader in this category: 5.2ypc on 496 attempts.

*Le'Veon Bell is the current franchise leader in yards per game at 79.3 followed by Bettis (72.9) and Franco (72.4).

*With a standard AB season, Antonio Brown should easily move into second place on the team's all-time receptions list. He is currently at 526. Only Hines Ward (1,000), Heath Miller (592), and John Stallworth (537) have more.

*With a minimum qualifier of 300 catches, Louis Lipps is the franchise leader in yards per reception at 16.8. Next on the list: Lynn Swann (16.3), John Stallworth (16.2). Antonio Brown is down the list a ways at only 13.5.

*Mel Blount returned one punt in his career. He returned it 52 yards.

*Louis Lipps is the most effective punt return guy in team history leading the average yards per punt return (minimum 100 attempts) with an 11.3 ypr average. For perspective, Antonio Brown's ypr average is 9.7 (putting him second on the list -- or first if you change the minimum qualifier to 150).

*Antonio Brown and Antwaan Randle-El are tied for the most punt returns for td in team history with 4. Lipps (and Ray Mathews) had 3.

*Only two players in team history have recored 100 or more kickoff returns: Larry Anderson (122 returns, 23.5 ypr, and 1 td) and Rod Woodson (220 returns, 22.2 ypr, and 2 tds). Removing the qualifiers, Lynn Chandnois put up the best numbers (92 returns, 29.6 ypr, and 3 tds -- most in team history).

*Stefan Logan's one season with the team (2009) produced one of the best yard per return season's in team history: he averaged 26.7 yards on 55 returns. I don't recall it being that spectacular. I recall him almost breaking several while being ankle tackled with nobody between him and the goal line, but I don't recall him putting up such solid numbers.

*Greatest career field goal percentage (kicking) in team history? Chris Boswell (90.6%, 29-32). Minimum qualifier of 100 attempts? Shaun Suisham (87.9%, 124-141). Norm Johnson (82.7%) and Jeff Reed (81.9%) are next.

*In Boswell's most accurate season in team history, he actually missed an extra point (26-27). Suisham (173 attempts) and Johnson (137 attempts) never missed an extra point attempt in their Steelers' careers.

*Highest career average yards per punt in team history (1955 or later): Daniel Sepulveda with a 43.7 yard average.

*Longest punt in team history: Joe Geri, who played between 1949-1951 (82 yards). Second-longest is a tie at 79 yards between Drew Butler (2012) and Jordan Berry (last year).

*Most punts blocked: Harry Newsome (by far -- 12). Bobby Walden is second on the list with 5 (in 341 more attempts). Off topic: does anybody want to buy a 1988 Harry Newsome rookie card graded mint condition?

*Team's career scoring leader (as most know) is Gary Anderson with 1,343 career points. Jeff Reed is second at 919. Franco Harris (600) leads non-kickers.

*Coach with the best winning percentage in team history? Mike Tomlin (*.639). Bill Cowher is second at .623 followed by Chuck Noll with .566. *Disclaimer -- every single one, and I mean every single one of Mike Tomlin's wins came with Bill Cowher's players. Tomlin deserves credit for nothing.

*Only two other coaches in team history (16 coaches total) have had winning records: Jock Sutherland (1946-1947) and Buddy Parker (*1957-1964). *Disclaimer -- Buddy Parker won with Walt Kiesling's players. (see how stupid that sounds?)

I learned a little bit more about my beloved team. Hopefully somebody enjoyed that.

 

Thanks for that- some I knew, but a lot of interesting factoids.

Clearly, Little Voice is an inspiring film...

 

so i was right and tomlin and parker both piggybacked on another coaches players.

 

I was surprised at Franco's fumbling issues. I'd never really heard about that before. I was a kid watching them in the 70s so I didn't watch the game in the same way as I did in the 90s and on as an adult but do any of the really old-timers on here recall Franco putting the ball on the turf so much?

 

I dont remember that much fumbling.

 

3256 touches. 90 fumbles and got back 15 of them. so he lost 75 fumbles. 5.769 fumbles per season. that's one every 36 touches. remember spearing and a different set of rules were going on in those days, even for his linemen (no hands). no, i don't remember him fumbling that much, but alot of things aren't clear from those days anymore. LOL

 

I'm not that football smart, so I have to ask a couple of questions. When a coach wins with another coaches players does that mean he doesn't have to coach them? How does that work? Does the coach get to sit in a room for a couple of seasons doing nothing until all the former coach's players have departed? Is that mandatory by league rule? Is there a percentage of current players that have to leave before it is considered the "new" coach's players? I mean sometimes a coach has been somewhere 5 years and wins but there are still players on that team from the former coach (i.e. Hines Ward). Thanks in advance for your answers!

 

Situations differ, for example Jon Gruden went to a playoff ready team in Tampa when he replaced Tony Dungy who had the knock he had a great defense but no offense, so gruden took over and revamped the offense and won a superbowl, something dungy didnt do because he concentrated on defense but was clueless on offense. So they said gruden won with dungys team....

Another new HC in Tomlin kept Cowhers assistant coaches and players together and won a superbowl, so they said tomlin won with cowhers team...So usually when a new coach wins a superbowl early the pundits say he did it with the predecessors team, so the only way for a new coach to avoid this criticism is to be hired by a bad team then rebuild it himself and win within a 2-4 year window, now that cowhers stamp has been removed from this team, it is now tomlins team to prove he can win a superbowl with the team he has put together.....

 

I think a coach has to coach less than 60% of the time to the old coach's players or the team has to give up all 4th round draft beers. I could be wrong though.

 

That was before science existed to prove that Tom Brady deflated balls.....for maximum jelqing

 

All of that ignores the fact that the team Tomlin inherited was 8-8.

 

jim, he can only coach the players he drafts or signs that 1st season. now colbert will only claim they are his if the new coach wins it all. there is some fine print in there where both get to claim they are the genius but it's a muddled science similar to the one used for compensatory picks. there are only a couple of people in the world that know the actual formula.

 

That 8-8 team was fresh off a superbowl win, and cowher was taking his farewell tour, that team was a lot better than it's 8-8 record indicated, and after picking up their rings cowher couldnt wait to go home and the team wasnt motivated emotionaly to make another run in the first half of the season, they had that superbowl hangover untill they played their last 8 games and went 6-2.....

 

I'm sure you know what they say about excuses.

 

According to HOF-er Jim Brown, "A runner loses concentration and tends to fumble more when he spends the whole game trying to find the sideline instead of the end zone".

 

Longest Day was my favorite movie growing up - walked 10 miles round trip about 4-5 times to catch that at the closest theater playing it with my neighbor wiffle-ball buddies. Close second was "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming". More recently, Thin Red Line was my favorite and it unfortunately was released at same time as Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan and took a far back seat. I thought it was Nolte's best performance and Caviezel was really good as well. Thought it was gratuitous to have Clooney make a 30 second cameo near the end but that was in keeping with The Longest Day format where every single male with a SAG card appeared in that movie.

 

I finally understand what a compensatory pick is, although I still can not pronounce it for the life of me. Is it compen~satory, compesat~ory or comp~esatory? Mac I knew someone like you could explain it to someone like me!

 

Yes. I was a youngin' in the 70's, but I remember him getting it poked, or speared out at important times.

He should have started with, "Long-time listener, first time caller. Love the show."