Four Downs: Steelers tight end corps among most unproductive in NFL

1. Slight ends

A typical narrative says the tight end is a young quarterback’s best friend. Not for Mason Rudolph and the Steelers. Since Rudolph became the starter, Vance McDonald and Nick Vannett have appeared in seven games each (McDonald missed one because of injury, and Vannett was acquired a week after Ben Roethlisberger’s season-ending surgery).

In those 14 combined appearances, Vannett and McDonald combined for 25 catches, 215 yards and a touchdown. So over the eight games since the Steelers went from a 16-year veteran to a first-year starter at quarterback (Devlin Hodges for one game in place of Rudolph), the tight ends have only 42 targets (5.2 per game). The position corps is averaging just more than three catches and fewer than 27 yards per game.

Among 60 NFL tight ends who have run at least 85 routes this season, Vannett and McDonald are worst and second-worst in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.

Of 74 tight ends who have a catch this season, McDonald and Vannett are tied for 69th and 71st, respectively, in the metric.

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2. O-H-I-O

A loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday would lead to some rarities against the Steelers’ Ohio-based rivals. Since the Bengals joined the NFL and became division foes with the Steelers in 1970, the Steelers have played the Bengals and Cleveland Browns in consecutive games 27 times (one of those occasions was a three-weeks-in-a-row trifecta, another included a bye in between such games).

Only twice have the Steelers lost both games: in October 1986 and to start the 1989 season. They never have lost in consecutive weeks in games on the road in Ohio.

Since Chuck Noll retired after the 1991 season, the Steelers only four times lost to the Bengals and Browns at least once in the same season, regardless of the timing: in 1999, 2003, ’09, ‘12. Two of the ’09 defeats came on the road. That’s the only time since 1990 the Steelers lost two games on the road in Ohio in a season. That 2009 season also is the only time the Steelers lost three games to their Ohio rivals in a season since the Noll era.

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3. Coming up short

There was plenty of discussion this past week about the struggling offense’s troubles in converting short-yardage plays on third and fourth downs. The Steelers defense also is having difficulties in such situations.

Opponents are a combined 18 for 23 in converting third- and fourth-down plays of 2 or fewer yards to go, including 17 for 21 in such circumstances on rushes. The Steelers have allowed nine first downs on 11 third-and-1 running plays and four first downs on five third-and-2 rushes.

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4. Groups of 11

Through 10 games this season, the Steelers have used 179 combinations of personnel groupings on offense and 202 on defense.

That might sound like a lot, but the Steelers are in the middle for offensive combinations (tied with Minnesota for 16th-most) and tied for the ninth-fewest groupings on defense.