Steelers Four Downs: Ben Roethlisberger not using the middle of the field
1. Keeping it outside
Plenty has been made of Ben Roethlisberger’s tendency to throw short and check down. His 4.3-yard average air yards per completion is third lowest in the league among starting quarterbacks. But even when Roethlisberger has thrown downfield, it has been exclusively to the outside.
According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Roethlisberger has not attempted a pass “between the numbers” more than 16 yards downfield all season. And among the 98 passes he threw the past two weeks, none were more than 12 yards downfield down the middle.
Regardless of direction, of Roethlisberger’s 130 pass attempts in 2021 only 10% have traveled to a teammate who was at least 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Of those 13 throws, 10 have been to the left sideline, three to the right and the aforementioned zero down the middle.
Incidentally, in contrast to the 13 passes Roethlisberger has thrown 20-plus yards downfield, he has thrown 38 times to a teammate at or behind the line of scrimmage.
“We are a group that is close, I believe.”https://t.co/0aUenLZm8j
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 29, 2021
2. No play action
There was chatter over the offseason with the change in offensive coordinators that the Pittsburgh Steelers might use more under-center plays and, by extension, deploy more play-action passing. Neither has come to fruition.
Roethlisberger is taking snaps out of the shotgun more than ever: 84.5% of snaps, per footballoutsiders.com. That’s up from a career-high 82.8% last season and the fourth-highest rate in the NFL.
The lack of under-center snaps has bitten into the ability to use play-action fakes much. Only four teams have used play action less than the Steelers (17 snaps), according to pro-football-reference.com. Then again, that equates to a per-game play-action rate almost twice as high as the Steelers deployed last season (51 in 16 games).
In 2019 and ’20, no team used play action less than the Steelers.
During the 1st quarters of their past 11 games, the Steelers have more punts (23) than first downs (17)https://t.co/eIQHZW3rqm
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 29, 2021
3. No blitz
Perhaps in a nod to the ease with which they are getting to Roethlisberger, opposing defenses haven’t seen much need to bring extra men to aid their efforts to do so.
The Steelers’ three opponents this season have blitzed them a combined 20 times. Only six teams have been blitzed less despite the fact that the Steelers so often have been playing from behind and in obvious passing situations (their 130 pass attempts are third most in the league).
Each of the previous three seasons, the Steelers were among the top half of the NFL in number of snaps on which they faced a blitz.
Najee also learned he leads the league in number of routes run by running backs.
“There’s a stat for that? … Is it PFF?”@C_AdamskiTrib: “yes.”
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) September 24, 2021
4. Harris the receiver
The 14 catches Najee Harris had during last week’s loss to Cincinnati were a record for a Steelers running back. The 19 times he was targeted was, for all intents and purposes, an NFL record: League data that dates to 1950 confirmed it was the highest number since then for a running back. NFL’s Next Gen Stats also reports the 52 times Harris went out for a pass was the most of any running back since such things began being tracked in 2016.
According to PFF, Harris has run routes 121 times this season, by far the most of any running back in the league and the most on the team regardless of position (wide receiver Chase Claypool is second with 117). Harris isn’t just in the passing game as a dump-off option out of the backfield, either. His 18 routes from run the slot are almost twice as many as any other NFL halfback, and his 11 routes run from the outside are tied for ninth most in the NFL among running backs. Eight times against the Bengals, Harris was lined up as a wide receiver.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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