another look at sacks, o-line, and replenishment thereof

by nerves of steel on Oct 28, 2008 10:18 AM EDT

Hi all,

I wanted to revisit a post I made about a month ago looking at the average sacks per game on Ben and look at the 5 up front over that time and where we've gone in the draft and free agency over those years.

2004--2.3 sacks per game

2005--1.9 sacks per game

2006--3.1 sacks per game

2007--3.1 sacks per game

2008--3.2 sacks per game

Now I want to cross reference those seasons with the o-line and their selection in the draft (some of these folks--Hartings, Mahan, Hartwig--obviously were not drafted by the Steelers, I just show in which round they were drafted) and who the Steelers took in that draft year for o-line

2004--Smith (2nd round), Faneca (1st round), Hartings (FA, 1st round) , Vincent (undrafted) , Ross (5th round)/Took Starks in 3rd round, Lacy in 6th

2005--Smith (2nd round), Faneca (1st round), Hartings (1st round), Simmons (1st round), Starks (3rd round)/Took Essex in 3rd round, Kemo in 6th

2006--Same starters as above/Took Colon in 6th, Philip in 7th

2007--Smith, Faneca, Mahan (FA, drafted in 5th), Simmons, Colon (6th)/Took Stephenson in 6th, Stapleton signed as undrafted

2008--Smith, Kemo (6th), Hartwig (FA, drafted in 6th), Simmons (1st), Colon/Took Hills in 4th

I know that they say protecting the qb is the job of 11 men, but can we take issue that the 2005 1.9 low average and an o-line of 2, 1, 1, 1, and 3 round picks is better than a 2008 3.2 average and an o-line of (now) 3, 6, 6, undrafted, and 6? There has to be something there. Add to that that three of the picks the Steelers used on o-line--Lacy, Philip, and Stephenson--are not with the team any longer.

Now look at total rushing yards in terms of where the Steelers ranked in the league:

2004--2nd in league, 2464, 4.0y/a

2005--5th in league, 2223 yds, 4.0 y/a

2006--10th in league, 1992 yds, 4.2 y/a

2007--3rd in league, 2168 yds, 4.6 y/a

2008--20th in league (as of today, 751 yds)

While the sack total has gone up, the rushing yds per attempt have as well.

Is our o-line better suited to running the ball? If so, does that mean we should go back to a traditional I formation and even find a fb? Is our offensive philosophy--whether it comes from Arians or handing it over to Ben more--ill suited to our personnel? Thoughts?

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Comments

good stuff man

I do think we should be running the ball more. I wish we had something like what Miami is doing with their Wildcat formation. SOMETHING to change things up and make defenders on the edge slow down a bit.

by Michael Bean on Oct 28, 2008 10:43 AM EDT reply actions

You have to wonder when a team like Tennessee Titans

…can be so dominant offensively, with what looks on paper to be less natural talent.

5 GAMES WITHOUT A SACK ALLOWED!

Chris Bleeping Johnson averaging over 100 yards per game. LenDale Fat ****ing White with 10 TDs already.

Raises serious questions about the coaching staff in Pittsburgh to me.

by robert ethan on Oct 28, 2008 2:17 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah I watched that game last night and that is how we used to play football. We told everyone..Hey we are going to run the ball now stop us. Instead now we say to the league we are going to run and then we pass more…Hey Arians the league doesn’t believe it anymore and are ready for your game plan.

Just a quick question…where is the roll out? Ben is great out of the pocket but no designed roll outs?? If you call a roll out…bootleg..what have you..and its not there then he can just throw it out of bounds since he should be outside the tackles or hash marks. If the line play is so poor why is Arians trying to make him a pocket passer? Its not his style.

Hey did anyone see what Pierce said about the O-line. " They have a young group over there. They’re going to be very good and they’re good now. They’re a young o-line and with him being a Super Bowl quarterback he’s trying to calm those guys down." This was in regards to whether Ben was frustrated or not. Don’t know if he was being funny or not.

by Silverback92 on Oct 28, 2008 5:16 PM EDT up reply actions