Eagles defense vs. Steelers offense preview by the numbers

As I broke down the Eagles protection stats in-depth final week, I received’t be wanting on the Eagles tendencies right here so this text will likely be just a little shorter than regular. If you wish to learn that piece, yow will discover it here!

The Steelers personnel is fairly predictable. They play 11 personnel and after they go 12 personnel, you possibly can anticipate a run or play-action. Right here’s the Steelers commonplace personnel, which solely consistents of 11 and 12.

And here’s what the Steelers do after they go 12 personnel. You possibly can see an enormous change in play-action and RPO numbers after they go 12 personnel. Extra on this later…

When it comes to model, the Steelers are a no-huddle shotgun-based offense that makes use of a number of RPOs.

They’re a zone-run crew who will run it right into a stacked field if essential. They need to run the ball early and infrequently. I used to be stunned to see the display screen numbers so low contemplating they don’t have a fantastic drop-back passing sport. They use a number of designed rollouts too, and this isn’t only a Trubisky factor, as they’ve continued to do that since beginning Kenny Pickett.

The Steelers offense is brutal. The one factor they do properly is eliminate the ball with out being sacked constantly. Apart from that, the numbers are simply horrible. Rating lifeless final in yards per play and 2nd to final in factors per sport is all you actually need to know. I nonetheless assume Kenny Pickett is a greater quarterback than Mitchell Trubisky however the Eagles protection must be assured whoever they face. As a Najee Harris fantasy proprietor who has watched the Steelers offense fairly carefully, the offensive line is horrible at creating speeding lanes and the Eagles protection ought to really feel assured they will cease this speeding assault. Nevertheless, Harris is a gifted participant and can make some folks miss.

12 Personnel Run Recreation

As talked about earlier, the Steelers prefer to run the ball from 12 personnel. The Steelers are 40-128 at 3.2 yards per carry. I will likely be to see if the Steelers preserve doing this on Sunday, as a result of the Eagles have been actually good in opposition to 12 personnel runs as they usually counter with 5-man fronts and this contains Jordan Davis! In opposition to 11 personnel runs, the Eagles are giving up 5.3 yards per carry. In opposition to 12 personnel, the Eagles are giving up 4.3 yards per carry.

12 Personnel Play-Motion

So, why do the Steelers preserve utilizing 12 personnel if the run sport suffers after they use it? As I discussed with their tendencies earlier, they like to make use of play-action from 12 personnel and that is by far their handiest method of throwing the ball. With play-action from 12 personnel, the Steelers are 15/18 (83%) for 159 yards (8.8 yards per try). In comparison with how dangerous the conventional dropback passing sport has been, anticipate the Steelers to run some play-action out of 12 personnel this Sunday.

The excellent news? Guess what crew has 2 interceptions (most within the league) in opposition to play-action from 12 personnel… the Eagles! And they’re solely giving up 53% of passes so they don’t seem to be getting caught out by this look to date this season.

Cautious When Blitzing

The Steelers passing assault has been horrible this 12 months. Nevertheless, they’re really OK in opposition to the blitz. In opposition to 3/4 man rushes, the Steelers offense is 133/207 (64%) for 1248 yards (6 yards per try) with 2 TDs and 9(!) INTs. That’s fairly tough.

Weirdly although, in opposition to the blitz, they’ve performed fairly properly. In opposition to 5+ rushers, the Steelers are 32/48 (66%) for 320 yards (6.6 yards per try) with 3 TDs and 0 INTs.

This doesn’t imply the Eagles mustn’t blitz in any respect, I simply assume they should cautious and contemplate whether it is one of the simplest ways to assault this Steelers offense.

General, all of the stats level to a dominant Eagles defensive efficiency this Sunday. So I’m positive nothing can go fallacious…