Homotron said:
You're an idiot and here is a ESPN inside article for your reading pleasure.
The 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers offered a lesson in the limitations of how far a team can go when trying to overcome injuries.
That club was one of the most talented in NFL history (it boasted nine Hall of Famers among its starting 22), and that skill level allowed the Steelers to bounce back from a 1-4 start -- and the loss of Terry Bradshaw -- to post 10 straight wins on the way to a berth in the AFC Championship Game.
Making it to that contest was quite an achievement, but it turned out to be the high-water mark of the year. Pittsburgh lost both of its starting running backs in an AFC divisional playoff win against the Baltimore Colts. Those losses were just too much even for this roster, and it led to a stagnant offense and a 24-7 defeat at the hands of the Oakland Raiders.
The current Pittsburgh roster doesn't quite have the stockpile of Hall of Fame-caliber candidates, but unlike that 1976 team, this year's Steelers should be able to use a diverse set of strengths to work around their health limitations. If they can, this is a team fully capable of making a Super Bowl run.
It starts with Pittsburgh's running game. Losing Rashard Mendenhall to a season-ending ACL injury hurts, but the Steelers' season-long totals in the good blocking yards per attempt (GBYPA) metric indicate it might not be a huge loss.
For those unfamiliar with GBYPA, it is a game tape-based statistic that measures how productive a ball carrier is on plays when he is given good blocking (which is loosely defined as when the blockers do not allow the defense to do anything to disrupt a rushing attempt).
Mendenhall posted a 7.2-yard total in this category, which is quite good (6.5 is normally the league average) but is less than the 8.8-yard GBYPA mark posted by the rest of Pittsburgh's ball carriers. This means that, as dynamic as he is often described as being,, Mendenhall should not be very hard to replace in terms of production (a sentiment shared by ESPN.com AFC North blogger Jamison Hensley). Quite simply: If the ground game dries up, it won't be because of an injury. It'll be about what's happening up front.
The Steelers also might have one of the best starting wide receiver tandems in the NFL in Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown. The amazing thing about this tandem is how their skills go far beyond how we often hear them described. This pair is far more than two deep threats.
To get an idea of just how dominant these two are, check out their season totals at each route depth level:
Mike Wallace's 2011 season
Route Depth Comp Att Yds TD Int Pen Pen Yds YPA
Short (1-10 yards) 47 58 503 2 1 0 0 8.7
Medium (11-19 yards) 15 26 223 1 1 0 0 8.6
Deep (20-29 yards) 1 3 25 1 0 0 0 8.3
Bomb (30+ yards) 8 19 431 4 1 2 84 24.5
Other (throwaways, etc.) 1 1 11 0 0 0 0 11.0
Total 72 107 1193 8 3 2 84 11.7
Vertical (11+ yards) 24 48 679 6 2 2 84 15.3
Stretch Vertical (20+ yards) 9 22 456 5 1 2 84 22.5
Antonio Brown's 2011 season
Route Depth Comp Att Yds TD Int Pen Pen Yds YPA
Short (1-10 yards) 27 39 221 1 0 1 2 5.6
Medium (11-19 yards) 34 53 676 1 1 1 14 12.8
Deep (20-29 yards) 8 18 211 0 1 0 0 11.7
Bomb (30+ yards) 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 0.0
Other (throwaways, etc.) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Total 69 115 1108 2 3 2 16 9.6
Vertical (11+ yards) 42 75 887 1 3 1 14 11.9
Stretch Vertical (20+ yards) 8 22 211 0 2 0 0 9.6
The first item that comes to mind when viewing these numbers is the fact that Pittsburgh nearly pulled off the rare feat of having two wideouts with double-digit overall YPA totals.
The next most notable statistics are Wallace's short pass totals, both from a YPA perspective (8.7) and an overall yardage perspective (503). Wallace is rightfully thought of as being one of the most dangerous downfield receiving threats in the NFL, but his short pass skills are so prolific that he gained more yards on those dink-and-dunk throws than he did on stretch vertical passes.
That is surprising enough, but the most shocking aspect of these figures is that Brown was actually targeted for 27 more vertical passes than Wallace this year and outpaced him on vertical yards by more than 200 yards. Brown doesn't possess Wallace's ability to put fear in the heart of a defense with raw speed, but his prowess at the medium depth level means he is just as much of a game plan nightmare.
These strengths might be enough on their own to help carry Pittsburgh through Ben Roethlisberger's ankle injury, but they are helped by the fact that the Steelers are really the only fully rounded team in the playoffs. They have the ability to move the ball on the ground and through the air on offense, and they are dominant at stopping both the pass and the run on defense (something evidenced by Pittsburgh's No. 1 ranking in pass yards allowed, total yards allowed and points allowed).
Pittsburgh might be able to make the "most well-rounded" claim only when Roethlisberger is healthy, but since it had the good fortune of landing what looks to be a very favorable first-round matchup against the Denver Broncos (who can make a strong claim to being the weakest team in the 2011 NFL playoffs), it means the odds are quite strong that a team is going to have to beat a healthy Roethlisberger at some point in the postseason.
If that turns out to be the case, this Pittsburgh squad might end up mimicking its Super Bowl XL predecessor by turning a low playoff seed into a world championship.
Way too long.. don't give a fuck. didn't read
