1. Fright-end
The categories that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Eric Ebron leads the NFL in among tight ends aren’t the categories you want to sit atop of. According to Pro Football Focus, no tight end has more drops (seven) or penalties (six) – albeit for each, Ebron is tied with another tight end.
On the plus side, Ebron is tied for fifth in receptions by a tight end (51), ninth in yards (511) and tied for 12th in touchdowns (four). But his athleticism isn’t showing in respect to yards-after-catch. Ebron’s 3.3 average yards after catch ranks 34th out of 44 tight ends who have been thrown to at least 24 times this season.
Perhaps owed to the drops and penalty numbers, the advanced statistics are unkind to Ebron. Footballoutsiders.com rates him as the worst among 43 qualifying tight ends (minus-97 defense-adjusted yards above replacement). PFF’s more subjective grades rank Ebron 43rd out of its 44 qualifiers.
Elite receiving skills are what made Eric Ebron a top-10 draft pick six years ago. They also are what compelled the #Steelers to sign him to a $12M contract. https://t.co/wS8IvN9KTA
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2. Keep left
For whatever reason, Ben Roethlisberger has been much better this season when throwing his left than to his right. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Roethlisberger has a 101.4 passer rating when throwing more than 20 yards downfield to the left third of the field. His rating is 36.7 when throwing to his right that deep.
Although not as extreme, the disparity exists at shorter passing depths, too: Big Ben is better throwing to his left (144.6 rating) than right (82.4) on passes between 10-20 yards downfield, from 0-10 yards downfield (104.4-87.3 left/right splits) and even when throwing to targets behind the line of scrimmage (91.0 left; 81.1 right).
Sharpfootballstats.com breaks it down by completion percentage, using 15 yards downfield as its delineator. Roethlisberger has completed 54% of his passes beyond 15 yards to the left third of the field, and only 21% of his passes to the right. He has no interceptions beyond 15 yards downfield to the left but has five combined over the right and center thirds
Big Ben going DEEP… @steelers rookie WR @ChaseClaypool’s first career touchdown is an 84-yarder! #HereWeGo
📺: #DENvsPIT on CBS
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3. DPI see you
It of course isn’t counted in the official passing statistics (or, for that matter, in receiving yards tabulations). But defensive pass interference flags clearly are of great benefit to an offense. By yardage assessed, there isn’t a potentially more impactful infraction in the rulebook.
And the Steelers this season are benefiting far more than most.
According to Football Outsiders, no NFL receiver has drawn more DPI flags than Chase Claypool (eight) – and none has come even close to the 185 yards opponents have been penalized for interfering with balls thrown to Claypool. The next-most is 123 on the seven flags assessed on players in coverage of Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans.
Ben Roethlisberger trails only the Buccaneers’ Tom Brady in regards to passers who have drawn the post DPI flags (Brady, 18: Roethlisberger, 15) and gained the most yardage from them (Brady, 349; Roethlisberger, 292). While Brady and Ben account for all of the flags thrown in favor of their respective teams, the Miami Dolphins (17) are the only other team to benefit from as many opponents’ DPI flags.
Where the Steelers’ other opponents’ DPI flags are coming from: James Washington has drawn three, Ray-Ray McCloud two and JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson one each.
Bengals LB Burfict (@King55Tez) sums up rivalry with @Steelers: “I hate Pittsburgh,” writes @RalphPaulk_Trib. https://t.co/2WHKUGvkUj
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) January 7, 2016
4. One-sided
It was Nov. 1, 2015, that a tackle by Vontaze Burfict ended the season of then-star Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell. It might not ever be known with certainty if it didn’t therefore end the Steelers’ chances at a Super Bowl, too. The Steelers lost in the divisional round when Bell’s backup, fumbled during the fourth quarter of a one-point game in Denver.
Regardless, the Steelers got the last laugh – they haven’t lost to the Bengals since. Counting a playoff win two months later, the Steelers have beaten Cincinnati 11 consecutive times heading into this Monday night’s meeting. The dominance extends back much farther than that – the Steelers are 34-9 against the Bengals since the turn of the century and 47-14 since 1991. A win Monday would give them 18 series sweeps and 10 splits with only two Bengals season series splits over the past 30 years.
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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