It is easy to get into the weeds when it comes to NFL statistics and analytics. When someone is trying to make a point or push a narrative, they can typically find a stat to back it up if they just look hard enough. But this isn’t why we are here today. When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, numbers can be deceiving. But I’m going to keep it really simple. Here is the one big statistic the Steelers must focus on this season.
Red-zone touchdown percentage is the percentage of times the Steelers get inside the 20-yard line and they turn it into a touchdown. If you want to point to a single number that sunk the 2019 season after Ben Roethlisberger went down, this is it.
In 2018, the Steelers scored touchdowns on 73.47 percent of their trips to the red zone. This was tops in the NFL. By contrast, in 2019, the Steelers saw that number fall to 35 percent which was dead last in the league.
Obviously, you can put a big chunk of this on the fact the Steelers had to play a combination of Devlin Hodges and Mason Rudolph for much of the season. But this doesn’t absolve the coaching staff of blame.
The Indianapolis Colts scored touchdowns on 64.3 percent of their opportunities with Jacoby Brissett and Brian Hoyer at quarterback. The Cleveland Browns scored 58 percent of the time and New York Giants scored more than 57 percent of the time with rookie Daniel Jones at quarterback in 13 games.
The Steelers coaching staff got a complete pass for last season because of the Roethlisberger injury but they really shouldn’t have. Just like they shouldn’t get the credit for the bounceback if Roethlisberger can get the offense back on track.
