Soul_Survivor88
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Le'Veon Bell has been border-line unstoppable in the run game
Pittsburgh's greatest asset on Sunday's game, may not be its big-play, explosiveness on offense. It will probably be the their ability to run the ball at will, in order to control the tempo of the game and keep Tom Brady off the field.
There's no doubt Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell feed off each other: Focus your attention on Bell, and Brown can rip off a big play through the air; scheme to double-team Brown, and Bell will chew up light run fronts. Bell's elusiveness can also lead to chunk gains and sustained drives.
When Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell receives the ball from Ben Roethlisberger, he doesn't launch full speed into a clutter of linemen. Instead, Bell often stutter-steps, seemingly running at half speed, before finding a hole and carrying the ball several yards for the explosive Steelers offense.
A telling stat: Over his last seven games, Bell has rushed for a total of 1,002 yards and eight touchdowns. That's 142 yards more than the best seven-game stretch of Emmitt Smith, the all-time rushing leader!
The Patriots have played excellent run defense lately. Houston's 4.5 yards per carry on Saturday were the most the Pats had allowed since Week 11. Prior to the playoff game, they had held five straight opponents below four yards per carry, an impressive feat.
But the Pats have not seen anyone like Bell since Arizona's David Johnson in the season opener.
Bell has easily topped 120 yards from scrimmage in all but one game this season. And no one has been able to stop him. Not even close.
And it's not as though Bell has racked up big stats on weak opponents, either. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry against Baltimore in Week 16, and he hung 182 yards on the Giants in Week 13. The Giants and Ravens respectively ranked second and fifth in run defense this year.
And as we saw on Saturday's game against Houston, the benefits of controlling the ball for the majority of the game are pretty obvious. Just revisit the sequence of plays in the first half of the Houston divisional game:
The Texans put together a scoring drive that lasted 8:12 and then Dion Lewis returned a kickoff for a touchdown. After the next Houston possession, Tom Brady threw an interception on the first play. And then following the ensuing Texans drive, Lewis fumbled the kickoff. That's when momentum evaporated for the Patriots offense.
Of course, the Patriots have been able to end long drives by forcing turnovers (when Devin McCourty popped the ball loose from Miami tailback Damien Williams, the Dolphins had held possession for 5:22). Since the loss to Seattle, the Patriots defense has allowed five scoring drives that lasted five minutes or longer. But in that same span, the Steelers have put together 13 scoring drives of five minutes or longer. This is a team that can methodically move the ball downfield.
Getting Pittsburgh to turn the ball over, and the weaknesses of Roethlisberger
They might need to come up with at least one takeaway in the AFC title game, because the prospects of limiting Le'Veon Bell seem bleak.
The good news is that Roethlisberger has shown a tendency to turn the ball over. Roethlisberger’s overall performance has been wildly up and down—from game to game and from half to half, or even quarter to quarter—even as he finally has close to a full complement of healthy weapons around him, and as he’s seen less pressure than he has at any point in his career.
According to Football Outsiders, Roethlisberger led the league with 13 dropped interceptions to go along with his 13 actual interceptions (in 14 games). And according to Pro Football Focus, 4.72 percent of all of Roethlisberger’s throws were considered turnover-worthy, which ranked 27th out of the 29 quarterbacks with at least 400 pass attempts. The irony in all this is that Roethlisberger is being protected better than ever.
It’s difficult to say exactly what’s up with Roethlisberger, and why he’s making so many bad decisions and forcing so many poor throws, even as he’s still showing signs of brilliance and taking fewer hits.
But one thing is for sure: Big Ben likes to take chances with the ball, and will give you that turnover-worthy throw at least once per drive. And as we saw on Sunday against the Chiefs, he has has struggled with untimely turnovers and finishing drives in the red zone.
So what would be the best gameplan against Pittsburgh's offense? Stack the box to limit the run, keep two safeties deep, and playing a good amount of Cover 2 to take away the big plays and make Roethlisberger dink and dunk his way down the field. And cross your fingers that at some point, he fails to finish a drive or (better) commits a turnover.
Pittsburgh's greatest asset on Sunday's game, may not be its big-play, explosiveness on offense. It will probably be the their ability to run the ball at will, in order to control the tempo of the game and keep Tom Brady off the field.
There's no doubt Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell feed off each other: Focus your attention on Bell, and Brown can rip off a big play through the air; scheme to double-team Brown, and Bell will chew up light run fronts. Bell's elusiveness can also lead to chunk gains and sustained drives.
When Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell receives the ball from Ben Roethlisberger, he doesn't launch full speed into a clutter of linemen. Instead, Bell often stutter-steps, seemingly running at half speed, before finding a hole and carrying the ball several yards for the explosive Steelers offense.
A telling stat: Over his last seven games, Bell has rushed for a total of 1,002 yards and eight touchdowns. That's 142 yards more than the best seven-game stretch of Emmitt Smith, the all-time rushing leader!
The Patriots have played excellent run defense lately. Houston's 4.5 yards per carry on Saturday were the most the Pats had allowed since Week 11. Prior to the playoff game, they had held five straight opponents below four yards per carry, an impressive feat.
But the Pats have not seen anyone like Bell since Arizona's David Johnson in the season opener.
Bell has easily topped 120 yards from scrimmage in all but one game this season. And no one has been able to stop him. Not even close.
And it's not as though Bell has racked up big stats on weak opponents, either. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry against Baltimore in Week 16, and he hung 182 yards on the Giants in Week 13. The Giants and Ravens respectively ranked second and fifth in run defense this year.
And as we saw on Saturday's game against Houston, the benefits of controlling the ball for the majority of the game are pretty obvious. Just revisit the sequence of plays in the first half of the Houston divisional game:
The Texans put together a scoring drive that lasted 8:12 and then Dion Lewis returned a kickoff for a touchdown. After the next Houston possession, Tom Brady threw an interception on the first play. And then following the ensuing Texans drive, Lewis fumbled the kickoff. That's when momentum evaporated for the Patriots offense.
Of course, the Patriots have been able to end long drives by forcing turnovers (when Devin McCourty popped the ball loose from Miami tailback Damien Williams, the Dolphins had held possession for 5:22). Since the loss to Seattle, the Patriots defense has allowed five scoring drives that lasted five minutes or longer. But in that same span, the Steelers have put together 13 scoring drives of five minutes or longer. This is a team that can methodically move the ball downfield.
Getting Pittsburgh to turn the ball over, and the weaknesses of Roethlisberger
They might need to come up with at least one takeaway in the AFC title game, because the prospects of limiting Le'Veon Bell seem bleak.
The good news is that Roethlisberger has shown a tendency to turn the ball over. Roethlisberger’s overall performance has been wildly up and down—from game to game and from half to half, or even quarter to quarter—even as he finally has close to a full complement of healthy weapons around him, and as he’s seen less pressure than he has at any point in his career.
According to Football Outsiders, Roethlisberger led the league with 13 dropped interceptions to go along with his 13 actual interceptions (in 14 games). And according to Pro Football Focus, 4.72 percent of all of Roethlisberger’s throws were considered turnover-worthy, which ranked 27th out of the 29 quarterbacks with at least 400 pass attempts. The irony in all this is that Roethlisberger is being protected better than ever.
It’s difficult to say exactly what’s up with Roethlisberger, and why he’s making so many bad decisions and forcing so many poor throws, even as he’s still showing signs of brilliance and taking fewer hits.
But one thing is for sure: Big Ben likes to take chances with the ball, and will give you that turnover-worthy throw at least once per drive. And as we saw on Sunday against the Chiefs, he has has struggled with untimely turnovers and finishing drives in the red zone.
So what would be the best gameplan against Pittsburgh's offense? Stack the box to limit the run, keep two safeties deep, and playing a good amount of Cover 2 to take away the big plays and make Roethlisberger dink and dunk his way down the field. And cross your fingers that at some point, he fails to finish a drive or (better) commits a turnover.
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