Steelers

Philadelphia Eagles (3-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2)

stevenlourie 2012 NFL Picks, 2012 Week 5 NFL Picks, Eagles, Steelers

Philadelphia Eagles (3-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2)

I really wish these two teams weren’t playing each other. I was so looking forward to betting Pittsburgh back at home this week off their bye after they fell flat in Oakland before the bye. That loss in Oakland, as bad as Oakland is, was predictable. The Steelers have really struggled on the road, as opposed to at home, over the past year plus. Over the last year plus on the road, they are -43, including playoffs, and +137 at home. They beat Indianapolis by just 3, Kansas City by just 4, and Cleveland by just 3 last year and now they lost to Oakland.

They were also without James Harrison and Troy Polamalu last week. The latter’s injury was more damaging. The Steelers are now 7-8 since 2009 without him, allowing 21.6 points per game and 27-8, allowing 14.4 points per game, with him. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere presence can disrupt passing plays and running plays. Both are expected to be back this week and even though Polamalu is more important, both will be welcomed back with open arms. They also return Rashard Mendenhall who, even if he still isn’t 100%, will add some life to a running game that currently ranks dead last in the NFL in YPC. Besides, home favorites of 3+ off a bye are 44-21 ATS in non-divisional contests since 2002. Back at home, healthy, off a bye, this was a great “buy low” opportunity to bet on them.

However, we’re not getting any line value with them at all because of who they are playing. Philadelphia is still undervalued because of how many turnovers they committed in the first 3 games. Turnovers tend to be very inconsistent on a week to week basis. The average turnover differential the following week for a team that had a differential of +5 one week is the same as the average turnover differential the following week for a team that had a differential of -5. They’re right around at +0.0. In fact, that’s the case for every turnover differential bracket. That’s why I wasn’t shocked at all that they didn’t commit a single turnover against the Giants last week. Turnovers aside, they rank 2nd in the league in yards per play differential.

The Steelers, meanwhile, rank 22nd. That’s skewed by the injuries they’ve had and they’re a much better team at home, but this line is -3.5. An old gambling formula says to take the difference between the two differentials, in this case, 1.2, and divide by .15 and add 3 points either way for home field to get the “real” line. In this case, the “real” line should be Philadelphia -5. Obviously, we need to add a human element to the mix here. If this line was Philadelphia -5, I’d be all over it for Pittsburgh, but the point is, Philadelphia has really outplayed Pittsburgh thus far this season and I don’t think they deserve to be 3.5 point home favorites over them. In order for this line to be valid, Pittsburgh would have to be tied for 1st with San Francisco in yards per play differential and I don’t think that’s the type of team they are, even at full strength, off a bye, at home.

I’ve gone back and forth on this. Philadelphia is probably the better team and has definitely played like the better team this season, at least in statistics that matter (meaning ones that are more consistent on a week to week basis). However, Pittsburgh is great at home and is finally healthy. They’re also in a great situation coming off a bye. Besides, like Green Bay and New England last week with the same record, Pittsburgh is a proven, veteran team in a must win situation. At the end of the day, I’m going to take the points and fade the public as long as we have field goal protection, but if I did zero unit picks, this would be one of them.

Public lean: Pittsburgh (new thing I’m adding, siding with the odds makers on bets is not a bad thing to do since they make so much money, so I’m listing this here to allow readers to “fade” the public, if they so choose, in this example, the odds makers win if Philadelphia covers)

Sharps lean: PIT 17 PHI 9

Final Update: The sharps really seem to love Pittsburgh. I was as split as could be on this one, so I’m going to defer to the sharps and make a small play on Pittsburgh. If I did zero unit picks, this would be one though.

Pittsburgh Steelers 21 Philadelphia Eagles 17

Pick against spread: Pittsburgh -3.5 (-110) 1 unit

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Pittsburgh Steelers: Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#11)

stevenlourie 2012 NFL Power Rankings, 2012 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings, Steelers

Last week: 6 (-5)

Record: 1-2

The Steelers suck on the road. Over the last year plus on the road, they are -43, including playoffs, and +137 at home. They beat Indianapolis by just 3, Kansas City by just 4, and Cleveland by just 3 last year and now they lost to Oakland. They also really miss James Harrison and especially Troy Polamalu. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere presence can disrupt passing plays and running plays. The Steelers are now 7-8 since 2009 without him, allowing 21.6 points per game and 27-8, allowing 14.4 points per game, with him. Once the Steelers get home and get healthy off a bye, they should be fine. In a weak AFC, they still look like a good bet for the playoffs, but I don’t like their chances of winning a road playoff game, which it looks like they’ll have to.

Studs

QB Ben Roethlisberger: 36 of 49 for 384 yards and 4 touchdowns, 1 throw away, 2 spikes, 100.8 adjusted QB rating, pressured on 10 of 51 drop backs (1 sack, 6 of 9, 1 throw away)

WR Mike Wallace: 8 catches for 123 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts on 51 pass snaps, 4.9 YAC per catch

Duds

RB Jonathan Dwyer: Rushed for -1 yards (1 after contact) on 3 carries, 1 fumble, 1 catch for 1 yard on 1 attempt

LE Ziggy Hood: Did not record a pressure on 36 pass rush snaps, 1 assist

P Drew Butler: 3 punts for 108 yards, 1 inside 20, 1 return for 5 yards, 34.3 net yards per punt

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Steelers rule out James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, and Rashard Mendenhall again

stevenlourie News, Steelers

The Steelers have an early bye week this season, week 4, and it’s coming at the right time as they have several key players nursing injuries. However, before they can get to the bye, they’ll have to go to Oakland to play the Oakland Raiders without starting safety Troy Polamalu, starting outside linebacker James Harrison, and starting running back Rashard Mendenhall once again.

Harrison and Mendenhall both are yet to play this season with knee problems and Polamalu will miss his 2nd straight game this week with a calf problem. As talented as Mendenhall and Harrison are, Polamalu is the one they need healthy the most. The played well against the Jets last week without him, but prior to last week, over the last 3 years, when he plays, the Steelers are 27-8 and allow 14.4 points per game and without him, they’re 6-7 and allow 21.5 points per game. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere presence can disrupt passing plays and running plays.

Still even without that trio, they have an obvious advantage on paper over the lowly Raiders, who are also very banged up with injuries and coming off an embarrassing 35-13 loss at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. The Steelers do have a tendency to fall flat on the road over the last 2 years, especially against inferior opponents. This team is -40 on the road since the start of last week, including playoffs, and +137 at home. They beat Indianapolis by just 3, Kansas City by just 4, and Cleveland by just 3 last year. However, heading into a bye, they should be very focused and dominate the Raiders as they’re supposed to. Road favorites of 3+ and home favorites of 7+ are a combined 34-18 ATS heading into a bye since 2002, as long as their opponent isn’t also heading into a bye.

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Pittsburgh Steelers at Oakland Raiders: Week 3 NFL Pick

stevenlourie 2012 NFL Picks, 2012 Week 3 NFL Picks, Raiders, Steelers

Oakland Raiders (0-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)

Before the season, I made a list of underrated and overrated teams, with the intent of betting them (or against them) until the odds makers caught up and I was proven wrong. This approach has worked well for me because I’m 10-4-2 ATS on games involving those teams. One thing I was dead on about was that the Raiders would be one of the worst teams in the league. They’ve been favored in each of their first 2 games, losing them both, including the last one in embarrassing fashion to the Dolphins, 35-13, a game I made a big play on in favor of the Dolphins.

Their defense has been exactly as you’d expect from a defense that ranked 29th in scoring last year and then who lost their top cornerback and top pass rusher this offseason. Injuries have hammered them on that side of the ball too as linebacker Aaron Curry is expected to miss the entire season, while top cornerback Ronald Bartell will miss at least 6 weeks after being put on non-season ending IR.

Shawntae Spencer, another starting cornerback, will also miss this game, as could middle linebacker Rolando McClain. Spencer isn’t very good, but he was a starter at a very thin position to begin with. After failing to return everyone at the position who played a single snap for them in 2011, the Raiders have lost their top two cornerbacks with injury and will likely start Patrick Lee and Phillip Adams in this one. Yeah, good luck containing Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown.

McClain’s potential absence also hurts as he’s one of their best defensive players and plays in a unit already starting a 4th round rookie. Travis Goethel, an inexperienced 2010 5th round pick, would start in his absence if he couldn’t go. Meanwhile, defensive tackles Richard Seymour and Tommy Kelly are showing their age as they just let Reggie Bush run for 172 yards and 2 scores on them last week en route to a 35-13 Miami victory in a game where the Dolphins totaled 452 yards.

Offensively, Carson Palmer has been what you’d expect and turning 33 this season, he’s not going to get any better. He’s not the problem though. The offense hasn’t been terrible and for the most part he’s not getting any help. He’s playing behind a 28th ranked offensive line in pass blocking efficiency and that will only get worse this week as they face a tough Pittsburgh pass rush, likely without starting right tackle Khalif Barnes. Barnes isn’t great or anything, but replacement Willie Smith was horrendous last week after Barnes left the game. And Darren McFadden? What the hell happened to Darren McFadden?

This has become a consensus awful team, one of the worst in the NFL. However, they still seem to be overrated by Vegas. How are they only -4 here? My first thought was trap line (more on that later), especially since most of the action is on Pittsburgh and the line is still falling, but I’m having a hard time seeing how Pittsburgh doesn’t cover this week.

Pittsburgh has a big home/road differential, dating back to the start of last season and have fallen flat on the road against bad teams in the past. This team is -40 on the road in that time period, including playoffs, and +137 at home. They beat Indianapolis by just 3, Kansas City by just 4, and Cleveland by just 3 last year. However, they’re heading into a bye and good teams tend to be very focused and cover heading into a bye.

Teams in general tend to cover heading into a bye, as long as their opponent isn’t also heading into one, going 151-126 ATS since 2002. However, good teams are even better. Road favorites of 3+ and home favorites of 7+ are a combined 34-18 ATS heading into a bye since 2002, as long as their opponent isn’t also heading into a bye. The Steelers, who are a perennially good team, have covered 4 out of 5 times before a bye under Mike Tomlin. Even with their recent road struggles, they should be extremely focused this week and obliterate an Oakland team that doesn’t stand much of a chance on paper.

The possibility of this being a trap line is the only reason this isn’t a bigger bet. Most of the money is on Pittsburgh and on top of the public being terrible on games where they lean heavily to one side this year, it’s a bad sign that most of the money is on one side and we have opposite line movement. Even heading into a bye, Pittsburgh could fall flat against a drastically inferior team on the road once again, especially since they will be without James Harrison and possibly Troy Polamalu again. I’m going with Pittsburgh because I just can’t see Oakland keeping this one close, but it’s not a big wager.

Public lean: Pittsburgh (new thing I’m adding, siding with the odds makers on bets is not a bad thing to do since they make so much money, so I’m listing this here to allow readers to “fade” the public, if they so choose, in this example, the odds makers win if Oakland covers)

Pittsburgh Steelers 31 Oakland Raiders 13

Pick against spread: Pittsburgh -4 (-110) 2 units

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Pittsburgh Steelers: 2012 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#6)

stevenlourie 2012 NFL Power Rankings, 2012 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Steelers

Last week: 6 (+0)

Record: 1-1

Home sweet home for the Steelers. It looks like their home/road disparity has carried over from last season. This team was -22 on the road last year and +120 at home last year. The Raiders get a chance to right the ship on the road this week as they go to Oakland before an early bye week 4. The Steelers hope to get James Harrison and Troy Polamalu back this week, but Polamalu is the key. Prior to last week, over the last 3 years, when he plays, the Steelers are 27-8 and allow 14.4 points per game and without him, they’re 6-7 and allow 21.5 points per game. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere presence can disrupt passing plays and running plays.

Studs

RT Marcus Gilbert: Did not allow a pressure on 35 pass block snaps, 1 penalty, run blocked for 0 yards on 1 attempt

QB Ben Roethlisberger: 24 of 31 for 275 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 throw away, 1 hit as thrown, 1 drop, 109.0 adjusted QB rating, pressured on 11 of 34 drop backs (2 sacks, 7 of 9, 1 throw away, 1 touchdown)

WR Antonio Brown: 7 catches for 79 yards on 9 receptions on 31 pass snaps, 6.4 YAC per catch

WR Mike Wallace: 5 catches 74 yards and a touchdown on 5 receptions on 30 pass snaps, 0.4 YAC per catch

LOLB LaMarr Woodley: 1 sack, 2 quarterback hits, and 4 quarterback pressures on 17 pass rush snaps, 1 solo tackle, 1 missed tackle, 1 stop

FS Ryan Clark: Allowed 1 catch for 2 yards on 3 attempts, 6 solo tackles, 2 assists, 4 stops

K Shaun Suisham: 2 touchbacks on 6 kickoffs, 71.0 yards per kickoff, 20.8 opponent’s average starting distance

Duds

C Maurkice Pouncey: Allowed 1 sack on 35 pass block snaps, 1 penalty, run blocked for 7 yards on 8 attempts

LE Ziggy Hood: 0 quarterback pressures on 33 pass rush snaps, no tackles

NT Casey Hampton: 0 quarterback pressures on 11 pass rush snaps, no tackles

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Steelers list Rashard Mendenhall as doubtful, expect both injured offensive linemen to play

stevenlourie News, Steelers

Rashard Mendenhall did some work in practice for the 2nd straight week, just 9 months removed from a torn ACL, but he is once again very unlikely to play this week. When they first activated him off the PUP, the plan was for him to sit for the first 3 weeks of the season, do a little work in practice with the team to get back into shape, and then to return week 5 after their bye. So far, everything seems to have gone according to plan, so we won’t see him this week or next week.

In his absence, Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer predictably split carries, but Dwyer definitely outshined him, totaling 47 yards on 11 touches, as opposed to 22 yards on 13 touches for Redman. As a result, head coach Mike Tomlin has said that Dwyer will get an expandable role this week, as he did as the game progressed last week. Expect him to start and if you are going to start one of these backs in fantasy, Dwyer is your man, though neither is advisable unless you absolutely need to because they should basically cancel each other out against a normally stout Jets run defense that returns Sione Pouha from injury this week.

The good news for the Steelers is that both of their injured offensive linemen, Ramon Foster and Marcus Gilbert, who left last week’s game, are expected to play. In their absences, Doug Legursky and Mike Adams struggled and the Steelers were down to their last healthy, active offensive linemen. Ben Roethlisberger’s protection should be better this week, unless someone else gets hurt, facing an Jets’ inferior pass rush. The Broncos’ strong pass rush pressured Roethlisberger on 18 of 46 drop backs last week, the 5th highest rate in the league. It’s a welcome relief for a Steelers’ offensive line that saw 1st round pick rookie David DeCastro suffer a potentially season ending injury in the preseason and 2nd round pick rookie Mike Adams lose his starting job to veteran Max Starks.

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Steelers to be without James Harrison, probably Troy Polamalu this week

stevenlourie News, Steelers

When the Steelers play the Jets this week, the Jets will be without a key defensive player, Darrelle Revis, but the Steelers will also be without a key defensive player and maybe even two. James Harrison, who was supposed to play last week, will miss his 2nd straight week after having supposedly minor knee surgery last month. Now reports say that he might not play at all until after the Steelers’ week 4 bye. In his absence, 2011 5th round pick Chris Carter played last week and didn’t do much. He’ll start again and split snaps with Jason Worilds, another young pass rusher.

Polamalu’s injury is more serious because of what he means to that defense. The Steelers have a great defense, but no player is more important to their defense than him. Over the last 3 years, when he plays, the Steelers are 27-8 and allow 14.4 points per game and without him, they’re 6-7 and allow 21.5 points per game. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere presence can disrupt passing plays and running plays.

I made the argument for an improved Steeler defense before the season, improved even off their league leading scoring defense last year. I noted that they had just 15 turnovers last year and that since 2002, 38 teams have had 20 or fewer takeaways in a season. Those teams had, on average, 7.53 more takeaways and won 1.41 more games the following season.

They also had several key injuries on defense last year. Both outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley missed time, which forced Jason Worilds to step into the starting lineup and Lawrence Timmons to move from inside linebacker to outside linebacker. Worilds did fine, though he certainly wasn’t as good as Woodley or Harrison would have been, but Timmons was awful. Clearly not a natural pass rusher, he had just 2 quarterback hits and 1 quarterback pressure on 114 pass rush snaps in 4 starts, a pathetic 2.6% rate. Timmons was ProFootballFocus’ highest rated middle linebacker in 2010, so him being inside for all 16 games will definitely help their defense. Even if it wasn’t improved, they looked poised for their SEVENTH top-3 scoring defense since 2004.

However, the Steelers could have all that derailed if their most important and irreplaceable defensive player misses several games with injury or starts to show his age at all at age 31. He didn’t show his age in the opener, but he’s very likely to miss at least one game, as he didn’t practice all week with a calf problem. The last time the Steelers missed the playoffs and didn’t have a top-3 scoring defense was in 2009, when Polamalu missed 11 games.

It’s not a huge concern yet because it’s only one game so far and they should be able to beat the Jets, who still have an inconsistent quarterback and whose “offensive explosion” last week, was a result of the Bills’ offense giving them great field position all night, a pick six, a punt return touchdown, and the Bills’ defense quitting after going down big early. The Jets are also hurt by the injury to top cornerback Darrelle Revis, who might be as irreplaceable to them as Polamalu is to the Steelers. The situation is definitely one to monitor going forward past this week, however.

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New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers: Week 2 NFL Pick

stevenlourie 2012 NFL Picks, 2012 Week 2 NFL Picks, Jets, Steelers

New York Jets (1-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1)

If I had remembered how bad the Steelers were on the road last year, I probably would not have picked them in Denver. Seriously, look at this, lose by 28 in Baltimore, win by 3 in Indianapolis, lose by 7 in Houston, win by 12 in Arizona, win by 7 in Cincinnati, win by 4 in Kansas City, lose by 17 in San Francisco, win by 4 in Cleveland. 3 good teams beat them, 3 bad teams hung with them, the only impressive wins were by 12 in Arizona and by 7 in Cincinnati and even those weren’t that impressive, and then of course there was the overtime playoff loss to the Broncos. This team was -22 on the road last year and +120 at home.

The good news for the Steelers, they return home this week. They also return James Harrison from injury and get back Ryan Clark, who can’t play in thin mountain air because of a genetic condition. That will help this defense, as will the fact that they won’t be playing against a no huddle offense in thin mountain air. It also didn’t help that last week was just their first game back. They looked gassed for most of the Broncos’ game, especially once the Broncos went true no huddle. This week, they won’t see a lot of no huddle and they’ll be playing back at home and at sea level. This is a very talented defense; last week just seemed to be a bad situation for them. Remember, they were the #1 scoring defense in 2011 despite key injuries and despite a league low 15 turnovers, something that almost certainly won’t happen again this year.

This week, they also won’t be playing an offensive juggernaut like the Broncos were. The Jets may have looked like an offensive juggernaut last week, exploding for 48 points after failing to score a touchdown with either their first or second team offense all preseason. However, that’s a little misleading. 14 of those points were scored by their defense or special teams and they definitely benefitted from consistently great field position, starting their 9 drives on the 35.1 yard line on average, a big part of the reason why they were able to score 4 touchdowns and kick 2 field goals. They actually only had 384 yards, the 11th highest total on the week.

On top of all that, the Bills’ defense just seemed to quit after they got down big early. The Jets got up 21-0 early on the strength of a 61 yard touchdown drive, a 52 yard touchdown drive, and a punt return touchdown and the Bills just seemingly gave up after that. That’s why I call their offensive performance a defensive aided offensive performance. The defense gave them great field position all night, especially early, and allowed the Jets to work with short fields against a Bills defense that had given up after getting down big early. Their offense scored 34 points and had 384 yards largely because of that. I’m not trying to completely sell the offense short. They played a very good game and surprised a lot of people, but they had a lot of help from the defense, who was able to capitalize on Ryan Fitzpatrick’s terrible game. Their offense problems aren’t totally solved and they’re going to have trouble beating real teams with real quarterbacks, which the Steelers definitely are.

The other issue is just offensive consistency. Mark Sanchez has had good games in the past, but one of his biggest issues has been consistency. It’s for that reason that his career QB rating is pretty mediocre, 74.2. He’s completed 55.6% of his career passes for an average of 6.8 YPA and 58 touchdowns to 52 interceptions. He doesn’t magically become a better quarterback just because he had a good game. It also doesn’t help that his top receiver is a 2nd round rookie, Stephen Hill, who, by his very nature as a rookie, will also be inconsistent this season. Was their offense impressive last week? Yes. Do I expect it to continue? No, especially not against the Steelers’ defense.

Unless the Steelers’ offense completely implodes like the Bills’ did last week, the Jets offense will have a harder time scoring points this week, especially against one of the top defenses in the league. I don’t expect the Steelers’ offense to implode, especially since the Jets could be without their top defensive player, Darrelle Revis, who suffered a concussion last week and will need to be cleared before game time if he wants to play.

The Jets’ performance last week and, to a lesser extent, the Steelers’ performance last week has skewed this line a lot. Before last week, this line probably would have been something like -9 in favor of the Steelers. Instead, it’s -5.5. That suggests that the Jets are only 2.5 points worse than the Steelers (add 3 for home field advantage) and I don’t think that’s true, especially with Revis’ status in doubt. There’s a lot of line value here. The Steelers should bounce back at home, with 2 defensive starters returning, with a better matchup for their defense (no thin air, very little no huddle), while the Jets’ offensive performance last week was defensive aided and probably a fluke.

Not only is there line value, but the Jets’ are a publicly backed underdog, which I love betting against, especially with the line dropping even as money goes on the Jets, which is one of the signs of a trap line. The odds makers seem to be playing off public overreaction, which I’m not going to fall into. On top of all this, Mike Tomlin is 15-9 ATS off a loss since taking over in 2007, while the Steelers’ in general are 23-15 ATS off a loss since 2004, when Ben Roethlisberger took over as starting quarterback (1-0 without him, 22-15 ATS with him), and they have covered in their last 8 such instances. The Steelers are one of my favorite plays of the week.

Public lean: NY Jets (new thing I’m adding, siding with the odds makers on bets is not a bad thing to do since they make so much money, so I’m listing this here to allow readers to “fade” the public, if they so choose, in this example, the odds makers win if Pittsburgh covers)

Update: I’m not quite as confident in this pick as I was before. James Harrison was surprisingly ruled out for the 2nd straight week, while Troy Polamalu did not practice Friday. The latter is their single most important defensive player. The Jets, however, will also be without their most important defensive player as Darrelle Revis has been ruled out. Their chances of winning without him are pretty slim.

Pittsburgh Steelers 27 New York Jets 13

Pick against spread: Pittsburgh -6 (-105) 2 units

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Pittsburgh Steelers: Week 2 NFL Power Rankings (#6)

stevenlourie 2012 NFL Power Rankings, 2012 Week 2 NFL Power Rankings, Steelers

Last week: 6 (+1)

Record: 1-0

If I had remembered how bad the Steelers were on the road last year, I probably would not have picked them in Denver. Seriously, look at this, lose by 28 in Baltimore, win by 3 in Indianapolis, lose by 7 in Houston, win by 12 in Arizona, win by 7 in Cincinnati, win by 4 in Kansas City, lose by 17 in San Francisco, win by 4 in Cleveland. 3 good teams beat them, 3 bad teams hung with them, the only impressive wins were by 12 in Arizona and by 7 in Cincinnati and even those weren’t that impressive, and then of course there was the overtime playoff loss to the Broncos. This team was -22 on the road last year and +120 at home. They really need to win the division to have any chance to advance deep in the playoffs. The good news is they return home to play the Jets and get Ryan Clark and James Harrison back.

Studs

MLB Larry Foote: 10 solo tackles, 1 missed tackle, 7 stops on 28 run snaps, 1 sack and 1 quarterback hit on 8 blitzes, allowed 2 completions for 10 yards on 3 attempt, 1 pass deflection

SS Troy Polamalu: Wasn’t thrown on, 6 solo tackles, 1 stop on 28 run snaps

K Shaun Suisham: 5 kickoffs, 5 touchbacks, 2/2 FG (21, 35)

Duds

LT Max Starks: Allowed 1 quarterback hit and 5 quarterback pressures on 51 pass block snaps, 1 penalty, run blocked for 6 yards on 1 attempt

LG Willie Colon: Allowed 1 sack and 1 quarterback pressure on 51 pass block snaps, 2 penalties, run blocked for 11 yards on 4 attempts

RG Doug Legursky: Allowed 2 sacks, 2 quarterback hits, and 4 quarterback pressures on 40 pass block snaps, run blocked for 12 yards on 4 attempts

RB Isaac Redman: Rushed for 20 yards (17 after contact) on 11 carries, 1 broken tackle, caught 2 passes for 7 yards on 2 attempts

LE Ziggy Hood: 0 sacks, quarterback hits, or quarterback pressures on 23 pass rush snaps, 2 solo tackles, 1 stop on 24 run snaps

RE Brett Keisel: 0 sacks, quarterback hits, or quarterback pressures on 21 pass rush snaps, 1 assist on 22 run snaps

ROLB Chris Carter: 0 sacks, quarterback hits, or quarterback pressures on 14 pass rush snaps, 1 solo tackle on 19 run snaps

CB Ike Taylor: Allowed 5 catches for 119 yards and 1 touchdown on 6 attempts, 2 solo tackles, 1 missed tackle on 28 run snaps

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