SteelerNation1
09-08-2009, 12:53 PM
I read this on another site, so I don't take credit for it. I thought it was very interesting however.
Like many of you I was hoping that the Steelers could hide Sonny Harris on the Practice Squad and was disappointed when Carolina claimed him. There are some on this board saying that Kirschke should have been cut to make a spot for Harris. I wanted to see just how feasible an idea this was. There aren't a lot of traditional stats for defensive players outside of tackles and turnovers, so I turned to my copy of the 2009 Football Outsiders Almanac. What I found surprised me.
Despite the perception of him as 'merely' a backup, last season Kirschke played the second most snaps of any Steelers DL.
A. Smith led the Steelers defensive lineman by making 63 plays, TK made 44 and Keisel made 43. This was due, in part to the fact that Keisel missed a few games due to injury. But the real question is; How well did he play?
The answer is very well. In fact, he and Keisel played at almost the same level; TK had 31 Stops, BK had 34, TK had only 5 Defeats, BK had 12, TK had 2 Sacks, 5 hits and 2 Hurrys (total 9 QB pressures); BK had 1 Sack, 0 hits, 1 Hurry (total 2 QB pressures). Against the run TK had a Stop 71% of the time, while BK had one 88% of the time. Against the pass TK had a Stop 67% of the time, while BK had one 44% of the time. So Kirschke was slightly better against the pass and Keisel slightly better against the run.
But given that TK was the first DE sub and played most of the rotation snaps, he was a vital part of the Steelers D. When you take into account how good the D was last season and how big a part TK played in it, it would be pretty much asinine for the Steelers to cut him, especially for a guy who wouldn't even dress on gameday.
It wouldn't make any sense to cut Eason for him either, as Nick also played rotation snaps and performed very well, especially on passing downs; 1.5 sacks and 3 Hurries on just 18 plays. And his Stop rate was 100% against 6 screen passes. Eason is only 29 and could easily be a solid contributor for 6 or 7 more years, since 3-4 DEs can play well into their late 30s with no problems.
It sucks that we lost Harris, although we may get him back at some point. Carolina wants him to play as a 4-3 DT which he may not be good at, we'll see.
Like many of you I was hoping that the Steelers could hide Sonny Harris on the Practice Squad and was disappointed when Carolina claimed him. There are some on this board saying that Kirschke should have been cut to make a spot for Harris. I wanted to see just how feasible an idea this was. There aren't a lot of traditional stats for defensive players outside of tackles and turnovers, so I turned to my copy of the 2009 Football Outsiders Almanac. What I found surprised me.
Despite the perception of him as 'merely' a backup, last season Kirschke played the second most snaps of any Steelers DL.
A. Smith led the Steelers defensive lineman by making 63 plays, TK made 44 and Keisel made 43. This was due, in part to the fact that Keisel missed a few games due to injury. But the real question is; How well did he play?
The answer is very well. In fact, he and Keisel played at almost the same level; TK had 31 Stops, BK had 34, TK had only 5 Defeats, BK had 12, TK had 2 Sacks, 5 hits and 2 Hurrys (total 9 QB pressures); BK had 1 Sack, 0 hits, 1 Hurry (total 2 QB pressures). Against the run TK had a Stop 71% of the time, while BK had one 88% of the time. Against the pass TK had a Stop 67% of the time, while BK had one 44% of the time. So Kirschke was slightly better against the pass and Keisel slightly better against the run.
But given that TK was the first DE sub and played most of the rotation snaps, he was a vital part of the Steelers D. When you take into account how good the D was last season and how big a part TK played in it, it would be pretty much asinine for the Steelers to cut him, especially for a guy who wouldn't even dress on gameday.
It wouldn't make any sense to cut Eason for him either, as Nick also played rotation snaps and performed very well, especially on passing downs; 1.5 sacks and 3 Hurries on just 18 plays. And his Stop rate was 100% against 6 screen passes. Eason is only 29 and could easily be a solid contributor for 6 or 7 more years, since 3-4 DEs can play well into their late 30s with no problems.
It sucks that we lost Harris, although we may get him back at some point. Carolina wants him to play as a 4-3 DT which he may not be good at, we'll see.