Decided to take a little closer look at the time of possession this past season. Previous posts on average ToP by quarter seemed to show pretty consistent offensive production and our overall averages ranked the Steelers 4th in the league.
The following is eye-opening and falls in line with what I and a few others believed true. The following are avg ToP by quarter:
Quarter.....1st...........2nd..........3rd........ ....4th.........OT
Won.........8:29.........7:39.........6:33........ ...9:12
Lost.........9:17.........7:37.........8:28....... ....6:40......4:45
The Steelers clearly struggled to keep the ball in the offense's hands late in games that resulted in losses. Curiously, the 3rd quarter was not an issue and it is easy to see that the 3rd and 4th quarters cancelled between wins and losses when looking at overall averages. But there is no mistaking, we lost games when we didn't hold the ball late.
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