T.O.P

[Oviedo]

Re: T.O.P

I honestly think we had three main issues last season...STs is obvious. Redzone issues are also obvious. Less obvious was how poorly our D played in the 4th quarter. I believe this was because they are old...plain and simple these guys are getting up there. As the game wears on their age shows. Infuse more youth in the rotation, keep Troy healthy and watch our D look very good all game.

I would agree. Improved special teams would have gotten us two wins last season. Improving and making adjustments in the 4th Qtr on defense could have also converted 2 losses into the win column.

Our offfense has not been bad in any of the past 3-4 years. The only area I think they were less than average is in the Red Zone.

New Orleans TOP was 31:10 for 11th in the NFL compared to our 32:13.

[url="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/stats/teamsort/NFL/OFF-TOTAL/2009/regular?sort_col_1=15&_1:col_1=15&tag=pageRow;page Container"]http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/stats/team ... eContainer[/url]

I'd trade our season for theirs wouldn't you? TOP is a meaningless stat.

[Northern_Blitz]

Re: T.O.P

Here's a previous thread where we broke down the TOP and the points scored by the O and given up by the D / minute.

[url]http://www.planetsteelers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10213[/url]

Here's the summary

New Numbers with data from Steel Navy:

Points per Quarter
...............1st Qtr...2nd Qtr...3rd Qtr...4th Qtr... OT...Final
Offense......81.........119........61.........83.. ........3.... 347
Defense.....39..........61.........47.........121. ........6.... 274

Qtr-----Steelers TOP-------S PPM------Opponent TOP-------O PPM
------------------------------------------------------------------
1st: ------9:08-------------0.56-----------5:52---------------0.41
2nd: -----7:21-------------1.01----------7:39---------------0.50
3rd: -----7:37-------------0.50------------7:23---------------0.40
4th: -----7:40-------------0.68----------7:20----------------1.03
------------------------------------------------------------------
Average:-------------------0.69-----------------------------0.59

I changed the PPM stats to be actually PPM, not "PPM x 16".

The problem was not TOP in the 4th (we had the ball > half the qtr). The problem is that we gave up huge plays on D and let the oppositon score fast. In fact, opposing teams scored better than twice as fast as they did in qtrs 1 - 3.

Sadly, when we were up by < 7 with 4:00 remaining, I found myself hoping that we'd let them score quick so that Ben would have time for a winning drive.