Drive10.29.26Stats: Key Numbers and Metrics

0:03 You're tuned to The Drive on your 24-7 home of the black and gold. Steelers Nation Radio.

0:52 Rolling along here with Matt's stats. Matt, two pieces of housekeeping before we jump back into the stats packet here, okay? The first, we have a longtime loyal listener not only of this program but of Steelers Nation Radio in general, our buddy James DeSantis, who we've met a few times out at training camp. Today is his 19th birthday.

1:11 Cool.

1:12 So I wanted to give a big happy birthday to James. And, hey.

1:15 You'll have to introduce me next camp.

1:17 I do need to introduce you next camp. Last year as a teenager, make it count.

1:21 All right. Oh, these are best years of your life.

1:24 Last year as a teenager, make it count. And hopefully the Steelers get a big win on Sunday to, uh, to put a bow on a great birthday weekend for James. So a big shout out, a big happy 19th birthday to our buddy, James. The second thing is we just for two minutes referenced the world series in our previous segment.

1:40 Did you know that Bryce Wilson, Peyton Wilson's older brother just won the world series with the Milwaukee Brewers? No, I did not know that either.

1:50 No, I, I didn't know he had a brother.

1:52 Jared on Twitter pointed that out. Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Bryce Wilson.

2:00 Wow.

2:01 Is the, I'm trying, let's see here, older brother.

2:04 I say, is he older?

2:05 Older brother of Peyton Wilson.

2:06 Okay. He may have even. Betting games that I never would have known, right?

2:09 Yeah, that's wild.

2:11 I'm surprised we don't know that.

2:13 Same here. That's the first time I've ever heard this. And I'm surprised. I figured that would be one of those things that when Peyton Wilson was drafted.

2:19 Right, right, right. Brothers in the league.

2:21 His brother plays professional baseball.

2:23 I mean, I even knew, like, Smith the Jigba's brother was a Pirate. I was going to say, he played for the Pirates.

2:27 Yeah, actually, Bryce Wilson did play for the Pirates for one year back in 2021, it looks like.

2:34 So Peyton wouldn't have been here yet.

2:35 So he wouldn't have been here yet. He would have still been in college.

2:38 But the Wilsons are familiar with the Berg.

2:39 I think the Wilsons are familiar with the Berg, certainly, and they're certainly familiar with raising some professional athletes. Some families just get all the time. I know, it's unbelievable. I tell you. But that's pretty cool. Congrats to Peyton Wilson's older brother. That's cool. For winning a World Series with the Brewers. And I'm sure those two will celebrate accordingly at some point whenever Peyton has the opportunity.

3:00 Heck yeah.

3:01 Matt, let's jump back into your stats packet here. I kind of teased it at the end of last segment. But one of the things that we spend a bunch of time harping on this offseason, we do that every offseason, we talk about the things where we want to see, where we need to see the Steelers improve.

3:17 You mentioned sack differential needs to get better.

3:18 Sack differential is something we always talk about, explosive play differential, yards per carry, average yards per rush.

3:25 That was two summers ago we were really harping on that.

3:27 Two summers ago we were really harping on that.

3:28 This year it finally got corrected. And it sure did this year.

3:31 So far, so good. One of the other things that we discussed plenty this offseason was the Steelers, by a pretty wide margin, had the worst fourth quarter defense in the NFL.

3:42 I feel like I couldn't bring it up enough, and I felt like I brought it up every day.

3:45 Talked about it a ton.

3:46 Yeah.

3:47 The Steelers, after having the league's worst fourth quarter defense by a wide margin in 2025, the Steelers have not allowed a second half touchdown now for four straight games, and only the Vikings have allowed fewer points in the second half of games than the Pittsburgh Steelers.

4:03 How about that? That might shock people.

4:04 That's turning a weakness into a strength.

4:06 You're like the best in the league now.

4:07 That's not just improving and getting back the league average. That is turning a weakness into a strength.

4:11 Not that they were listening to us, but I guarantee. The McCarthy group took the job, maybe probably took a little more analytical approach. What, what has been issues here because their off season moves really implied they understood that the fourth quarter defense was a big problem. And obviously Omar and Andy and those guys were here and had to recognize it too. I don't know if they recognized that it was all time bad, but they had to realize, you know, this isn't going so well in the fourth quarter. Sure.

4:42 Time of possessions way better. I mean, I think that's a huge key to it. And I think it also ties in with McCarthy trying to keep people fresh. I mean, he's trying to do it for the course of the season, but also for the course of the game. You know, guys like Cam and TJ are playing fewer snaps and at more opportune times. I mean, I know some people get ticked off, you know, that Travion Henderson run. Why Sawyer out there? Okay, that's one play. You know, it you can't just play Watt and Hayward every snap. And when something bad goes wrong, you can't just blame them. Well, why weren't they out there? I mean, it's stark difference.

5:21 I mean, just reading that is stark difference.

5:22 That was very encouraging to me. There's always some stuff in this packet that's encouraging. There's always some stuff in this packet that's like, ooh, that's not great.

5:28 Doesn't sting. Yeah, it stings a little bit.

5:29 That to me is, you like to see that. You love to see that. And that has become not just something the Steelers have improved upon, but it's become a real strength.

5:38 Yeah, and you hope it keeps up and all that good stuff too. It also implies that Graham changes as the game goes on, which he's been known to do, that the teams have a less bead on what you're doing schematically, which I definitely think is true. Totally.

5:55 Matt, also with that Steelers defense, the Steelers now have 11 takeaways. That is fifth most in the National Football League to this point. Steelers plus four in turnover differential. Browns are dead even. So let's hope that the Steelers can notch another victory in that department. So sack differential, turnover differential, and a strong fourth quarter defense to kind of set the scene here. I also found this very interesting, Matt. Yeah, I got one too. Not only are these two defenses doing well in second halves, Brown's defense, most tackles for loss in the league with 46. yeah Steelers second with 43 which.

6:40 Really isn't much different than a sack so I mean you're putting the offense backwards while eating up a down yes you know exactly right yeah that was the one I wanted to mention um so think about this they're pretty good at Steeler defense pretty good at taking the ball away yes you know not the.

6:57 Best but pretty good 11 and seven games.

6:59 Yeah pretty good at sacks not the best but pretty good but you're the Second best in tackles for loss. And there's where I was going to go before. You're number one yet again at batted passes at the line of scrimmage. And you're number one in PBUs, pass breakups. So think about how much the Steelers, just with the batted passes and PBUs, you don't take the ball away, but you touch the football. Sure. More than any other defense by far in the league.

7:31 Sure.

7:32 I mean, if you're number one in pass breakups and batted passes, well, there's nobody catching you when you combine those things. It's a lot of negative plays that not everyone picks up on in the box score. Like, oh, you only had two sacks, you only had one takeaway. Yeah, but we had six PBUs and we batted two more passes down, too.

7:52 Yep, and we got off the field on a fourth down where they were going for it.

7:55 Yeah, and if you're... Who knows what will happen? I don't have a crystal ball. But if I'm getting– if defenders on this defense are consistently and better than any defense in the league touching the football, that probably is going to turn into turnover. Yes. Cam's going to bat one up. It's going to be straight up in the air.

8:11 Queen's going to pick it off. That hasn't happened yet. But tips and overthrows, that's usually how interceptions happen.

8:16 Matt, I meant to tell you this.

8:17 People don't look at this defense in that light yet.

8:20 They don't.

8:21 It's like they don't let up fourth– and no one's doing anything in the second half. Other than that, defense is terrible. Overpaid.

8:29 Catching the ball with nobody around. Right.

8:31 Almost overpaid defense in the league. Jeez. Pay attention.

8:37 I meant to tell you this yesterday, and I forgot. Quick aside. You'll be proud of me. We do our WVU show on Tuesday nights, and WVU won in TCU on Saturday. Went down to Fort Worth and beat TCU. 24-20, and we were outgained by the Horned Frogs by almost 200 yards. Wow. And so there was a lot of conversation.

8:58 So there had to be other stuff.

8:59 How do you win a game, a close game, when you're almost outgained?

9:02 Go to ESPN.com and you look at the box score, like, how did I ever win this game?

9:05 Each team had one turnover, so it's not like there was something crazy there.

9:08 It wasn't minus four or anything.

9:09 But I was like, guys... tcu had 42 more penalty yards than wvu wvu had like 36 more return yards in the game and wvu forced uh twice tcu went for fourth downs and didn't go for four so i'm like that's how you'll win a game when you're out gained by almost 200 yards you.

9:27 Wouldn't shock me if tcu missed a kick too or you know whatever.

9:29 You get you get you get yards back in the penalty margins you get yards back in special teams margins and you have a couple fourth down plays that go.

9:36 Your A yard's a yard on the field. I don't care how I do it. I don't care if Derrick Henry runs over your linebacker and gets two extra yards or I get two extra yards because of a return. Yep.

9:46 It's all the same. It's all the same in the end.

9:49 The goals get closer to the goal line.

9:51 You mentioned this earlier. Just wanted to follow up on it with you with the exact numbers. The Browns rookies have played 1,689 games. already.

10:01 Yes.

10:02 That is second most in the NFL, only behind the Miami Dolphins.

10:05 Dolphins shouldn't shock anybody.

10:07 Shouldn't shock anybody.

10:08 Well, they're both by design.

10:10 Steelers rookies have played just a shade under 1,000 snaps, 989. That's 10th most.

10:16 See, I didn't see that one coming. You know, like on draft day, I would have been like, they're not going to be top 10 in rookie stats.

10:21 I would say it's probably important to note that neither of these teams have had their bye week yet. Some teams have, but I.

10:26 Always try to be conscious of that through Matt. As soon as the bye week start, just a lot of things. I won't be like, well, they scored more touchdowns than anyone else. Well, yeah, you've had your bye. So especially offense defense stuff, I'll start breaking it down this time of year by game or by drive, not by cumulative stats.

10:45 Cause it's a big deal. If you played six games and I paid seven, then it is fun. But the rookie snap stuff, I think, holds up. You know, I'm like, maybe the Browns will be third when it's all said and done. But they're at the top of the league in rookie snaps. And I'm almost certain, and this 100% adds up, I think they were first last year. Judkins, Fannin, Graham, Schlesinger, on and on and on. Sanders.

11:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And didn't Dylan Gabriel play a game or two?

11:13 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, so these two classes are the foundation of the team. And it's actually going pretty well for them.

11:21 Two more things that I wanted to.

11:22 Which, side note, Tennessee should look at and be like, we need to do what the Browns did. Now they both need or have to find or... They don't have Elway or Josh Allen either. We've got to see what their quarterback situation is. But we traded Myles Garrett. We did all these picks. We're winning the division. Why can't we trade Simmons and do the same thing? And maybe we already have a quarterback.

11:46 And we take those 60 snaps a game that Jeffrey Simmons is playing and we give 20 more to this guy and 15 more to that guy and we start to see what we have.

11:54 Yeah, yeah, yeah. But string two or three good draft classes together with all your picks. Like the Jets are trying to do.

12:00 Goes an absolutely long way. Matt, two more things that I wanted to touch on with you here in this stat packet exercise. The Browns allow the fourth fewest receiving yards per game to running backs.

12:12 Yeah, big deal.

12:14 So that's one of those, you know, this... Might not be the week. Listen, Jalen Warren's still going to make plays out of the backfield. That's what he does. But this might not be the week to lean on that as much as you have in the past.

12:25 And Rico was a big deal in the receiving category. It was almost 50% of the Steelers' catches against the Saints were those two, which isn't ideal. You'd rather be driving the ball down the field, of course. But my matchup today when the Steelers had the ball was Warren and Rico against their two linebackers. And the easy low-hanging fruit is, well, you know, Steelers need to run the ball and it's the linebacker's job. The four linebackers in this game are four of the fastest linebackers in the league and cover a ton of ground. Schlesinger's a star.

12:58 But dealing with the backs in the receiving game, I think, is a big deal for both teams. Not that it favors one or the others, but as you mentioned, the Browns are really good at it. Yes, they are.

13:09 Last one, Matt, and I don't like this. I want to see it change. Pat Friermuth has just four catches over his last two games.

13:16 I almost didn't put that in there because I don't think he was 100% last week.

13:21 Now that is a fair point.

13:22 Yeah, you know, and he may have gotten dinged up in the two games before that.

13:26 Popped up on the injury report.

13:27 Yeah, I couldn't quite remember what his injury timeline is, but there's something there. But still, it's a pretty low number.

13:36 It's a pretty low number. Yeah, yeah. And there's always rhyme and reason, but I would like to see him involved this week as a big part of the game plan.

13:43 Some of it's because Darnell's... And some of it is also too... They can't kind of infatuate with him too, which is a good problem. Aren't we all, baby?

13:51 Yeah. Just remember, in Pittsburgh, he's Mount Washington, but in Paris, he's the Eiffel Tower. Hour in the books, another hour to go.

13:56 Oh, I got to call you out. Okay. I was getting coffee a minute ago.

13:59 Okay. Uh-oh.

14:00 I was just looking at Twitter.

14:01 Oh, no.

14:02 And somebody that seemed pretty knowledgeable said... Hey, man, tell WVU that it's not Notre Dame. It's Notre Dame.

14:11 I know.

14:12 Okay.

14:14 Somebody tweeted me yesterday and said, you kept calling Ole Miss, Ole Miss. Listen, two things. One, I'm not a scholar, okay?

14:24 I know we talk for a living, but that doesn't mean we're wordsmiths or a thesaurus over here.

14:30 If we were wordsmiths, we'd be writing books and dissertations and thesi. Right.

14:36 That works for me, doesn't it?

14:37 Something like that. We just make up words. We do it as we go here. Yeah, Notre Dame.

14:44 Nor am I a geography major or an architecture major.

14:48 But you were just in the building.

14:51 I wasn't. To be fair.

14:54 Literally and figuratively, to be fair. I also have a buddy from college that works for Ole Miss that would not be happy for me calling them Old Miss.

15:02 I'm actually shocked you made that mistake. I mean, you're a college football guy. I am.

15:06 You're saying a thousand words a minute.

15:08 Right.

15:08 You know, and it's, listen.

15:09 All right.

15:10 No excuses. Play like a champion. Cut your eyelids off. We'll get better.

15:13 Heck yeah.

15:13 Remember someone, someone came at me earlier in the season for, for calling the Jaguars, the Jaguars.

15:19 Oh, I do that all the time. That's a stealer. That's a Pittsburgh thing.

15:22 That's also too. That's just a dialect thing. A lot of it is.

15:25 Don't be a Jag.

15:26 Listen, I, but you know what? Even though I'm a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me. Hour in the books. Another hour to go. We love it. We love the feedback as always. It's always good because that's how you know people are listening.

15:39 Yeah, right.

15:39 No one was telling you that you were a dingus.

15:42 We're all dingus from time to time.

15:44 That means no one's listening. It's The Drive, Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.