Negative plays can downright ruin drives and game outcomes, or aid in staying on schedule if they are limited. The Pittsburgh Steelers have had their fair share of them, and today I wanted to look at and provide data context for both sides of the ball across the league through Week 4.
First, let’s look at negative play (<= 0 yards) rates on all pass and run plays for NFL offenses, with no plays, spikes, and kneels removed:
While I knew things were better than last season, much stronger than expected 25.9 rate that’s sixth-best in the NFL through four games.