Today, I wanted to look at how run defenses, namely the Pittsburgh Steelers, have fared through Week 8. I’ll look at success rates by down, game halves, weekly views, and some other aspects as well. Let’s jump right in.
First, let’s look at early down-success rates leaguewide (with scrambles, kneels, and aborted/penalty plays excluded):
- First Down Rushing Success = A rush that gains less than 40% of the needed yardage.
- Second Down Rushing Success = A rush that gains less than 50% of the needed yardage.
Pittsburgh’s defense has been one of the NFL’s best units at stopping the run on first down, a 60.