The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2010 NFL regular season with a 12-4 record, and they made their 8th Super Bowl apperance losing to the Green Bay Packers. This is a very good football team that does things their way. They have a formula and that formula works. Their system makes guys look a heck of lot better than they actually are, but that is not a knock. They have made 8 trips to the big dance, and won six of them so what they do, they do very well.
The offense scored 375 points or 23.4 points per game. Their starting QB is of course Ben Roethlisberger and he completed 61.7% of his passes in 12 games for 3,200 yards. He threw for 17 TD’s and just 5 INT’s. More concerning was his lack of play in the big game. Ben has been to three Super Bowls now, and he has played rather poorly in all three of them. The running game averaged 120.3 yards per game, and the O line gave up 43 sacks.
The defense is what is the truly great thing about this team and the gave up a NFL fewest 232 points or 14.5 points per game. Their take away differential was second best in the NFL at +17. This defense forced 24 fumbles and picked off 21 passes. They were also able to rack up 48 sacks. All of those numbers are great, and in terms of defensive team stats they were first in most key categories.
Since the defense is so good, they do not need an elite QB to win games. Big Ben is a game manger, as long as he can execute the offense and keep his own mistakes to a minimum this team will win. That is the system they have built, and while some people look negatively on that I say whatever works is the way to go.
Related Links:
- Pittsburgh Steelers news and notes
- The Business of the NFL
- Joshua Lobdell.com