hawaiiansteeler
01-20-2016, 12:19 AM
Steelers will need young stars to emerge
Bill Barnwell
ESPN Staff Writer
http://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F0119%2Fr45277_1296x729_16% 2D9.jpg&w=570
The Steelers find themselves in perennially interesting times. This isn't the most successful run of the storied franchise's history, with the controversial wild-card win over the Bengals serving as their first playoff victory since beating a Mark Sanchez-led Jets team in the 2010 AFC Championship Game. But they've consistently been in the swing of things in the AFC. This season marked their second consecutive postseason berth, and even though the start of that streak came after a two-year drought, the Steelers were the last team eliminated from contention in the AFC in both of those seasons. It's hard to remember the last time the Steelers were irrelevant.
The good news is that Pittsburgh should continue to be an above-average football team. You can make a case that the Steelers were held back in 2015 in ways that are unlikely to repeat themselves in 2016, that it was the dawn of a much-improved defense to go along with one of the league's most devastating offensive attacks. And yet, at the same time, the Steelers may also find themselves subject to the same concerns about depth and roster construction, which might have capped their ceiling in both 2014 and 2015. Here's what Steelers fans should both love and fear about Pittsburgh's future.
The good
You can make a realistic case that the 2015 Steelers were actually a more impressive team than the 2014 edition. Their record dropped from 11-5 to 10-6, and they fell from the catbird seat in the AFC North to the No. 6 seed, but on a play-by-play basis, the Steelers actually played better. They outscored their opponents by 104 points in 2015, a rise from their 68-point margin the previous year. The Pythagorean expectation suggests that that's a difference of almost exactly one win over 16 games (10.6 wins vs. 9.6 wins).
A quick survey of advanced metrics also pegs the Steelers as an improved team...
to read rest of article:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14602611/pittsburgh-steelers-need-young-stars-emerge-nfl
Bill Barnwell
ESPN Staff Writer
http://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F0119%2Fr45277_1296x729_16% 2D9.jpg&w=570
The Steelers find themselves in perennially interesting times. This isn't the most successful run of the storied franchise's history, with the controversial wild-card win over the Bengals serving as their first playoff victory since beating a Mark Sanchez-led Jets team in the 2010 AFC Championship Game. But they've consistently been in the swing of things in the AFC. This season marked their second consecutive postseason berth, and even though the start of that streak came after a two-year drought, the Steelers were the last team eliminated from contention in the AFC in both of those seasons. It's hard to remember the last time the Steelers were irrelevant.
The good news is that Pittsburgh should continue to be an above-average football team. You can make a case that the Steelers were held back in 2015 in ways that are unlikely to repeat themselves in 2016, that it was the dawn of a much-improved defense to go along with one of the league's most devastating offensive attacks. And yet, at the same time, the Steelers may also find themselves subject to the same concerns about depth and roster construction, which might have capped their ceiling in both 2014 and 2015. Here's what Steelers fans should both love and fear about Pittsburgh's future.
The good
You can make a realistic case that the 2015 Steelers were actually a more impressive team than the 2014 edition. Their record dropped from 11-5 to 10-6, and they fell from the catbird seat in the AFC North to the No. 6 seed, but on a play-by-play basis, the Steelers actually played better. They outscored their opponents by 104 points in 2015, a rise from their 68-point margin the previous year. The Pythagorean expectation suggests that that's a difference of almost exactly one win over 16 games (10.6 wins vs. 9.6 wins).
A quick survey of advanced metrics also pegs the Steelers as an improved team...
to read rest of article:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14602611/pittsburgh-steelers-need-young-stars-emerge-nfl