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Thread: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

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    Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    Posted on July 19, 2010 by JJ


    In another season, Mike Wallace would be considered the key to the 2010 Steelers’ hopes.

    But in an offseason where Ben Roethlisberger has been slapped with a six-game suspension and Willie Colon has popped his Achilles’ tendon, all of a sudden Wallace’s development has taken a seat on the bench compared to the questions about quarterback and right tackle.

    Even as the attention on Wallace has diminished, there is one piece of conventional wisdom that keeps cropping up. I’ve read it in multiple versions, but it always sounds something like this:

    “But the Steelers will have to see how well Wallace does as a starter now that he will be going up against starting cornerbacks instead of nickel backs.”

    Here’s the thing. That’s completely and utterly wrong.

    You can worry about how well Wallace does as a second-year pro, and you can wonder if he’ll start getting a lot more double teams now that Santonio Holmes is a Jet. And it’s completely fair to question whether Wallace will be able to provide the consistency Holmes gave the Steelers as a true No. 1 receiver.

    But it won’t be because Wallace is now facing starting corners. He faced them all last year.

    I went back and logged every pass thrown to Wallace in 2009. There were 71 passes thrown Wallace’s way — he was being guarded by a starter on 60 of them. Nine of the passes (including his most notable game-winning catch against Green Bay) were thrown against backups while two of them were Hail Mary passes where it’s impossible to say which of the five defenders jumping for the ball were guarding Wallace.
    Want more proof. Check out Wallace’s biggest plays from the 2009 season.


    Week Opponent Yards Defender

    9 Bengals 46 Jonathan Joseph

    Not a catch, but a pass interference penalty called on Joseph. Wallace was also going against safety help on this play

    14 Packers 60 Jarret Bush

    Wallace runs by Bush for early first-quarter touchdown

    16 Dolphins 54 Nate Jones

    Wallace lines up inside of Holmes in rare formation. Beats Jones (and safety help) with pure speed

    3 Bengals 51 Jonathan Joseph

    Simple streak route, Wallace runs by Joseph catches ball then runs out of bounds

    5 Lions 47 William James

    Wallace gets past James on a post route for the touchdown

    15 Ravens 45 Frank Walker

    Game-changer as Wallace helps Steelers get out from own four-yard-line to midfield.

    7 Vikings 40 Tyrell Johnson

    Wallace goes against zone coverage, Johnson, a safety, is closest to Wallace at the time of the catch

    4 Chargers 35 Steve Gregory

    Roethlisberger has plenty of time, Wallace finds seam in zone coverage. Gregory is the closest defender.

    10 Chiefs 33 Brandon Flowers

    Wallace runs down sideline to beat Chiefs’ top cornerback, but then fumbles the ball after the catch.

    Of his nine biggest plays last year, only one came against a backup cornerback while one other pass came against a starting safety. The easy explanation is that the Steelers’ formations ensured that Wallace faced starting cornerbacks. With very few exceptions, whenever Wallace entered the game, he lined up as an outside receiver, usually with Hines Ward lining up in the slot on Wallace’s side. Very, very few NFL teams have their corners follow a specific wide receiver all over the field, so usually what would happen is Wallace would face up against one of the opponent’s starting corners while the nickel or dime corner would line up against Ward in the slot.

    When the Steelers went to their bunch formation with two receivers and tight end Heath Miller bunched together at the line, Wallace was usually on the outside with Ward lined up to his inside. In those cases, the starting corner was usually lined up on the outside as well, so unless Wallace ran a crossing route (which was rare) he ended up against a starting corner.

    On the very rare occasions that Wallace was moved inside into the slot, it was almost always to try to get him a favorable matchup for a deep route. I counted four passes thrown Wallace’s way when he was lined up in the slot (remember that’s out of 71 passes). On all four of those passes, Wallace ran a deep route, three of them fell incomplete, but the fourth was a 54-yard touchdown against the Dolphins.

    So if you wonder who may suffer by Holmes’ departure, you should probably worry more about Ward. Many of Ward’s third-down catches, and some of his first and second-down grabs, came when he was lined up inside against nickel and dime backs (and lots of linebackers in zone defenses). If Antwaan Randle-El is the Steelers’ No. 3 receiver, Pittsburgh will either have to move Ward back outside or split Randle-El out wide and ask him to do something he’s not particularly adept at doing – Randle El has six catches of 40-yards or more in his career (Wallace had six last season).

    http://www.steelerslounge.com/2010/0...n-2010/#more-7

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    Senior Member Array title="Austin87 is an unknown quantity at this point"> Austin87's Avatar

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    I was concerned about Wallace to be honest, but after reading this I believe Wallace will do well in his first season as a starter.

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    Can he run routes or just run fast?

    That's what we'll find out. Even Ward said that.

    Holmes was quick and smooth in and out of his breaks and he had the moves to make big plays in the open field.

    Wallace has a long way to go. He'll get all the double-teams now.

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    He'll get all the double-teams now.

    that means sanders/el and miller or ward in single coverage.

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    They take away our only deep threat and it's dink and dunk time.

    You think Ben has the patience for that?

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    Dang I can't wait for the season to get here reading this stuff gets my blood a pumping.

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    This was my MAIN concern, but now i am a little more reassured. Good article!

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    I really hope that Wallace will be able to build on the success he had last season. We have seen in recent years that our number three wide out does very well in the number three position but once elevated into a starting role have not increased in production.

    Randel El for one had 600 receiving yards in 2004 as the number three but after Plax left and he was promoted to a starter, his yardage went down. Even after going to Washington he only had one season, yardage wise, better than 2004.

    Nate Washington is another example. His production really didn't change much from his last year in the Burgh (when he was the number 3) to his first year in Tennessee whwer he started 15 games. This could be due to a new offense and a more run oriented scheme. Probably need more seasons to see if a trend occures.

    I just hope Wallace can raise his game this season. We are going to need him to. The good thing is he has the speed. Route running and alot of the other fundementals can be taught but speed can not.

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    Quote Originally Posted by Psycho Ward 86 View Post
    This was my MAIN concern, but now i am a little more reassured. Good article!
    It's still my main concern. As TSK said, #3 WRs who are promoted to a starting position can struggle. Now, I don't question is ability to run and catch, but he will definitely be attracting more attention from opposing defenses this season. Defenses will sure be seeing him as more of a threat than they did early last year, which means possible double coverages. We all know the guy has the speed, but can he be an every down receiver with great route-running skills? I'm assuming Hines and the WR coach is still working with him on that front, but we can't be sure of his complete skills until the season starts. I'm interested to see if he can continue with the success he had last year.

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    Re: Wallace Won’t Be Facing Much New in 2010

    Like a certain coach would say, put it on tape.

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