Steelers Defense: Who Makes the Splash Plays? And Should We Care?

[stillers4me]

Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are always talking about splash plays. Otherwise known as big plays. Plays that not only change games, but also win games. On defense that can be anything from interceptions, to forced fumbles, to tackles in the backfield, to sacks and so on and so forth.

I went back over the 2010 stat sheet and tallied up all of the splash plays (interceptions, sacks, tackles for loss, pass defenses, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries) to figure out the leaders on a position-by-position basis, and to also ask the question: should we care who makes them?

These numbers also include plays made on kick and punt coverages.

And away we go…...

Read more @ http://www.steelerslounge.com/2011/0...-splash-plays/

[steelreserve]

Defensive Backs: Troy Polamalu (26), William Gay (17), Bryant McFadden (16),

So ... apparently, getting burned for a touchdown counts as a "splash play" according to these guys?

[Steeldude]

without the splash plays how do they perform? do they get an INT and then disappear until the next one. do they get a sack and then disappear until the next one?

the opinion on kiesel is flawed. it doesn't mention that he is the weakest against the run. how many splash plays is the DL supposed to make? they are only there to take on blockers.

i would also like to see what exactly this guy sees as a splash play. i know he lists some, but it really doesn't explain which plays he is referring to. is it a splash play when a player gets a sack because he wasn't blocked? IMO, it isn't one. what if a player gets a sack because another player forced the QB to him?

i would like to a breakdown of players taking plays off or playing half-ass.

[tube517]

What he should do is take away "points" for TD's given up, etc but that would take a lot of time, IMHO.

i would also like to see what exactly this guy sees as a splash play. i know he lists some, but it really doesn't explain which plays he is referring to. is it a splash play when a player gets a sack because he wasn't blocked? I

He specifically defines his criteria.

I went back over the 2010 stat sheet and tallied up all of the splash plays (interceptions, sacks, tackles for loss, pass defenses, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries) to figure out the leaders on a position-by-position basis,

He also talks about Keisel benefitting from Hampton:

I guess this is where the line between the objective (the numbers) and the subjective (what you see) gets blurred. What Casey Hampton does in the middle of the line is invaluable. But it never shows up in the numbers. There isn’t a stat (at least not one that gets tracked with any regularity) to tell us how many times he eats up two or three offensive linemen to open up a rush lane for Lawrence Timmons, or leave Keisel one-on-one on the outside.