The 2024 NFL season has taken off, so it’s time to get an initial lay of the land in terms of a favorite stat here on Steelers Depot: Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt (ANY/A), which is (Passing Yards – Sack Yards + (20 * Passing TD) – (45 * Interceptions)) / (Passes Attempted + Times Sacked). Taking the offensive (OANY/A) and defensive (DANY/A) results, we get a differential.
To review the importance of the stat, only one Super Bowl Winner since 2000 has had a negative differential, and no team has had a DANY/A above six. It is only one week, but it’s always fun to see how teams come out of the gates and track through the season. Here’s a link to the full 2023 regular season ANY/A rankings.
Now for week one of the 2024 season:
Right away, we see that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense was one of the top units in Week One, encouragingly. They posted a fantastic 2.4 DANY/A, which ranked seventh-best. To review, a full-season number below six points is the historical mark of a championship-level defense.
Things started out very bright in the Steel City. That will be the recipe for this team to reach its postseason goals, and I can’t wait to see how it transpires moving forward.
More specifically, Pittsburgh held Atlanta to 137 passing yards (T-seventh) on 26 pass attempts (T-tenth least), two sacks (T-13th) and 18 sack yards (12th), one touchdown (T-tenth), and two interceptions (T-first). Each ranked in the top half of the league, particularly interceptions, which was great to see.
If not for officiating robbing Pittsburgh (namely star EDGE T.J. Watt), they would have been in the top ten across the board. This is exciting news, Steelers fans, and I hope I’m sharing similar things as the season progresses.
Several other defenses were also strong in the opener. Teams that had an even better DANY/A than Pittsburgh were Seattle (1.0), Chicago (1.0), New Orleans (1.3), Dallas (1.3), Minnesota (1.6), and Tennessee (2.1).
Pittsburgh will host Dallas at Acrisure Stadium in Week Five, so their trends will be interesting to monitor. The rest of that group is not on the Steelers’ tough 2024 schedule.
Moving to offenses, Pittsburgh was rather conservative out of the gates, dealing with a late change at QB from Russell Wilson (calf) to Justin Fields. The team stated the playbook was unchanged, but it was very much a familiar Steelers formula of taking care of the football, not asking too much from the QB while leaning on the defense and the running game.
Pittsburgh’s offense was just below the mean with a 5.3 OANY/A, ranking 20th. This included 133 passing yards (28th) on 23 pass attempts (T-29th), two sacks (T-eighth) and 23 sack yards (T-24th), no touchdowns (T-24th) or interceptions (T-17th).
Taking sacks has been an issue in Fields and Wilson’s past, and while there were two in the opener, that ranked high league-wide. Hoping for that to continue. Otherwise, the Steelers were in the bottom half of the league, unfortunately.
The flipside of that sack result was the yardage lost, moving all the way down to 24th. Fields has elusive ability, but running backward under duress is hopefully not a reoccurring theme. Particularly low in the ranks were attempts and yards, which will likely be similar if things go according to Pittsburgh’s ideal script of running the ball.
Optimistically, the playbook will open up more moving forward, which would be the ideal complement to the Steelers’ run-first identity. We saw refreshing sprinkles of OC Arthur Smith’s creativity, and we can’t wait to see more, hopefully very soon.
NFL offenses who fared best were Tampa Bay (11.6), Buffalo (10.5), New Orleans (10.4), Indianapolis (9.2), Kansas City (8.5), Miami (8.5), and Minnesota (7.8). Some expected teams, such as the back-to-back champions (Chiefs), while the Bills, Saints, and Vikings were the only teams comfortably above the mean on both sides of the ball.
Pittsburgh will face Kansas City (Week 17) and the Colts in Week Four. Of course, this is just a one-game sample size, and things will surely change with more games. But I can’t wait to see how things develop.
Here’s a table view of the data to close, ranking the teams by ANY/A differential along with the game outcome:
The Steelers ranked solidly with a seventh-best 2.9 differential, thanks to their solid day on defense. If this can continue, compared to having a negative number much of last season, a more successful 2024 is hopefully in store for the Black and Gold.
Yes, it’s just one game, and many teams come out shakier than in recent seasons, resting several starters in the preseason. So, I’m not overreacting, but here’s to hoping Pittsburgh can stay above the line in ANY/A differential, which would bode well for their aspirations this season.
Thanks for reading, and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
