Today I wanted to dive deeper into some of the reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled to open games, as I’m sure many of you have wondered as well. There are many issues when combing through data, and found this key problem: second downs in the first half.
Here are teams expected points added (EPA = expected points before and after each play, measuring its impact on the scoring potential of the drive) in that situation on offense:
Here we see the Steelers offense is one of the worst teams in the NFL on second down in the first half (31st), with a pass EPA that ranks 29th, and a run EPA that ranks next-to-last.