Admittedly, my Bengals’ bias will show here. But I’ve been curious about the Steelers offense. Not in a “let’s learn more” way, though. My interest is more of the “why are you the way that you are” variety. Because every time I think they’ll fall short, like when they played Cincinnati, Aaron Rodgers keeps proving me wrong.
Week 6 was a vintage Rodgers game. Some movement in the pocket to extend plays. The arm arrogance. And, of course, the short “stat-padding” TD to boost his box score totals. Rodgers is like Josh Allen at the goal line; he just prefers to throw the ball instead of running. But the future Hall of Famer is averaging the 11th-most passing yards per game and is on a four-game streak with two or more TDs.
This offense, as much as I hate to admit it, is good for fantasy. And there are a couple of reasons why.
Pass Rate Over Expectation: +4.9%, 2nd
Average Time to Throw: 2.63s, T-10th-fastest
Passing aDOT: 6.7, 7th-shortest
Middle-of-the-Field Throw Rate: 55.2%, 6th-highest
Pittsburgh’s offensive line has one of the better protection units through six weeks. Rodgers has an average time to pressure of 2.68 seconds. For reference, the league average sits around 2.55. He’s also below average in rate of quick pressures (41.2%; league average at 54.4%). The result has been the “Grip It and Rip It Show,” featuring No. 8. However, instead of pushing the ball downfield, Rodgers has leaned on the high-percentage looks in the MoF instead. But when coupled with his pass-catching talent, I get it.