Earlier this week, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy defined in his press convention by way of the staff’s YouTube channel that he desires his offense to get 55 touches a recreation, with a contact outlined as a completion or a dashing try.
Whereas he emphasised the necessity to play complementary soccer and mentioned there’s “no absolutes” on the subject of getting 55 touches, he added the win proportion when groups do is “high.”
Per analysis carried out by Dave Bryan by means of Stathead, we have been ready to take a look at how McCarthy fared in Dallas when his offense reached 55 touches and after they failed to take action. It’s an inexact science as we don’t know whether or not McCarthy counts scrambles as a contact, however we calculated touches as rush makes an attempt + completions – scrambles.
In video games when the Cowboys recorded 55 or extra touches beneath McCarthy, they went 20-10. If scrambles are included as a contact, that quantity climbs to 22-11. In video games with lower than 55 touches, the Cowboys went 29-25 beneath McCarthy. The win proportion dropped from 66% to 53.7%.
Per Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Submit-Gazette, McCarthy was 44-6-1 when reaching 55 touches throughout his tenure with the Packers.
Notably, within the 10 video games that Dallas misplaced with 55 or extra touches, that they had two or extra turnovers in six of these video games and three or extra in three of them.
Beneath is the info as compiled by Bryan.
It’s clear it’s a quantity McCarthy has put loads of thought in, and he mentioned it was once 53 touches however has since gone up. McCarthy’s NFL begin got here with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in 1993 as an offensive high quality management assistant, and McCarthy mentioned that was a recreation evaluation position. He’s saved up with developments and numbers over time, and whereas the Steelers haven’t been a staff that’s totally embraced analytics, McCarthy is likely to be extra of a believer.
It’s clear that 55 goes to be a giant quantity for the Steelers this season, and never simply due to Cole Holcomb. Whereas the employees has modified, Pittsburgh’s turnover tradition ought to nonetheless be prevalent and will assist the Steelers attain that quantity.
However the offense goes to should keep away from three-and-outs, one thing they struggled with over the previous few seasons. They’ve carried out a adequate job limiting their very own turnovers, however that’s going to be key to making sure that, even with 55 touches, the win likelihood stays excessive.
The information backs up McCarthy’s declare, and it’ll be price monitoring this season to see simply how nicely the Steelers fare after they wind up with 55 or extra touches.
