Home Steelers 2016 Season Do The Steelers Need To Score 30 Points Per Game?

Do The Steelers Need To Score 30 Points Per Game?

by Ben Anderson

The Steelers’ offense has set a goal of 30 points per game. Of course, since setting that goal they’ve had a few setbacks. Specifically, the suspensions of Martavis Bryant and Le’Veon Bell, along with unavailability for health reasons for Ladarius Green. To top it all off, Markus Wheaton won’t be available this week either, due to a shoulder injury.

Last year, I took a look at how the Steelers and their 2015 opponents fared when their respective defenses allowed 21 or more points. Looking at it again this year, scoring 21 consistently seems to be the magic number. The Steelers don’t need to score 30 every week to win. They want to.

Last year when the Steelers’ offense scored 21 or more points, the team was 9-2. The losses coming to New England and Seattle. Of course you can make the inference that Pittsburgh must score more points versus quality opponents. I would agree.

However, the Steelers also beat Denver, Arizona and Cincinnati when they passed that scoring threshold. The key to winning those games seems to be the defense allowing an average of 20 points.  Go figure, right?

21-point-allowed-records-for-2105

I predicted the Steelers to finish 12-4 in Chris’ article yesterday. I am going to revise that to 11-5 after doing this study. While the rest of the AFC North was 5-23 combined when allowing 21 points or more, I still see two losses coming from inside the division.

Photo Credit: Matt Freed, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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