Breaking down the stats: Why the Steelers defense has allowed so many 3rd down conversions

The Pittsburgh Steelers defense has been performing at an amazing level in 2020. But some analysts are pointing towards a key stat that I found to be a little misleading.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the 5th ranked defense in the NFL when it comes to points. They are 2nd in passing yards and 1st in rushing yards allowed so far in the 2020 season. They have been playing at an alarmingly high level throughout 2020. They haven’t been producing turnovers at as high of a level as they did in 2019, although I expect that to pick up later in the season. The biggest question mark I have seen regarding this defense is being ranked 25th in 3rd down conversions allowed per game.

Stats are a wonderful thing. They can help quantify what we see on a football field and make the performances that players give easier to judge. However, they can be a bit misleading. Knowing this, I had to think back and really wonder why the Steelers are ranked so low on 3rd down. When watching the games so far this season I didn’t get the feeling that Pittsburgh’s defense just couldn’t get off the field. They did allow a few long drives so far this season but they have forced a lot of punts. So I decided to look a little deeper into the numbers and try to understand how this stat has come to be.