A Look into Steve Smith's Numbers

by LittleKing on Dec 10, 2008 12:28 PM EST

Steve Young, on ESPN's Monday Night Football, gave high praise to our Steve Smith. It made we wonder overall how does he compare this season. We all know that Smith is a force on the field but did you know the following about some of the stats from this season that speak for themselves.

After week 14, Smith is the 5th leading receiver in the league with 1075 yards on the season, his 4th consecutive 1000 yards season, 5th total, and only interrupted by a season in which he broke his leg in the first game. Impressive by it's self. However, that's just the beginning.

First, Smith missed the first two games of this season and is still fifth on the list. There is only a difference of 174 yards between the #1 and #5 receivers. He is averaging 97.7 yards per game giving him a very realistic possibility he could be first in the league. However, lets say he wouldn't have play well those games, with only 75 yards between #3 and #5, it's pretty much a give me that he would currently be ranked third.

Second, the Panthers have had 765 plays from the line of scrimmage on offense between passing, rushing, and special teams. This ranks the Panthers 28th in the league. Out of the 765 only 349 have been pass attempts, 31st in the league, next to last. Get it? On a team that clearly doesn't put the ball in the air very often, Smith still is 5th in total yards.

Let me put it another way, he's behind Roddy White (ATL), Andre Johnson (HOU), Larry Fitzgerald (ARI), and Greg Jennings (GB). Those teams are ranked 29th, 9th, 1st, & 10th respectively in attempted passes. 3 out of 4 teams are in the top 10 in pass attempts per game. And even Roddy White is targeted 9.8 times per game compared to Smith's 8 targets per game. All of this just means Smith put up his numbers with a much smaller window for success.

On he's blog at Athletes for Youth, on November 19 before the Detroit game, he wrote:

I did hear that former Pittsburgh Steeler coach Bill Cowher said on CBS' pregame show that I was the No. 4 receiver in the league and toughest pound for pound. No. 4 is pretty good. Better than being No. 10, and definitely better than not being mentioned at all. That's a compliment. I hear Andre Johnson was No. 1. He gets a lot of balls thrown his way. There's times when T.O. gets 17 or 18 balls thrown his way. I'd be very intrigued to see how I'd do if they threw me 17 or 18 balls.

And he's right. Before the 2007 season, he mentioned he wanted to be the first receiver to go over 2000 yards in a season and on a pass first team he probably could reach that goal.

He can single handedly win a game. He can turn an apparent negative play into positive yardage. He truly is a touch it, catch it type of player. He's a special player and I'm extremely thankful he's on our team.

Steve_smith_at_greenbay_amazing_catch_medium

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Steve Smith is quite a player.

I always wonder how he slipped past the 1st and 2nd rounds. I think the NFL puts way too much emphasis on the size of recievers. Hopefully NFL examples like Steve Smith, Lance Moore, and Wes Welker will change the way that receivers are looked at in the draft.

To be honest, it is my personal opinion that some of these smaller recievers can be just as successful as Randy Moss and Andre Johnson. I bet there is a lot of hidden talent in the back of depth charts. For example, Lance Moore is listed as 5-9 and came into the NFL as an undrafted free agent. He’s currently a wide reciever for the Saints. If Jeremy Shockey and Marques Colston hadn’t gone down from injury, Lance Moore would never have started a game and we wouldn’t know that he was any good. Now he’s set to become a restricted free agent this off-season, and he’s more than due for a big paycheck.

Guys like that are pushed to the wayside because they’re a couple inches less than taller receivers. Just a few thoughts….

"Once again the trowsers of evil are yanked down by the mocking hands of justice!"-Revshawn

by Revshawn on Dec 10, 2008 2:18 PM EST reply actions

He is a major reason for our dynamic running game too. Secondary’s can’t blitz or stack the box because of him. Also I was watching higlights of Mon game, and on one of the running highlights, deangello had two defenders about to stop him short of the 1st down. Hoover knocked on of them to the right, and Smitty put everything he had into blocking the other one. The result, Deangello had about a 6 ft lane to run through.

He is valuable in sooo many ways!

on behalf of tha dirty south: soul food, carolina blue, southern hospitality, and tha queen city

by southtunnel on Dec 10, 2008 7:03 PM EST reply actions

It seems most of our receivers are good run blockers, much like those in Pittsburgh. I couldn’t believe some of the catches Steve’s made this year. Practicing stays inbounds (like they were showing before Monday’s game) required some major cotrol of body parts. He’s quite an athlete!

by babaandgal on Dec 10, 2008 7:34 PM EST up reply actions

Smitty is the best

Smitty is clearly the best receiver in the league to me. His 97.7 yards per game are 1st in the league, and as Jaxon said, that’s with the team that is 31st in pass attempts. And let’s face it, Jake doesn’t always throw the ball that well. On many of Smitty’s catches, he has to stop and jump to get the ball. Jake is our starter because he’s tough and he’s a leader. You can coach tough…ask Alex Smith of the 49ers.

As for small receivers, well, it’s sometimes hard to tell someone’s work ethic or desire from the combine. If you look at the game film of Smitty in college, though, I bet you see the same toughness and determination. I’m glad we got him. Now he’s part of a team that’s going to win it all.

by usana_gaines on Dec 11, 2008 12:03 AM EST reply actions