The Pittsburgh Steelers are expecting big things out of Cameron Heyward in 2024. He expressed all offseason long about how he was finally healthy and ready to produce like he did before his injury last season. On Tuesday, the Steelers went ahead and gave him an extension with $29 million in new money. This will most likely be his last contract before he retires, as he has repeatedly said that he wants to play three more years, including the 2024 season. He got his extension, and he is now ready to focus on the regular season ahead.
Heyward made an appearance on Hot Ones, where he was asked questions about his life while eating very spicy chicken wings. One of the questions was about his relationship with the analytics department and how they helped him improve. Heyward did not hesitate to say how he truly felt about it.
"Kids, turn the channel right now. F*** them analytics. Analytics don't tell the whole story."
Him and Sean Evans, the host of Hot Ones, laughed about it as he was saying it, as well as right after. It was obvious that he was not joking about it at all, however. Analytics can help sometimes, but as Heyward mentioned, they don't always tell you exactly what happened. There is more to the story than what comes up on an Excel spreadsheet after the game is over.
Steelers And Analytics Have A Rough Relationship
Whenever any kind of analytics gets brought up, it usually hurts the Steelers in some way. Pro Football Focus has regularly tried to diminish TJ Watt's accomplishments by using that method. They have disrespected him by saying his pass-rush win-rate is not good enough to even be considered as a top three edge rusher in the league, even though he's had the most sacks in the league in numerous seasons, especially when he's healthy.
In fact, those analytics cost him a second AP Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) Award, as Myles Garrett won it in 2023, despite having just a single sack in the last seven weeks of the season. Usually, the award goes to whoever has the most production outright, and Watt had better stats than Garrett across the board in that same year in every major category. Whether it's deserved or not is up for debate, but the Steelers clearly have an issue with it.
The Steelers themselves are below average in terms of analytical usage. In 2022, there was a survey done across the league to see who the most inclined team in that regard was, as well as the least. The Steelers received zero votes for all of the different categories of high usage of these advanced numbers, and they received one vote for "Least Analytically Advanced." While the Steelers could stand to utilize them a little bit more, Heyward obviously disagrees.
Pittsburgh has been known as a team that isn't too quick to adapt to modern times, and this is another example of it. As opposed to shifting with what the whole league has done, they are opting to stick with old-school smashmouth offense with a physical, dominant defense to help them out. Whether or not it works in 2024 is to be determined, but the Steeler Way will continue to be a factor.
Obviously, there still needs to be a balance. You can't go too far into the depths of the advanced numbers, like Brandon Staley would. Under him, the Los Angeles Chargers struggled to get a good footing in each season, and that resulted in questionable decision making on a regular basis. The Chargers only made the playoffs once under Staley, and he was fired during his third year as head coach. While Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin and his team could benefit from a slight uptick in analytical usage, they don't want to go too far into the rabbit hole.
