Last season I decided to switch up how I report the grades by Pro Football Focus (PFF) because of my frustration due to the absurdity of their findings. Instead of listing out all the scores, I gave highlights of some of the highs and lows and whether or not I thought their grading passed my own eye test. Since it seemed to be the most receptive approach, I decided to make this a weekly thing where I give my opinion of the PFF scores.

As always has to be the case when PFF is mentioned, the disclaimer is these grades are subjective and merely the opinion of those doing the evaluation. While PFF looks at every player on every snap, they are still simply forming an opinion of what they believe that player was supposed to be doing that play in order to determine if they were successful or not.

Not only does PFF give an individual grade, but they compile them into several categories Including overall grade, various offensive grades, defensive grades, and a special team’s grade. Now that the season is over, it’s time to look at the scores for the entire year. Since it will take more to break down, I will split up things into different articles. So here are my overall impressions of the offensive scores for the Steelers 2024 season with my grade of PFF at the end.

To start things off, here is the Steelers offensive team scores along with where they stood when we checked in mid-season during the bye week.

Note: These scores are for the regular season only

Offense

2024:
Score: 74.3
Rank: t-19th

Mid-season:
Score: 73.2
Rank: t-15th

Even though the Steelers overall offensive score went up since Week 9 of the 2024 season, their ranking in the NFL dropped. The Steelers finished the season with the 19th best score on offense which was tied with the 8–9 Indianapolis Colts. The only playoff team who had a lower offensive scores than the Steelers was the Denver Broncos who were ranked 21st with a 74.1.

Passing

2024:
Score: 74.2
Rank: t-16th

Mid-season:
Score: 70.1
Rank: 17th

While some Steelers fans may be surprised that the passing score went up over the last half of the season, particularly with the Steelers dropping their final four games, their 400+ yards passing outing against the Bengals fell in the second half as well as their victories over the Commanders and the Ravens. In all, the Steelers finished tied with the Carolina Panthers for the middle spot in passing offense although it was head of the Los Angeles Rams (73.2, 19th), and the Philadelphia Eagles (68.1, 24th).

Receiving

2024:
Score: 73.0
Rank: 20th

Mid-season:
Score: 74.9
Rank: 11th

When it came to the individual offensive group scores, receiving was the only one that ranked lower than where they were in the midpoint of the season. Falling to the 20th spot in the NFL, the Steelers were just behind the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills who were tied for 18th with a 73.4.

Rushing

2024:
Score: 81.5
Rank: 16th

Mid-season:
Score: 75.2
Rank: 20th

As much as the Steelers wanted to establish themselves as a running team, they only finished in the middle of the NFL when it came to their PFF grade for rushing. The Steelers were just behind the Kansas City Chiefs who were 15th with an 81.7 rushing score, but they were well off the pace of the NFL-leading Baltimore Ravens with a 93.6. Even though the Ravens were well ahead, the Steelers did have the second-best score in the AFC North.

Pass Blocking

2024:
Score: 60.8
Rank: 24th

Mid-season:
Score: 58.0
Rank: 26th

Even though it is the Steelers lowest rank offensively finishing 24th, The Steelers showed improvement in pass blocking from their first and second year players over the second half of the season. Unfortunately, it was the veteran players on the line who scores fell off more as the season progressed. Regardless, being on the cusp of the bottom 25% of the NFL in pass blocking is not where the Steelers want to be.

Run Blocking

2024:
Score: 68.9
Rank: 9th

Mid-season:
Score: 66.0
Rank: 12th

I find it interesting how one of the Steelers best offensive ranks is not one of their better scores. When compared to the rest of the NFL, the Steelers finished in the top 10 when it came to blocking for the run.

I find it interesting how the Steelers best score on offense, which was in the rushing department, landed only with a middle ranking in the NFL. Although I was surprised the Steelers finished above a 60.0 in every category, when I realized how few teams were below a 60.0 in any category it made more sense. I guess it’s difficult to correlate the team scores in comparison with the individuals.

In all, the Steelers offense was probably not top 20 in the NFL this season by the end of the year, but played better than this through the middle stretch where they overachieved. So while the score seems high from where the Steelers came back to reality in January, it’s probably pretty accurate when looking at the season as a whole.

My grade of the overall PFF scores: B