Steelers shakeup defensive playing time against Patriots
Combing through this Sunday’s snap counts, it’s clear the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff attempted to do something different on defense in their attempt to defeat the New England Patriots.
I’m well aware that some may get snarky with that assessment, but for over three quarters of football and then some, you have to admit that a unit missing two of its star defenders (Ryan Shazier and Joe Haden) gave their all against a quarterback who is considered to be one of, if not the best to ever play.
The first thing that jumps off of the screen if you were watching the game, is how Pittsburgh utilized their players. Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt frequently switched roles, which was rarely seen up until this game. As a result, Dupree actually played his least amount of snaps (60%) all season. Watt would also finish on the low end with 67%.
However, that didn’t mean any of the other outside linebackers had a larger role either, as James Harrison, Arthur Moats, and Anthony Chickillo didn’t play a single snap on Sunday. The Steelers mostly rolled with Vince Williams and Sean Spence on the inside, with each playing 3/4 of the game. Tyler Matakevich, who was injured a week earlier, did not play a single defensive down, while L.J. Fort saw his most snaps of the season (15 snaps or 25% of all defensive plays).
Instead, the Steelers committed to their defensive line and secondary. Up front, Cam Heyward (90%), Stephon Tuitt (87%), and Javon Hargrave (65%) played their usual share with Tyson Alualu (32%) and L.T. Walton (18%) getting an uptick in playing time as well, but with no dent in the starters share.
Without Joe Haden, many speculated on what the Steelers would do in their secondary. Artie Burns, Sean Davis, and Mike Mitchell were the only three defensive players to play the entire game. Rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton came close as well, only leaving the game for three of the team’s 60 defensive snaps.
The remaining defensive backs all saw quite a bit of time with the outside linebackers on the sideline. Mike Hilton played 80% of the game, William Gay was in a quarter of the time, and even Robert Golden made three brief appearances. Surprisingly, the Steelers even fielded fifth-round draft pick Brian Allen for a single play while Coty Sensabaugh, Haden’s previous replacement at starting corner, was left on the bench: he would never play a down against the Patriots.
The offensive side of the ball didn’t have quite the same shakeup with the exception of Antonio Brown exiting the game early with an injury. AB would play 31% of the game Sunday, which opened the door for JuJu Smith-Schuster to only leave the field for a single play, and Darrius Heyward-Bey to have his highest totals of the season (46%). Martavis Bryant (54%) still saw about his usual load when JuJu is active. Eli Rogers actually saw his playing time decrease, nearly cut in half from the week before (37%).
Per usual, the offensive line and Ben Roethlisberger played the full game. Le’Veon Bell took ten snaps off, nine of which went to James Conner with the remaining down going to Fitzgerald Toussaint, following Conner’s injury.
Pittsburgh’s heavy package saw Jesse James play 90% of the game, with the usual numbers for Xavier Grimble (19%), Roosevelt Nix (10%), and Jerald Hawkins (13%).
