The makeup of the Steelers huge Thursday night win over the Panthers
Each week we’ll take a look at the composition of the Steelers wins and losses (and ties too) by examining the team’s snap counts on offense and defense. Here’s a look at the makeup of last week’s game.
Offense
| Player | Snaps | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Foster | 58 | 100% |
| Villanueva | 58 | 100% |
| Feiler | 58 | 100% |
| Brown | 51 | 88% |
| DeCastro | 50 | 86% |
| Roethlisberger | 50 | 86% |
| Pouncey | 48 | 83% |
| Washington | 46 | 79% |
| Smith-Schuster | 42 | 72% |
| James | 34 | 59% |
| McDonald | 25 | 43% |
| Conner | 23 | 40% |
| Samuels | 18 | 31% |
| Grimble | 16 | 28% |
| Heyward-Bey | 10 | 17% |
| Finney | 10 | 17% |
| Ridley | 10 | 17% |
| Okorafor | 9 | 16% |
| Switzer | 8 | 14% |
| Dobbs | 8 | 14% |
| Nix | 6 | 10% |
The blowout victory allowed the Steelers to sub in several backups for the final snaps of the game. Among those receiving playing time included B.J. Finney, Chuks Okorafor, and QB Joshua Dobbs.
Jaylen Samuels and Stevan Ridley also saw carries as James Conner left the game and entered the league’s concussion protocol. Samuels saw a season-high 31% of offensive snaps while also scoring his first career touchdown.
Xavier Grimble returned to action after missing Sunday’s game against the Ravens. The third-string tight end saw a lot of playing time against the Panthers.
In fact, the only offensive players who have seen playing time in 2018 to not play Thursday night were Justin Hunter and Marcus Gilbert: Hunter was inactive, while Gilbert continues to recover from an injury.
After being a healthy scratch in Week 8, rookie WR James Washington saw ample playing time once again, adding 79% of the offensive snaps to his 86% of playing time against the Ravens several days earlier.
Defense
| Player | Snaps | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Sensabaugh | 53 | 93% |
| Dupree | 49 | 86% |
| Bostic | 48 | 84% |
| Haden | 46 | 81% |
| Davis | 46 | 81% |
| Tuitt | 44 | 77% |
| Heyward | 40 | 70% |
| Williams | 40 | 70% |
| Burnett | 38 | 67% |
| Watt | 38 | 67% |
| Hargrave | 37 | 65% |
| Edmunds | 33 | 58% |
| Chickillo | 27 | 47% |
| Hilton | 19 | 33% |
| Alualu | 19 | 33% |
| Walton | 13 | 23% |
| Matakevich | 11 | 19% |
| Burns | 10 | 18% |
| Fort | 9 | 16% |
| Dangerfield | 4 | 7% |
| Sutton | 3 | 5% |
Defensively the big story was seeing CB Artie Burns back on the field. The former first round draft pick has been benched for the last two games, and presumably, would not have played in this one either if not for the comfortable lead and a banged-up Coty Sensabaugh (the latter of which, has clearly won the starting job opposite Joe Haden).
This may surprise some, but LB Jon Bostic actually played the most amount of snaps percentagewise as he has all season. After playing all but one snap over the Steelers first three weeks, Vince Williams has yet to be deployed in that same way as the defensive strategy has shifted to special packages. That didn’t stop the starting inside linebacker from recording a pick-six and a sack in this game, however!
L.T. Walton and Tyler Matakevich both saw playing time after being relatively quiet all season. Jordan Dangerfield is yet another backup who got some playing time near the end of the game, but missing from the overall equation in the Steelers plans is rookie LB Matthew Thomas. Thomas was once hinted at being used more in defensive schemes but the role has since been taken by L.J. Fort and returning defensive back Morgan Burnett.
Speaking of DBs, Cameron Sutton has also been absent since the bye week. He’s seen his playing time dip to an all-time low after never receiving a rep against the Ravens and only entering the field for three plays against the Panthers.
Statistics courtesy of the National Football League
