Steelers mix and match defensive pieces in last Sunday’s Chargers game
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 | 68 | 100% |
| DeCastro | 68 | 100% |
| Villanueva | 68 | 100% |
| Feiler | 68 | 100% |
| Pouncey | 68 | 100% |
| Roethlisberger | 68 | 100% |
| Brown | 67 | 99% |
| Smith-Schuster | 60 | 88% |
| Conner | 49 | 72% |
| McDonald | 44 | 65% |
| James | 33 | 49% |
| Switzer | 24 | 35% |
| Hunter | 18 | 26% |
| Samuels | 17 | 25% |
| Heyward-Bey | 13 | 19% |
| Grimble | 7 | 10% |
| Okorafor | 5 | 7% |
| Nix | 3 | 4% |
The Steelers had some interesting changes to their snap counts during Sunday night’s loss to the LA Chargers. A few of the moves came at the hands of injuries, while others were scheme changes.
Those changes were mostly on the defensive side of the ball, as you can tell from the snap counts above. In fact, the only major things to point out is that Matt Feiler returned in place of Marcus Gilbert, who continues to rehab an injury at the right tackle position, and that James Conner left the game to make way for Jaylen Samuels at running back.
Vance McDonald also had more of a split with Jesse James than what has been the case in recent weeks, but this is also likely due to McDonald showing up on the injury report last week.
Absent is rookie WR James Washington, who was inactive on Sunday. Justin Hunter took his place, seeing his first action in over four weeks. Unfortunately, Hunter was injured in the game and has been placed on IR, ending his season.
Defense
| Player | Snaps | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Sensabaugh | 63 | 100% |
| Edmunds | 62 | 98% |
| Davis | 62 | 98% |
| Haden | 62 | 98% |
| Dupree | 54 | 86% |
| Fort | 52 | 83% |
| Watt | 52 | 83% |
| Heyward | 51 | 81% |
| Hilton | 50 | 79% |
| Williams | 46 | 73% |
| Tuitt | 45 | 71% |
| Hargrave | 33 | 52% |
| Allen | 17 | 27% |
| Chickillo | 11 | 17% |
| Bostic | 11 | 17% |
| Alualu | 11 | 17% |
| Adeniyi | 10 | 16% |
| Burns | 1 | 2% |
As noted, the defensive side of the ball saw the most changes from game-to-game, and even over a long period of time. The first to note is the inclusion of two rookies making their first appearances of the season. LB Ola Adeniyi and S Marcus Allen played their first games of 2018, with Allen replacing the injured Morgan Burnett. Adeniyi was activated from injured reserve on Saturday.
Another major change on defense was the rise of LB L.J. Fort who played more than he has all season. Fort’s previous high was 44% in Week 9. This took a huge chunk out of Jon Bostic’s playing time, as the starting inside linebacker sat for all but 11 of the Steelers 63 defensive plays.
Artie Burns entered the field for a single play when Joe Haden entered the concussion protocol following a Chargers touchdown. Anthony Chickillo was banged up during the game while Daniel McCullers didn’t see the field Sunday, something which has rarely happened this season.
Statistics courtesy of the National Football League
