It’s playoff time in the Burgh, and as such, the Steelers stars were in full force on Sunday. There were very few surprises as to who did, or did not, play in this big stakes game.

There were a few fourth quarter substitutions to rest players, and one other surprise stat, in Pittsburgh’s big 30-6 victory over Miami.

Offense

There were hardly any surprises here through three quarters. The Steelers had a total of 59 plays run on offense, and the offensive line remained mostly intact, with all but Marcus Gilbert playing the entire game.

Gilbert came out for a single play, an injury precaution stoppage.

With the Steelers playing a dominant run game, and Ladarius Green still in concussion protocol, TE David Johnson, FB Roosevelt Nix, and OL Chris Hubbard both saw an uptick in playing time. DJ would see 26 snaps (44% of the game) while Hubbard would play 21 (36%) and Nix would come in for 15 plays (25%).

Le’Veon Bell played most of the game (54/92%), coming out in the fourth quarter for DeAngelo Williams who finished with 5 snaps.

Antonio Brown played all but two snaps in the game.

Eli Rogers saw the next-most reps of the receiver group with 33 (56%). Demarcus Ayers (10/17%), Cobb Hamilton (14/24%), and Darrius Heyward-Bey (14/24%) round out the receivers.

Notably missing from the above list, Sammie Coates was the casualty in seeing snaps, as we expected. Several injuries have derailed the promising second-year player, and with the elevated play of Ayers, and the return to health of DHB, Coates became expendable on offense (but not on special teams, where he is still a fixture playing ).

I would expect that trend to continue going forward, while David Johnson and Chris Hubbard will likely continue to see time based on match-ups, with Jesse James (45/76%) the primary candidate to lose a handful of reps should Green return. (Xavier Grimble only saw the field twice on Sunday, and is the low man on the totem pole at this point as well.)

I believe the mix of playing time between the blocking and receiving packages plays to a well-balanced Steelers offense that could strike on the ground, or through the air. It’s refreshing to see that Pittsburgh can shake things up, and have several options in those packages, something which keeps them from being predictable, or one-dimensional.

Defense

Ryan Shazier, Mike Mitchell and Lawrence Timmons played all of the defense’s 65 snaps.

Sean Davis‘ streak of playing every snap ended, as he and Ross Cockrell both left the field for a single play, an injury situation similar to Marcus Gilbert‘s above (where they were required to leave for a play before returning).

Artie Burns, Bud Dupree and James Harrison all logged 61 snaps (94%) of playing time. Burns would leave the field for a sub package with an extra safety (Jordan Dangerfield, 5 snaps) while the two linebackers (Dupree and Harrison) were rested late; replaced by Arthur Moats and Jarvis Jones (4 snaps each).

Jones is the interesting substitution this week, as he may have redeemed his status in Pittsburgh by his play a week earlier against Cleveland. Jarvis would enter this game, registering an assisted tackle and a pass defended with those 4 reps; quite the statement from a fallen former first round pick who was a healthy scratch two weeks prior against the Ravens.

William Gay saw his usual workload (45/69%) working as the nickel corner. The defensive line featured a rotation with the Steelers base 3-4 (3 defensive linemen), and nickel packages (which removes one of those linemen, usually in passing situations). As no surprise, a healthy Stephon Tuitt saw the most playing time of the unit (57/88%) while Javon Hargrave had the second-most (50/77%) followed by Letterius Walton (29/45%) and Daniel McCullers (14/22%).

Johnny Maxey came into the game for a single play.

The defense looks fairly set. The preseason goal for a defensive line rotation appears to be working, even with the loss of captain Cameron Heyward (who was patrolling the sidelines giving the boys a pep talk between possessions).

However, the linebacker rotation has been finished for weeks, as Harrison and Dupree lead the way, while the secondary has been the same for quite some time.

Conclusion

A healthy Steelers squad in the postseason means that the play-makers will remain on the field as necessary. While Bell came out of the game, Big Ben did not: and the criticism ensued. Ben was seen in a walking boot in his post-game press conference, but we surmise this was merely a precautionary measure.

The Steelers left the game healthy, and were able to rest a few key starters in the lopsided victory. This will get the main guys ready for another big match-up this Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.