Playing time tracker for Steelers vs. Ravens
It’s time to take a look at what composed the makeup of a Steelers win over the Ravens on Sunday by examining playing time on each side of the ball.
Let’s start by listing Sunday’s inactive players. James Harrison appeared to be a healthy scratch, missing the game with what was a reported illness that has been going around the locker room.
Eli Rogers was likely pulled in favor of adding Justin Hunter (9 snaps) to the active roster, in the event that Martavis Bryant (who was also dealing with an illness all week) couldn’t play to his full potential. With Rogers out, JuJu Smith-Schuster played a season-high 54 snaps: 15 more than Rogers has played all year.
Typical inactives included third-string quarterback Joshua Dobbs and backup tackle Jerald Hawkins. DT Dan McCullers also sat on Sunday, while injuries caused T Marcus Gilbert and S Mike Mitchell to miss the game as well. This was the first game Mitchell would miss since signing with the Steelers back in 2014.
The rest of the offense was fairly clear-cut when it came to playing time. Le’Veon Bell was on the field for all but seven snaps, with James Conner in the backfield for six plays (four carries on the day) and Terrell Watson coming in for a situational play on third and short. And as expected, the starting offensive linemen had 100% participation.
Vance McDonald saw his most time yet in a Steelers uniform, playing 30 offensive plays (39%) while Jesse James was in for 58 of the team’s 76 snaps. Xavier Grimble continues to be little used, falling to only two snaps against the Ravens.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Steelers secondary, comprised of Joe Haden, Artie Burns, Sean Davis, and J.J. Wilcox (subbing for Mike Mitchell) played a complete game. William Gay saw more snaps this week but it was Mike Hilton who made the most of them, registering a sack and an interception seeing the field 2/3 of the game.
Once again there wasn’t much of a linebacker rotation. Ryan Shazier, Bud Dupree, and T.J. Watt left the field twice, substituted for Tyler Matakevich, Anthony Chickillo, and Arthur Moats.
Vince Williams was this week’s chess piece, seeing his least amount of action (59%) of the season. This had more to do with Pittsburgh utilizing more of William Gay against the Ravens multiple tight end sets than Williams’ play.
Stephon Tuitt returned to play 81% of the game, while Cam Heyward was on the field for 83% of all defensive plays. Javon Hargrave added his usual 40-ish percent of playing time, while Tyson Alualu and L.T. Walton saw their playing time decrease with Tuitt’s return. As expected, Alualu fell from starter status, having played around 4/5 of the first three games to under 20% against the Ravens.
