Breaking down offensive and defensive playing time from Steelers win over Ravens

The shift in who played, when and where, was monumental in the Steelers come from behind win over the Baltimore Ravens Sunday night. When I mention that, I’m not talking about the usual suspects: the entire offensive line stayed intact for the full game (for yet another week) while Ben Roethlisberger also had 100% participation in the game.

Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell rarely left the field, while Martavis Bryant (80%) was an integral part of the Steelers offensive plans. However, the game began with a lot of two tight end looks. Before leaving the game with an injury, Vance McDonald saw 39% of the offense’s snaps. (They would play a whopping 89 snaps Sunday!) Jesse James also saw 80% of the snaps, but once Vance left the field, Pittsburgh rotated in Eli Rogers (58%) and Justin Hunter (17%) with three-receiver sets.

Roosevelt Nix, who caught his first career touchdown, played ten snaps, while backup running backs James Conner (7) and Fitzgerald Toussaint (2) gave Bell a breather out of those 89 plays when the latter was shaken up.

Xavier Grimble saw little time, playing six snaps while Jerald Hawkins entered the game eleven times as part of a power run attack.

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The defense was a bigger mess when it comes to moving parts, with Arthur Moats (30%) and Sean Spence (53%) playing in place of Ryan Shazier. L.J. Fort (12%) also made an appearance in relief of the injured linebacker. Vince Williams played 83% of the game.

James Harrison saw his first snaps since Week 7, playing 11 of the defense’s 64 snaps. William Gay also saw the same amount of time in his usual role. Anthony Chickillo, another reserve outside linebacker, played ten snaps.

Artie Burns and Sean Davis saw their usual full game, with Mike Mitchell coming out for a single play. Coty Sensabaugh, however, was replaced more than once by rookie CB Cameron Sutton (45%).

The biggest surprise of the night may have been Javon Hargrave, who matched his 61% season-high for playing time (which he last did back in Week 5). Otherwise, the defensive line rotation remained roughly the same.

The odd man out Sunday overall was Robert Golden, who only played one snap on defense (the aforementioned play Mitchell came out on).


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