The Steelers victory over the Buffalo Bills came along with many notable stats. One of these includes the Steelers outside linebacker play.

After deploying a rotation for the majority of the season, the Steelers defense started two OLB’s for nearly the entire game on Sunday.

Here are the snap counts for the Steelers OLB’s during their game versus the Bills.

	Snaps	Snap %
James Harrison	52	100%
Bud Dupree	51	98%
Anthony Chickillo	1	2%
Jarvis Jones	0	0%
Arthur Moats	0	0%

Based on these numbers, it is clear that the Steelers linebacker rotation is dead.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise though.

Joey Porter, Steelers OLB coach, told Dale Lolley back in July of the Steelers plans for the rotation:

“I don’t think the rotation will be what it was. If (Jones and Dupree) are going to play like we think they can, I’m going to play the hot hand… The rotation came from the fact we have to get some production some way. If those guys get hot, those guys are our starters. You can’t justify taking anybody off the field if they’re hot. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Porter makes it clear the linebacker rotation that the Steelers deployed for the majority of 2015 was merely a stopgap, not a permanent solution.

Things didn’t go quite how Porter envisioned however.

The plan this offseason appeared to be to have Dupree take over as the full-time starter on the edge. Unfortunately,  Dupree suffered a groin injury early in camp that kept him on the sidelines until recently.

It took him awhile to get back on the field and into playing shape, but it appears he is finally healthy enough to take over this role. Dupree was successful in his debut as full-time starter recording 2 sacks.

Considering he still is recovering from his groin injury, we can expect Dupree to continue improving as the weeks go on.

Jarvis Jones has been healthy, but has failed to make a significant impact on the field. Though he has proven to be effective stopping the run, he has never shown the ability to be a consistent pass rusher. Jones is the only outside linebacker on the roster to not have a sack all season, despite playing in 12 games and starting many.

Because of Jones’ inability to make a splash on the field, 38 year-old veteran Harrison has taken over at starter.

Moving forward I don’t expect things to change too much.

Dupree should continue to play the majority of snaps at OLB; that is what they drafted him to do.

Harrison on the other-hand certainly may see his snaps decline, not because of his level of play, but because of his age. Being that he is 38 years old, it may be wise for the Steelers to give him some occasional rest.

Chickillo may be the next man up considering he has played the highest number of snaps among the back-up OLB’s  in recent weeks.

While Chickillo, Jones, and Moats have all made the occasional flash play and played solid overall, Dupree and Harrison have established themselves as the best two outside linebackers on the Steelers.

The now-backups have played admirably this season and are still valuable to this team, but Dupree and Harrison have earned their spots as clear-cut starters.