Snap counts for Steelers against Bengals
The first half was ugly for the Steelers, and the second half was ugly for the Bengals, with a result that Steelers Nation would end up accepting: a 24-20 win over Cincinatti, a sweep of the team that has been a thorn in our side more often than not.
The contributions in this game were all over the map, as injuries hit Pittsburgh once again, and game-planning changed throughout the game.
Here is the snap count breakdown from this Sunday.
Offense
I had made such a fuss about David DeCastro leaving for a play, following a hit on Vontaze Burfict (in which he would leave and be evaluated for a concussion) that I didn’t realize he only missed a single snap!
Honestly, I thought he had missed more than that, but not according to the official game log…
That means the rest of the line was in the entire game, save for B.J. Finney‘s lone relief appearance (1 play) in place of DD.
The Killer B’s of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell also played a full share of the game.
Following those usual suspects, Eli Rogers and Ladarius Green both saw marginal upticks in their playing time. Green saw 43 of 75 plays (57%) while Rogers was in the most after the above names that played the full game (with 48 reps, for 64% of the game).
While Green impacted Jesse James‘ playing time (29/39%) it was the return of Sammie Coates (30/40%) who ate into Cobi Hamilton‘s reps (18/24%).
It was a bit odd, because both receivers only caught one pass each: Coates’ on the last drive of the first half with a minute left, moved the chains on a 2nd down and 10 from the Pittsburgh 27, while Hamilton converted yet another 3rd down on the same drive just plays later (following a deep shot for Coates).
Each receiver was also targeted in the redzone, but failed to come down with a score.
Chris Hubbard (19/25%), David Johnson (15/20%) and Roosevelt Nix (15/20%) continued to press on in the running game, while Xavier Grimble also returned to the lineup this week (8/11%).
The mix was a bit different as the Bengals held Bell to just under 100 yards rushing in the game (93 to be exact). The Steelers failed to get momentum early, but closed out the last five and a half minutes of the game with a ground-and-pound attack to secure the victory.
The biggest winner of the week is Coates, who finally saw some significant playing time, and appears to be back in early season form following a loss of half a season due to hand/finger injuries. His ability to stretch the field was missed, and helped others such as Green and Rogers get separation, as the Bengals had to respect Coates’ speed and the downfield attack.
This also opened up the run game at times as well.
Going forward, this could be about the same mix we see against the Ravens and Browns to close out the year.
Defense
More of the usual suspects played the entire 58 defense plays of the game:
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you: the starting four linebackers played the entire game.
Sean Davis, since being installed as the starter, has played every snap for 5 straight games.
The outside linebacker rotation is no longer a rotation, and while the Steelers only got one sack on the day, they pressured Bengals QB Andy Dalton often; which also turned into a rushed pass that was picked off by Timmons.
Anthony Chickillo and Arthur Moats would only see time on special teams, and Jarvis Jones did not play at all.
It’s clear that Harrison and Dupree, barring injury, will be the “guys” going forward.
Jarvis’ time could be done; a casualty of Dupree’s return and the losing touchdown play against the Cowboys.
Vince Williams snuck in for 4 plays in goal line duty, while Robert Golden did the same.
The secondary saw an even split of 54/93% of playing time for Mike Mitchell, Ross Cockrell and Artie Burns; William Gay was out on the field for a 46/79% split in sub packages.
The defensive line saw a shuffle, with Stephon Tuitt limited to 3 plays, leaving the field on Cincy’s first possession with a knee injury. His replacement, Ricardo Mathews, played 55% of the game (32 reps) despite also leaving the game.
L.T. Walton continued to receive more playing time (36/62%) which was the second-most to Javon Hargrave (49/84%) who came back after time off from a concussion.
Daniel McCuller (12/21%) rounds out the rotation upfront, as the Steelers defense continues to find ways to plug-and-play in Cam Heyward’s absence.
With the secondary playing extremely well, and the linebacker situation panned out, the only changes would be with the defensive line. I’ve personally found Walton’s growth to be a surprise, at a time of need; hopefully nothing too serious has happend to Tuitt, where we need to find out how good Walton really is… with the division on the line.
The answer could be more sub packages: rotating in a DB, or even a LB (in Vince Williams’ case) as the answer for a thinning defensive line depth chart.
Considering the Ravens aren’t a strong running team, and the Browns aren’t a strong team at anything, a week off for Tuitt might not be a sky-is-falling scenario.
