On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the comeback kids once again, using a strong second half to put together a big 24-17 comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams. Now that we’ve had a chance to go over our charting of the Steelers snaps we wanted to share some surprises.
Patrick Peterson played a lot...at safety
Cornerback Patrick Peterson played 99 percent of the defensive snaps. The Rams appreciated this when he was at cornerback as his issues in coverage are painfully obvious. But what we saw on Sunday is Peterson making a transition to safety more and more as Joey Porter Jr. works his way into the starting lineup more and more. By contrast, Keanu Neal only played 17 defensive snaps.
Joey Porter jr. finally geting his shot
The best part of the Steelers playing so much 4-2-5 on Sunday was seeing rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. on the field for 78 percent of the total defensive snaps. Yes, he got clanked hard trying to make a tackle and this remains a weakness but his coverage skills are why you keep him on the field.
Defensive linemen underutilized
How is it that the Steelers played its true defensive linemen so little on Sunday? Larry Ogunjobi and Montravius Adams were the starters and neither guy had more than 72 percent of defensive snaps. Next up was DeMarvin Leal who only played 34 percent of snaps. And super rookie Keeanu Benton only played 28 percent of snaps.
Darnell Washington played but you'd never know it
Raise your hand if you knew that rookie tight end Darnell Washington played 53 percent of offensive snaps on Sunday. He saw zero targets in the passing game despite the absence of Pat Freiermuth.
Nearly dead-even split at running back
The running-back-by-committee approach is in full swing in Pittsburgh. It’s almost like head coach Mike Tomlin has finally discovered what the fans have been screaming for is wise but was just stubborn enough to want to do it on his own timeline. Najee Harris played 58 percent of snaps and Warren played 46 percent. We even saw a few reps with both players on the field at the same time.
