Steelers Snap Counts, Grades against Bengals

Check out the Pittsburgh Steelers snap counts and grades from the 2022 season-opening 23-20 overtime win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night.

QUARTERBACK

Mitch Trubisky had a 62 PFF rating in his first start with the Steelers.

RUNNING BACK

Najee Harris missed the end of the fourth quarter and all of overtime, and Jaylen Warren got all of that additional workload, with Benny Snell not seeing the field on offense. Derek Watt played a little more than he has in non-short yardage situations.

Harris had a 56.5 PFF grade, while Warren’s was 48.9, dragged down by a 22.9 pass-blocking grade that I don’t think lined up with what I saw from his pass protection.

OFFENSIVE LINE

The Steelers scratched Kendrick Green, so the winner of the left guard competition, Kevin Dotson, played every snap. J.C. Hassenauer filled in for a few plays while Mason Cole got his ankle taped. Trent Scott appears to be the jumbo tight end.

Okorafor was the highest-graded player on the line at 70.1 and one of only three Steelers offensive players with a grade over 70. Dan Moore Jr. (68.7) and James Daniels (64.8) also had passing grades, if barley. Kevin Dotson (56.4) and Mason Cole (54.9) had a rough go of things, particularly in run blocking, where they were at 50.1 and 49.4.

TIGHT END

The Steelers played with two tight ends a surprisingly small amount of time considering the struggled with pass protection the offensive line had at times.

Freiermuth was the highest-graded Steelers offensive regular at 74.2 and Gentry wasn’t far behind at 65.3. Their pass blocking grades were vastly divergent, with Freiermuth rating a 74 and Gentry a 0.

WIDE RECEIVER

With only one tight end getting much action, it was a lot of three-receiver sets for the Steelers. Almost all of Chase Claypool’s work came in the slot, with Diontae Johnson, George Pickens and Miles Boykin working outside.

Johnson led the charge grade-wise with a 69.2. Claypool did butte running (63.7) than he did receiving (59.4) for a 61.4 overall. George Pickens (50.1) did not impress in his first game.

DEFENSIVE LINE

With 100 plays called by the Bengals, the Steelers liberally substituted on defense. Cam Heyward was injured late in the game and did not return. Tyson Alualu picked up most of his slack.

Heyward graded out at 72.3, which fairly boggles the mind about how he could possibly be better. Larry Ogunjobi (58.5) was mostly graded poorly against the run (56.5), which is strange considering they held Joe Mixon to three yards per carry.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS

The injury to T.J. Watt certainly picked up the playing time for Malik Reed in his first game with the Steelers. Watt graded at 84.6 before his injury. Reed checked in at 64.1

INSIDE LINEBACKER

Robert Spillane started the game as the Dime linebacker, with Myles Jack and Devin Bush working in the base and Nickel. Spillane suffered an eye injury, and that left Jack as a three-down player.

Jack graded as a solid 70, while Bush was surprisingly held back by his coverage grade (40.3) while getting strong marks against the run (68.7).

DEFENSIVE BACK

Levi Wallace getting injured simplified the team’s possibilities in the secondary. What were three Nickel packages now became one after Damontae Kazee and Wallace’s injuries. Cam Sutton moved permanently to the outside along with Ahkello Witherspoon, Art Maulet became the Nickel and Tre Norwood the Dime. Interestingly, Norwood played some half-field safety in the Dime package, with Terrell Edmunds moving down into the Dime backer role.

Minkah Fitzpatrick‘s 90.6 doesn’t even include his game-saving special teams block. A piece de resistance for the Steelers safety. Cam Sutton (74.5), Levi Wallace (69.6) did well, while Ahkello Witherspoon (62.9) did well enough, considering that he shadowed Jamarr Chase for much of the night.