Steelers Snap Counts, Grades vs Patriots: DL Picks Up Watt’s Slack

Check out the Pittsburgh Steelers snap counts and grades from the 2022 home-opening loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday.

QUARTERBACK

Mitch Trubisky had a 62 PFF rating in his first start with the Steelers. His second game? A very consistent 61.6.

RUNNING BACK

Despite coming off an injury and being limited in practice this week, Najee Harris carried even more of the workload at running back. He had a higher percentage of the snap count and had 15 rushes compared to 10 in Week 1. His average yards per carry rose from an abysmal 2.3 to a still-bad 3.3, but at least it showed progress.

Harris had a 65.3 PFF grade, up from 56.5 in Week 1. Warren’s 61 was well up from 48.9.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Other than Mason Cole not getting banged up this time around not using Trent Scott as an extra tight end, things were status quo for the offensive line from a playing-time standpoint.

Okorafor was the highest-graded player on the line for the second week in a row, this time getting all the way up to 84.6. Kevin Dotson (76.7), James Daniels (69.1) and Mason Cole (69.1) all had above-average grades.

TIGHT END

Slightly less usage for Pat Freiermuth, even though he was a bigger part of the game plan early, and slightly more for Zach Gentry. Connor Heyward picked up some of the snaps that had gone to Trent Scott and Derek Watt.

Freiermuth had the second-worst grade of his career after three drops.

WIDE RECEIVER

George Pickens played nearly the whole game and still only got three targets, one of which was a Hail Mary and another was 10 yards out of bounds.

Diontae Johnson saw his grade spike from 69.2 to 84.4. Chase Claypool went the other way, without any running tries to raise his level.

DEFENSIVE LINE

With DeMarvin Leal and Cam Heyward both playing a lot of the rush end position where T.J. Watt usually lines up in the Steelers’ sub packages, all five defensive linemen saw a bump in playing time.

DeMarvin Leal led the way with a 78.7 grade, as the lack of pass-rush push and lack of run-stopping was reflected with downward grades for Cam Heyward, Tyson Alualu and Larry Ogunjobi.

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS

As expected, Malik Reed was the biggest recipient of T.J. Watt’s snaps, but it was surprising that Jamir Jones got even less run than he did in the opener. The usage of the defensive linemen definitely took away from the workload here.

Alex Highsmith had another strong game, with a 73.8 grade despite not getting any sacks.

INSIDE LINEBACKER

Devin Bush was injured and didn’t finish the game, so that explains the slightly elevated usage of Robert Spillane. The Steelers played very little Dime, so the inside linebackers were up across the board.

DEFENSIVE BACK

The Steelers played their usual five defensive backs almost the whole game, generally eschewing Art Maulet and the heavier Nickel package they possess. They also played very little Dime.

Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds graded out excellently, at 79.7 and 86.5. The corners struggled in comparison.