The Pittsburgh Steelers will be getting nose tackle Montravius Adams back for their Week 14 game against the New England Patriots, and that means that for the first time this season. the Steelers might have a chance to play a full game with a fully healthy defensive line.
It also means that someone will be coming out of the lineup, and it’s not clear at this point who that will be. In two other games, the Steelers have gone into a game with a full complement, only to lose one in the first half. That happened in Week 1, when Cam Heyward was lost to a groin injury, and in Week 9, when Adams hurt his ankle on the first defensive drive.
In both of those games, veteran defensive tackle Armon Watts was scratched from the Steelers lineup, with Larry Ogunjobi joining Adams and Heyward as starters and Keeanu Benton, DeMarvin Leal and Isaiahh Loudermilk as the second squad.
But the way Watts has been deployed so far this season might mean that someone else could find themselves without a helmet on Thursday night. Watts played 20 snaps in Week 13, the fourth-most on the line behind starters Benton, Heyward and Ogunjobi — and not all that far behind Benton, who played in 25 snaps while battling a minor oblique injury.
In Week 12, it was the same. Watts had the most snaps out of the second-team linemen, though he only played nine snaps as the Steelers offensive dominated time of possession and keep the defense rested. Leal played in three snaps in that game and Loudermilk two.
In the last four games, with Heyward back and Adams out, Leal has played a total of just 17 snaps. Watts has played 80. Loudermilk has played 48, Leal was a third-round pick and a player with a lot of promise coming out of Texas A&M in 2022, but it very well could be the youngster that winds up a healthy scratch when the defense gets healthy this time around.
The saving grace for Leal might be the distribution of the alignments. He has played 130 of his 197 snaps this season as a four-technique or wider, according to Pro Football Focus. That means he’s been playing over or outside the opposing team’s tackle, usually in as an end in the team’s 3-4 base defense. Watts has played 124 of his 217 inside the tackle, lining up mostly as a defensive tackle in the team’s four-man front sub packages, and occasionally as a nose tackle in the base defense. That’s the area where Adams will do most of his work.
The one-for-one-replacement would be to play Adams instead of Watts, giving the team two natural 3-4 units to work with. But the level of trust and faith the coaching staff has showed in Watts, compared to Leal and Loudermilk, makes it an open question who will get the last hat on the defensive line.
STEELERS OFFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS
| Pos | Player | SF | CLE | LV | HOU | BAL | LAR | JAX | TEN | GB | CLE | CIN | ARI | |||||
| QB | Kenny Pickett |
63 | 54 | 62 | 49 | 66 | 59 | 28 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 71 | 30 | |||||
| QB | Mitch Trubisky |
0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | |||||
| QB | Mason Rudolph |
QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | QB3 | |||||
| RB | Najee Harris |
33 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 37 | 34 | 35 | 38 | 33 | 33 | 38 | 36 | |||||
| RB | Jaylen Warren |
25 | 23 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 27 | 32 | 26 | 33 | 26 | 34 | 36 | |||||
| RB | Anthony McFarland | 5 | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | 1 | 0 | INA | INA | |||||
| RB | Qadree Ollison |
— | 0 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| RB | Godwin Igwebuike | — | — | INA | INA | INA | 0 | 0 | 0 | INA | INA | 0 | 0 | |||||
| WR | George Pickens |
56 | 46 | 55 | 58 | 58 | 53 | 62 | 58 | 62 | 53 | 53 | 49 | |||||
| WR | Diontae Johnson |
27 | IR | IR | IR | IR | 39 | 61 | 57 | 53 | 50 | 52 | 44 | |||||
| WR | Allen Robinson II |
56 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 57 | 38 | 46 | 47 | 50 | 45 | 45 | 33 | |||||
| WR | Calvin Austin III |
35 | 41 | 45 | 53 | 37 | 7 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 18 | 9 | |||||
| WR | Miles Boykin |
5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 12 | |||||
| WR | Gunner Olszewski | INA | 1 | INJ | INA | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| TE | Pat Freiermuth |
32 | 41 | 49 | 30 | INJ | IR | IR | IR | IR | 31 | 42 | 36 | |||||
| TE | Darnell Washingon | 24 | 26 | 29 | 25 | 46 | 31 | 10 | 32 | 33 | 27 | 37 | 34 | |||||
| TE | Connor Heyward |
17 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 37 | 51 | 49 | 40 | 34 | 8 | 24 | 19 | |||||
| TE | Rodney Williams II |
— | — | — | — | 4 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 5 | |||||
| LT | Dan Moore Jr. |
63 | 54 | 62 | 8 | INJ | 59 | 66 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 71 | 61 | |||||
| RT | Chukwuma Okorafor | 59 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| LG | Issac Seumalo |
63 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 71 | 30 | |||||
| RG | James Daniels |
63 | 54 | 62 | INJ | INJ | 59 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 71 | 61 | |||||
| C | Mason Cole |
63 | 54 | 62 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 71 | 61 | |||||
| OT | Broderick Jones |
4 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 66 | 0 | 5 | 65 | 65 | 58 | 71 | 61 | |||||
| OT | Dylan Cook |
INA | INA | INA | 0 | 0 | INA | INA | INA | INA | INA | INA | INA | |||||
| C/G | Nate Herbig |
0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | |||||
| OL | Spencer Anderson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| OL | Ryan McCollum |
— | — | — | — | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
STEELERS DEFENSIVE SNAP COUNTS
| Pos | Player | SF | CLE | LV | HOU | BAL | LAR | JAX | TEN | GB | CLE | CIN | ARI | |||||
| DT | Larry Ogunjobi |
43 | 51 | 49 | 46 | 48 | 49 | 53 | 50 | 44 | 53 | 30 | 56 | |||||
| DT | Montravius Adams | 34 | 52 | 47 | 41 | 56 | 46 | 49 | 2 | INA | INA | INA | INA | |||||
| DE | DeMarvin Leal |
26 | 39 | 33 | 21 | INJ | 23 | 14 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | |||||
| NT | Keeanu Benton |
29 | 28 | 21 | 29 | 33 | 19 | 30 | 48 | 45 | 39 | 22 | 25 | |||||
| DT | Armon Watts |
INA | 22 | 18 | 34 | 18 | 17 | 28 | INA | 22 | 27 | 9 | 22 | |||||
| DT | Isaiahh Loudermilk | 31 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 8 | 18 | 2 | 20 | |||||
| DT | Cam Heyward |
14 | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | IR | 41 | 40 | 46 | 35 | 50 | |||||
| NT | Breiden Fehoko |
— | INA | INA | INA | 0 | INA | INA | INA | INA | — | — | — | |||||
| OLB | T.J. Watt |
48 | 70 | 59 | 62 | 60 | 57 | 56 | 69 | 66 | 73 | 39 | 54 | |||||
| OLB | Alex Highsmith |
49 | 68 | 52 | 63 | 61 | 53 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 66 | 40 | 61 | |||||
| OLB | Markus Golden |
25 | 19 | 20 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 9 | |||||
| OLB | Nick Herbig |
16 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 | |||||
| OLB | Kyron Johnson |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | |||||
| ILB | Cole Holcomb |
53 | 78 | 53 | 63 | 64 | 56 | 64 | 16 | IR | IR | IR | IR | |||||
| ILB | Kwon Alexander |
47 | 52 | 47 | 27 | 31 | 47 | 38 | 64 | 9 | IR | IR | IR | |||||
| ILB | Elandon Roberts |
29 | 27 | 17 | 42 | 29 | 19 | 31 | 37 | 65 | 75 | 43 | 15 | |||||
| ILB | Mark Robinson |
0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 44 | |||||
| ILB | Tariq Carpenter |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |||||
| ILB | Mykal Walker |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 63 | 33 | 65 | |||||
| CB | Patrick Peterson |
67 | 85 | 71 | 71 | 63 | 67 | 71 | 74 | 68 | 74 | 41 | 53 | |||||
| CB | Levi Wallace |
67 | 78 | 67 | 71 | 66 | 49 | INJ | 38 | 27 | 10 | 11 | 18 | |||||
| CB | Joey Porter Jr. |
7 | 14 | 27 | 10 | 28 | 53 | 59 | 70 | 68 | 68 | 43 | 68 | |||||
| CB | James Pierre |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| CB | Chandon Sullivan | 13 | 47 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 28 | 16 | 19 | 27 | 18 | 17 | |||||
| CB | Darius Rush |
— | — | — | — | — | INA | 0 | 30 | INA | INA | 9 | INA | |||||
| CB | Desmond King |
— | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| FS | Minkah Fitzpatrick | 68 | 46 | 72 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 8 | INA | INA | INA | INA | 68 | |||||
| S | Damontae Kazee |
49 | 77 | 53 | 34 | 43 | 58 | 67 | 74 | 68 | 75 | 43 | 62 | |||||
| SS | Keanu Neal |
33 | 61 | 41 | 45 | 42 | 17 | 69 | 66 | 56 | IR | IR | IR | |||||
| SS | Miles Killebrew |
0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| DB | Elijah Riley |
0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 9 | IR | IR | |||||
| SS | Trenton Thompson | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7 | 58 | 42 | 24 |