Last December, as Keenan Allen and the Chargers tore up Heinz Field, one thing became painfully clear: The Steelers were too slow and athletically overmatched at inside linebacker.
On Sunday night, the man tasked with changing that narrative -- the one the team jumped into the 2019 NFL Draft's top ten picks to select -- made something else thing clear: Devin Bush has arrived, and it's a new era for a turnover-hungry Steelers defense.
After a few welcome-to-the-NFL moments during the first few games, when he was a fraction of a second slow in reading offensive schemes, Bush has transformed into the kind of sideline-to-sideline playmaker that the Steelers envisioned. If he keeps up the pace that he has set during the season's first six weeks, he could set some records.
How good has Bush been?
• With 52 combined tackles (solo and assisted), Bush ranks tenth among all NFL defenders and first among rookies. The closest rookie defender is Washington linebacker Cole Holcomb, with 43 combined tackles. Bush is on pace for about 137 tackles in 2019, which would rank as the third-highest single-season total in Steelers history. The only players to bury more opponents were Lawrence Timmons (139 tackles in 2014) and James Farrior (141 in 2003), according to Pro Football Reference. Bush is going to zip by the current team rookie tackles record, held by Kendrell Bell (83 in 2001), and he's on pace for the 15th-highest rookie tackles total in NFL history.
• Bush leads the NFL with four fumble recoveries, and he ranks second among linebackers with two interceptions. We're only six weeks into the season, and Bush is already one of just 33 linebackers during the post-merger era (1970-present) to have at least four fumble recoveries and two INTs in a single year. The only other Steelers linebackers to pull off that feat are Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Mike Merriweather.
• It might be unreasonable to expect Bush to keep getting turnovers at this pace. But even if he isn't such a turnover hawk the rest of the way, he has already flipped the field like few other linebackers in team history. Bush has the fourth-most turnovers in a single season for a Steelers linebacker, with a whopping ten games to go:
Ham (1974), Chuck Allen (1970), Lambert (1978), Joey Porter (2002), Greg Lloyd (1989), Dirt Winston (1979) and Merriweather (1987) also forced six turnovers in a single season.
• Bush is holding his own in pass coverage. When targeted in the receiving game, Bush has allowed an 84.9 passer rating, per Pro Football Reference. That ranks 19th in the league among qualified linebackers. He's allowing an average of six yards per passing attempt, placing 24th at his position. For comparison's sake, the guy he primarily replaced--Jon Bostic--allowed a 115.7 pass rating and 8.3 receiving yards per target with Pittsburgh in 2018.
Bush isn't a finished product. In particular, he could stand to improve his missed tackle rate (8.8. percent, which ranks 204th out of 402 qualified defenders). But less than two months into his regular-season career, the tenth overall pick in the draft is demonstrating the kind of game-altering athleticism and nose for the ball that the Steelers have lacked since Ryan Shazier took the field. He's leading the charge for a team that is forcing turnovers on a league-leading 22.1 percent of opponents' drives--nearly triple their turnover rate in 2018 (8.2 percent, tied for 28th). The Steelers took a big swing in the '19 draft. With each passing week, and with each splash play that Bush makes, it's looking like they connected and finally fixed a glaring flaw in the middle of the defense.
MORE STEELERS
• Duck dinks and dunks: Devlin Hodges kept his head above water during his first career NFL start. The man who broke Steve McNair's all-time record for passing yards at an FCS school completed 15 of his 20 pass attempts against the Chargers for 132 yards, one touchdown and one INT. The Steelers' game plan with Hodges at the helm looked similar to the one used with Mason Rudolph: short, high-percentage plays and heavy involvement from the running backs. The average intended distance of Hodges' passes was just 5.4 yards, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. That was third-lowest among QBs for attempted at least 15 passes during Week Six. He was nearly perfect on passes that traveled ten yards or less from the line of scrimmage (15 completions in 16 attempts), and struggled on the few occasions when he aired it out (0 for four on passes thrown ten-plus yards, with an INT). Despite his modest performance, Hodges managed to post the highest passer rating (87.9) for a Steelers rookie QB making his first career start during the post-merger era. He just beat out Neil O'Donnell (86.2 in 1991) and Rudolph (81.4 this year).
• Conner's sure hands: Hodges' favorite target on Sunday Night Football was James Conner, and that should hardly come as a surprise at this point. Conner has 26 receptions on 27 targets in 2019, with 231 yards. He's on pace to finish 2019 with 616 receiving yards, which would top his 2018 total (497) and would be tied for the third-most for a Steelers running back in a single season. Le'Veon Bell holds the top three spots in franchise history, with 616 receiving yards in 2016, 655 in 2017 and 854 in 2014. Conner has been 24 percent better than the average NFL running back on a per-reception basis, according to Football Outsiders. That's the sixth-best rate in the game this season. Last year, Conner was the 11th-best receiver at running back (15 percent above average per play).
PENGUINS
• Peak Sid: While Sidney Crosby is as brilliant as ever offensively, you can argue that his defensive game is in peak form too. Add it up, and the Penguins are a dominant puck possession team when Sid skates. In 2019, Pittsburgh is taking 59.7 percent of total shots when Crosby is on the ice during five-on-five situations, according to Natural Stat Trick. It's extremely early, but that's the best shot share of Crosby's career and it ranks seventh among all NHL forwards who have skated 75+ minutes at even strength this year. Here's one sign of his play making ability on D: Sid has managed 4.4 takeaways per 60 minutes at even strength, which again is a career best and ranks seventh among NHL forwards.
• Hit man: One thing has become clear during Brandon Tanev's early tenure with the Penguins: If you're playing against him, you should bring some aspirin to the rink. With 26 hits, Tanev leads the Penguins and ranks third among all NHL players. Of course, if you're delivering a hit, that means you're likely chasing the puck and not controlling possession. But so far, Tanev has actually been a positive from possession standpoint. The Penguins have generated 52.4 percent game's total shots with the free agent signee on the ice, and 50.8 percent of total scoring chances. Pittsburgh is asking Tanev to take on a more offensive-oriented role than he did in Winnipeg. Tanev has started 51.1 percent of his faceoffs in the offensive zone, compared to his career rate of 42.5 percent. The Penguins want Tanev play a physical game. He's doing that in the early going, without being a drag on the offense.
• Youth served: Most of the Penguins' core stars--Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang--are getting up there in age. But, with a concerted effort to add younger players this past offseason, and some early injuries that have forced them to rely even more upon rookie options, the Penguins are no longer among the league's oldest clubs. Pittsburgh's roster has an average age of 27.1 in 2019-20, which is the 11th-lowest among NHL teams. Last year, the Penguins were had the 21st-youngest roster (28.4). Sure, Matt Cullen retiring made a difference, but the youth movement goes beyond one guy. This year's Penguins are the youngest since the Cup-winning 2008-09 team, which had an average age of 26.6.
PIRATES
• ROI: Which Pirates players proved to be the biggest bargains — and which didn't come close to earning their paycheck? FanGraphs' Dollars stat offers a clue. Dollars compares a player's actual salary to the value that he generated in terms of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). WAR measures a player's hitting, fielding and base running value compared to that of a Quad-A-type player. One win above replacement costs about $8 million on the free agent market, per FanGraphs' calculations. So, a one WAR player would have a Dollars value of $8 million. The Pirates' biggest bargains included quality pre-arbitration players like Bryan Reynolds ($25.5 million value, $555,000 actual salary), Josh Bell ($19.6 million value, $587,000 salary), Kevin Newman ($19 million value, $557,000 salary) Adam Frazier ($17.9 million value, $584,000 salary) and Joe Musgrove ($26.5 million value, $583,000 salary). Starling Marte is one of the team's highest-paid players, but he was still well worth his pay ($24.2 million value, $10.3 million salary). The players who provided the worst return on investment (non-Lonnie Chisenhall division) included Gregory Polanco (-$1.5 million value compared to a replacement-level player, $6.1 million salary), Francisco Cervelli ($-1.5 million value, $11.5 million salary) and Chris Archer ($5.6 million value, $7.7 million salary).
• Bell's bombs: Josh Bell belted 37 home runs during the 2019 season, which tied for the tenth-highest single-season total in franchise history and the most for a Pirate since Brian Giles went deep 38 times in 2002. Let's take a deeper dive into Bell's homers. The switch-hitter mashed 28 as a lefty batter and nine as a righty batter. He hit 16 to the pull side of the field, 13 to center and eight to the opposite side. Bell crushed 13 homers on four-seam fastballs, eight on sliders, five on changeups, four on two-seam fastballs, two on curveballs, two on sinkers and one on a splitter. Seventeen of his bombs came at PNC Park, and 20 on the road. No matter how you split it, Bell had one of the best power-hitting seasons ever for a Pirate.
• It's a sprint, not a marathon: Base running doesn't win as many games as top-notch hitting and fielding, but it makes a difference on the margins. And when it comes to generating value on the base paths, the Pirates were in the bottom tier among MLB teams. Pittsburgh's base running cost them about five runs compared to an average team, according to FanGraphs' Base Running Runs (BsR) stat. BsR accounts for things like stolen bases, caught stealings, taking extra bases and avoiding outs while trying to advance, and beating out potential double plays. The Pirates ranked 20th in the league in BsR. Their best base runners included Marte (+3.4 BsR), Pablo Reyes (+1.8) and Jason Martin (+1.6). Bell (-5), Colin Moran (-3.4) and Melky Cabrera (-1.9) brought up the rear.
THE NATIONAL TREND
• Young QBs reign: Are we witnessing a changing of the guard in the NFL at quarterback? A combination of injuries (Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees), potential decline (Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers) and an influx of young QBs is redefining the position. Four of the top six QBs in passer rating this season are age 26 or younger: Patrick Mahomes (111.9), Deshaun Watson (107.9), Kyle Allen (106.6) and Dak Prescott (102.9). Just last year, four of the top six QBs in passer rating were in their thirties: Brees (115.7), Russell Wilson (110.9), Matt Ryan (108.1) and Rivers (105.5). Wilson is the only 30+ year-old QB to appear in the top five in both 2018 and 2019 (he leads all QBs this year at 124.7).
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