What the Steelers defense did Sunday in Cincinnati was rather remarkable.
They sacked Joe Burrow seven times, three by Alex Highsmith. They created five turnovers, four of those interceptions by Burrow. Those huge splash plays were tremendous, but they are something you all are well aware of by now.
But what you might not realize is that the Bengals snapped the football 100 times. If you look at the official box score, that number is only 94, but that doesn’t account for six plays that don’t show up in the boxscore because of penalties and whatnot. The Bengals snapped the ball 100 times on a very warm Ohio day in Week 1 of the NFL season, when no one -- not any single team in the league -- is in proper “football shape.”
And football shape is a very real thing. Players can do all the wind sprints and conditioning they want, but there is no simulating live action. Just think about it for a minute, especially for the big guys on defense. They must line up, explode with everything they have at the snap, take on a huge powerful man, try to defeat that man and then go full speed until the whistle finally blows -- whenever that might be. They get about a 30-second rest (if lucky) before having to do it all over again. And again, rushing the passer is the most tiring play in football, but it is no walk in the park taking on a 320-pound guard coming right at you with bad intentions in the run game, either.
In 2021, the Ravens led the NFL in plays per game, averaging 69.7 snaps per 60 minutes of play. On the opposite end, the Seahawks ran just 56.1.
The Steelers' defense, again, had to play 100 snaps in Week 1.
If you had told me that would be the case before kickoff for 100 snaps, I would have just assumed that Joe Mixon ran for about 250 yards and that the Bengals put up 50 points, or so. While Mixon was very impressive on tape -- his power and agility are nearly unmatched in this league, and that was on full display -- the Steelers' defense held Mixon to 3 yards per rush on Mixon’s 27 carries that were good for 82 yards. And that includes a 31-yard gain in which Mixon was able to break free. The Bengals, as a team, rushed for just 3.9 yards per carry.
Mike Tomlin and the defensive coaching staff didn’t know that this game was headed to overtime when the opening kickoff occurred. However, they did know that every big man on their defense was going to be taxed from a conditioning standpoint, which again, is the case across the entire league. Tomlin and company also knew that the Bengals rested all of their offensive starters during, basically, the entire preseason -- with the exception of left guard Cordell Volson, who was battling Jackson Carman for the only available starting job on Cincinnati’s offense.
The Steelers rotated their big men in and out of the game early and often. Jumping all over the Bengals and forcing mistakes by Burrow, in turn giving the Steelers an early lead. That early lead made that strategy much easier, but nonetheless, Tomlin had the foresight and wherewithal to use his front seven defenders as if this game was going to be an AFC North marathon, not a sprint.
Let’s examine those snap counts. Even though they are much smaller and far better built to handle such rigors, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Terrell Edmunds and Ahkello Witherspoon each incredibly played all 100 snaps. Cameron Sutton was on the sideline for a single play.
The rotation at the second level of the defense between Myles Jack, Devin Bush and Robert Spillane was interesting, with Spillane as the only linebacker on the field when the Steelers utilized their dime package that consists of a four-man front, one linebacker and six defensive backs. Still, Jack logged 87 snaps compared to 51 by Bush and 29 from Spillane, who was dinged up during this contest.
Amongst the edge defenders, Highsmith led the way playing a whopping 83 snaps in Cincinnati. Of course, T.J. Watt would have had a higher number if it wasn’t for his injury, but he still was on the field for 66 dominating plays.
Malik Reed’s usage in his first game of any kind in a Steelers uniform, of course, spiked after Watt left the game, but Reed still contributed with 32 snaps played. If you check back to my article when Reed was acquired, you’ll see that Reed is accustomed to a lot of playing time and should be fine in that capacity while Watt is sidelined.
Lastly at this position, let’s not overlook the contributions of Jamir Jones, who was actually very impressive against the run in addition to rushing Burrow for the 18 plays he was called upon.
Watt is irreplaceable, but the Steelers are in way better shape now with their depth edge defenders with Reed and Jones than they were even just a few weeks ago.
The contributions in this winning effort by the big men on defense were even more impressive.
And remember, Isaiahh Loudermilk was inactive for this contest. As expected, Cameron Heyward led the way. Heyward played 57 snaps. He was fighting injuries during this game, but if this was last year without Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu in the mix, Heyward would have been forced to play somewhere along the lines of 75-80 snaps. And in turn, wouldn’t have probably been as effective late in the game.
The Steelers have excellent defensive line depth and that is a wonderful thing for the 33-year-old Heyward, who was outstanding in this game, as always.
Heyward sets the tone early, lined up against Volson in a “Welcome to the NFL” moment for the Bengals' rookie left guard. Few can bull-rush like Heyward, something Volson found out very abruptly. This is a man-against-boy situation, something Heyward was able to maintain throughout the course of this marathon of a defensive football game:
Here is a great example of not only Heyward’s stamina, but also how important it is to keep this great player as fresh and productive as possible. While this play didn’t end up counting because of a Sutton penalty, you simply don’t see NFL offensive linemen treated like this very often:
Watt beats Heyward to Burrow, but nonetheless, what Heyward does here to Volson is simply very rare in this league. Heyward slams Volson into Burrow. You just don’t see that very often, especially this many snaps into a game.
But unlike last season, Heyward got a lot of help on Sunday from his mates on the defensive line. Against his former team, Larry Ogunjobi played just four fewer plays than Heyward. Chris Wormley played 41 snaps. Wormley is a perfect example of the beauty of the situation the Steelers have right now. After Tuitt and Alualu were out of the mix last season, Wormley was forced into more action than his talents warranted. Wormley played well, all in all, with that added opportunity, but he is best suited as the fourth defensive lineman on the depth chart rather than the second. And by using him in that manner, the quality of his snaps should only improve.
Alualu played only 33 snaps against the Bengals, but that is a little misleading. Why? Because Cincinnati’s offense is one of the most heavy 11 personnel (1 RB/1 TE) with three wide receivers on the field of any offense in the entire league. Therefore, the Steelers' nose tackle will play far fewer snaps against such a defense, as opposed to teams like Baltimore or Cleveland that prefers heavier offensive personnel usage.
This is also true for fellow nose tackle Montravius Adams, who was called upon to play only five snaps in Cincinnati as the Steelers' sixth defensive lineman. But if this was a 100-snap game against a team that didn’t play so much 11 personnel, Adams, and especially Alualu, would have been asked to contribute more, although they are the perfect style of linemen to keep fresh and get quality over quantity snaps, especially at Alualu’s age and coming off his major layoff due to injury in 2021.
DeMarvin Leal was used for 17 plays, which is a perfect way to slowly acclimate a talented rookie. Loudermilk’s usage last year was similar, and with so many capable defensive linemen ahead of him, the Steelers can bring Leal along slowly. Meanwhile, Leal gains valuable experience while showing up well on tape in spot duty as a very fresh player. He could have a bright future, but Leal, right now, is a change-up as a new wrinkle to the Steelers' defensive front.
Fourth quarter defense in the NFL is nearly extinct. The more plays an offense runs at this level, their advantage grows exponentially. Why? Well, fatigue, of course, is a big factor as mentioned above, but the other major factor is that as the game goes along, quarterbacks and offensive coaches not only learn the defensive tendencies, but they also quickly figure out every check a defense makes.
That is a big reason why offensive coaches script plays to start a game. An offense will show a series of different personnel groupings, motions, and things of that nature early in a game to accumulate data to see how a defense changes their coverages and play calls. Then, of course, once a great play caller knows that a defense checks to cover 2 when they see something that said defense didn’t prepare for all week, well, then the offense calls that play with a cover 2 beater route concept the next go-round. You get the idea.
Fourth quarter defense is nearly dead in the NFL. Overtime defense is almost extinct. The Steelers' defense wasn’t as dominant, of course, to finish the game as they were to start it, but their ability to lead this team to victory while seeing the field for 100 offensive snaps is truly ... well, remarkable.
