Cam Heyward shines again in the Steelers defensive Pro Football Focus grades

The Pittsburgh Steelers broke their four-game losing streak taking down the highly favored Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The offense started and finished well by scoring a toucdown on the first drive of the game and holding the ball for the last 4:38 to seal the victory. As for the defense, their patchwork secondary stepped up and the whole unit stiffened up in the red zone by only allowing one touchdown in four Buccaneer trips.

But how did the individual players grade out?

For this exercise, we will be looking at the player grades from Pro Football Focus (PFF) for the Steelers Week 6 performance. Remember, these are just the grades for the Steelers for this past game and not combined with their previous performances. Before going any further, I must give the typical disclaimer that PFF grades are subjective. While some people rely on them heavily, others are quite skeptical of the process in which they are determined. It is completely up to each person as to how much stock they put into PFF’s grades. For me, I often look at the grades to see if my own “eye test” lines up with what others viewed as how a player performed. If nothing more, the grades create a discussion about how accurate, or inaccurate, they are each week.

Instead of looking at the entire team at once, we break up the scores into offense and defense. Next up is the defense. Included will be all the players who played at least one defensive snap and the total snap counts for each player will be included. For reference sake, the Steelers played 72 snaps on defense in Sunday’s game.

Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

DT Cam Heyward: 88.5 (54 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 84.4 (62 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 82.9 (72 snaps)
ILB Myles Jack: 76.7 (53 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 73.8 (45 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

DT Montravius Adams: 49.4 (11 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 49.4 (33 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 47.5 (71 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 36.6 (13 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 32.1 (51 snaps)

Defensive Front Five

DT Cam Heyward: 88.5 (54 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 84.4 (62 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 73.8 (45 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 70.6 (46 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 60.0 (4 snaps)
OLB Ryan Anderson: 58.6 (3 snaps)
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 56.4 (22 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 49.4 (11 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 49.4 (33 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 36.6 (13 snaps)

Although his score wasn’t as high as last week, Cam Heyward tops the defense again for the Steelers in Week 6, this time in a winning effort. With Heyward being followed closely by outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, the defensive front five were well represented at the top of the group. Malik Reed and Larry Ogunjobi even managed to have marks well above the line. This is surprising for Ogunjobi, as I’ve said many times before who he gets no love from PFF regardless of which team is playing for. The fall off of Tyson Alualu, who once again was called for a defensive holding penalty along the line, is a bit sad.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Myles Jack: 76.7 (53 snaps)
ILB Devin Bush: 69.4 (36 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 32.1 (51 snaps)

Myles Jack had his highest scored game since Week 9 of the 2020 season. Getting solid scores across the line with 70.1 run defense, 70.3 tackling, and 73.3 in coverage, the only lower mark for Jack was a 56.8 score in pass rushing but it only consisted of two snaps. Devin Bush also turned in a solid game and had a 73.3 coverage score as well. But if we’re looking at coverage scores, Robert Spillane had a 29.8 coverage score which was the worst on the team as well as having a 28.4 tackling score which was only better than Chris Wormley. There were some who felt Spillane had a strong game because of the ball he knocked away that would have been a touchdown, but my eye test told me that Tom Brady was constantly throwing whatever he believed Spillane would be and that was also where he was having the most success. In this case, it appears PFF backed up my eye test.

Defensive Backs

S Terrell Edmunds: 82.9 (72 snaps)
CB Josh Jackson: 64.6 (59 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 62.2 (56 snaps)
S Miles Killebrew: 59.6 (1 snap)
CB James Pierre: 59.0 (68 snaps)
CB Quincy Wilson: 52.7 (11 snaps)
S Elijah Riley: 51.6 (9 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 47.5 (71 snaps)

Getting Terrell Edmunds back meant a lot for this patchwork secondary. In five games this season, Edmunds has scored in the 80s for three of them. While I believe Edmunds’ score is reflective of his game, I expected higher scores from the rest of the unknowns in the secondary which did not match what I anticipated. One particular case is James Pierre, who graded below the 60.0 mark at 59.0 and only had a 57.5 coverage score. This is where PFF gets into some murky waters. According to their statistics, Pierre was targeted seven times where he gave up three completions for 23 yards. He also had a 51.5 passer rating against him which was second smallest allowed on the team only behind Alex Highsmith. Additionally, NFL NextGen stats only had Pierre giving up one pass on the day. In this case, the PFF score for Pierre does not pass my eye test.

So, what do you think of the above grades? Do they pass the eye test? Let us know your thoughts on the Steelers’ defensive grades in the comments below.