Minkah Fitzpatrick tops the Steelers defensive Pro Football Focus grades

The Pittsburgh Steelers could find a way to pull out the victory on Sunday night in Miami. The offense simply couldn’t put enough points on the board and couldn’t take the lead with a touchdown despite having the opportunity to do so on every second-half possession. As for the defense, a rough start had many things envisioning a repeat of Buffalo before settling down and shutting out the Dolphins in the second half.

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 7 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 62 snaps on defense in Sunday’s game.

Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 82.7 (62 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 79.6 (31 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 68.4 (33 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 67.2 (21 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 66.8 (62 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 40.4 (20 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 39.5 (3 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 38.9 (61 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 37.0 (20 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 33.6 (11 snaps)

Defensive Front Five

OLB Malik Reed: 68.4 (33 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 67.2 (21 snaps)
DT Cam Heyward: 65.1 (48 snaps)
OLB Ryan Anderson: 60.1 (10 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 58.3 (54 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 48.7 (39 snaps)
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 40.4 (20 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 39.5 (3 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 37.0 (20 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 33.6 (11 snaps)

There wasn’t any particular outstanding score coming from this group, but nothing else from this group stood out for me during the game. Cam Heyward does Cam Heyward things. I feel like I don’t usually even notice Malik Reed, but since he had the only quarterback hit in the game I guess that’s what ultimately landed him at the top of the list. Actually, PFF only had the Steelers with five quarterback pressures of any kind with the other four all being hurries attributed to Alex Highsmith. I also feel like I’m turning into the old SNL phrase “Germans love David Hasselhoff” as I’m continually saying each week “PFF has no love for Larry Ogunjobi.” It was also tough listing four of the five players in the bottom coming from this group.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Myles Jack: 61.1 (52 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 56.2 (36 snaps)
ILB Devin Bush: 52.7 (46 snaps)

There was no outstanding performance coming from this group in terms of PFF grades, but there is also no score in the bottom of the grades either. Robert Spillane ended up with the fewest snaps of the three players and came in and just below average in all of his scores except for tackling which was 75.7. Devin Bush had the best coverage score of 65.4 out of this group, and was ultimately third in coverage on the entire defense. It was Bush‘s run score of 41.7 which brought down his grade as he once again got a high tackling mark of 79.8.

Defensive Backs

S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 82.7 (62 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 79.6 (31 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 66.8 (62 snaps)
CB James Pierre: 63.1 (32 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 55.0 (10 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 41.0 (31 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 38.9 (61 snaps)

This might be the first week of 2022 where Minkah Fitzpatrick had a high score and he did not have a takeaway. Cam Sutton was used on only half the snaps on defense but had the top coverage score in the game of 80.5 just ahead of Fitzpatrick at 77.3. James Pierre actually had a slightly higher score this week than he did against Tampa Bay. Either way, he has proven to be valuable depth at the position after losing his playing time in 2021.

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.