The Steelers defensive Pro Football Focus grades show a key loss in the first half

The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped their third-straight game as they hosted the New York Jets on 10 days rest. The offense came alive in the second half under Kenny Pickett, but a key turnover cost them down the stretch. As for the defense, they surrendered a 10-point lead by giving up two touchdowns on the Jets final two drives.

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 4 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 70 snaps on defense in Sunday’s game.

Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

S Terrell Edmunds: 84.3 (27 snaps)
DT Cam Heyward: 80.0 (47 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 79.0 (51 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 74.1 (22 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 69.4 (69 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

DT Montravius Adams: 57.2 (11 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 47.7 (27 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 47.1 (37 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 40.3 (18 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 39.5 (70 snaps)

Defensive Front Five

DT Cam Heyward: 80.0 (47 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 79.0 (51 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 74.1 (22 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 67.1 (62 snaps)
OLB Ryan Anderson: 65.3 (5 snaps)
DT DeMarvin Leal: 64.1 (27 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 58.7 (5 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 57.2 (11 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 47.1 (37 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 40.3 (18 snaps)

Not only did Cam Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi land in the top five for the Steelers defense, they both had their highest score of any game in 2022. As I’ve often said how Larry Ogunjobi doesn’t get any love from PFF regardless of which team is playing for, his score is the highest he has received since Week 1 of the 2020 season. Although the majority of the scores were above the line from this position group, the most concerning stat from PFF is that the Steelers had 23 pressures but only one sack. In all, Alex Highsmith was the only one to get home while the Steelers had five quarterback hits and 17 pressures. So when it came to the pass rush, the biggest thing was the Steelers were not finishing off the plays.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Devin Bush: 65.3 (58 snaps)
ILB Myles Jack: 56.2 (67 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 47.7 (27 snaps)

Devin Bush landed himself with an improved score in Week 4 while Myles Jack barely kept himself out of the bottom five on the team. With all things considered, one of the more concerning issues is Robert Spillane, especially when he has a coverage score of 44.5 and the majority of his snaps are in coverage. It seems like defenses are specifically looking for him in the passing game and yet the Steelers continue to put him on the field when they go dime.

Defensive Backs

S Terrell Edmunds: 84.3 (27 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 69.4 (69 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 68.8 (44 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 65.7 (70 snaps)
S Miles Killebrew: 60.3 (1 snap)
CB Arthur Maulet: 58.4 (52 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 39.5 (70 snaps)

Although Tre Norwood did an adequate job playing safety in the second half, the fact Terrell Edmunds had the highest score on the defense despite being knocked out of the game shows the impact of him being out. Edmunds had the top coverage score on the defense of 77.2 which was almost 10 points higher than the next highest of Cam Sutton with a 67.5. Minkah Fitzpatrick also landed back in the top five this week as it seems PFF can’t snub him too much whenever he makes an interception. The biggest concern of this group is Levi Wallace playing every snap filling in for Ahkello Witherspoon and coming in as the worst score on the defense along with a coverage score of 35.1. With it appearing that Witherspoon is likely to miss a second game and Wallace will need to be called on again this week against his former team, this is something to keep an eye on and not in a positive way.

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.