An unexpected lineman leads the Steelers offensive Pro Football Focus grades

The Pittsburgh Steelers came through with a 10-point win over the New Orleans Saints coming out of their bye. The offense moved the ball efficiently, did not turn it over, and kept the punt team off the field the entire second half. The defense showed their dominance by only allowing two drives past midfield all day and only giving up one first down 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 10 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. First up this week is the offense. Included will be the players who played at least one snap and the total snap counts for each player will be included. For reference sake, the Steelers played 84 snaps on offense in Sunday’s game.

Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

OT Dan Moore Jr.: 89.6 (84 snaps)
FB Derek Watt: 81.0 (6 snaps)
RB Jaylen Warren: 75.5 (36 snaps)
G James Daniels: 74.9 (84 snaps)
C Mason Cole: 71.9 (84 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

WR Miles Boykin: 56.0 (14 snaps)
WR Gunner Olszewski: 55.0 (22 snaps)
RB Najee Harris: 54.2 (50 snaps)
OT Chuks Okorafor: 53.9 (84 snaps)
TE Zach Gentry: 48.0 (43 snaps)

Quarterback

QB Kenny Pickett: 67.1 (84 snaps)

The score for Kenny Pickett pretty much fits with how I felt about him for the day. It’s his best score of the season, but just barely as he had a 66.9 against the Jets. Pickett‘s passing score of 59.3 has a lot to be desired as he was inaccurate at times. But an 81.1 running score helps to bring him back up. Most importantly, he took care of the football with no turnovers. So while there is still plenty of room to grow, Pickett didn’t do anything majorly counterproductive.

Running Backs

FB Derek Watt: 81.0 (6 snaps)
RB Jaylen Warren: 75.5 (36 snaps)
RB Najee Harris: 54.2 (50 snaps)

Once again, Derek Watt does a nice job on the few snaps he’s called upon each game. Jaylen Warren played it in the top five for the offense and led the team in passing grades with an 86.5. Warren also had a very nice 70.0 pass blocking score. As for the score for Najee Harris, this one doesn’t pass the eye test for what I saw at the stadium. His passing score of 32.9, which was the lowest on the team, was not what I expected even though he could not come down with his one target. Harris’ pass blocking score of 37.6 also was something I did not notice as the only time I made note of his performance was on a nice blitz pick up. Harris did have an above average running score of 62.4, but with 99 yards on 20 carriers I expected this to be higher.

Receivers

TE Pat Freiermuth: 65.1 (50 snaps)
WR Diontae Johnson: 64.6 (77 snaps)
WR Steven Sims: 61.3 (32 snaps)
TE Connor Heyward: 61.1 (17 snaps)
WR George Pickens: 60.4 (63 snaps)
WR Miles Boykin: 56.0 (14 snaps)
WR Gunner Olszewski: 55.0 (22 snaps)
TE Zach Gentry: 48.0 (43 snaps)

Pat Freiermuth once again leads this position group, but from way down the overall rankings. With the Steelers running the ball so much, the tight ends and wide receivers saw their place in the rankings all slid down with three players in the bottom five. George Pickens would have likely seen a higher score if it were not for a team low 38.5 run blocking score.

Offensive Line

OT Dan Moore Jr.: 89.6 (84 snaps)
G James Daniels: 74.9 (84 snaps)
C Mason Cole: 71.9 (84 snaps)
T Trent Scott: 67.0 (2 snaps)
G Kevin Dotson: 61.9 (84 snaps)
OT Chuks Okorafor: 53.9 (84 snaps)

For as much flak Dan Moore Jr. has taken from Steelers’ Nation, I hope they can at least acknowledge that he had a good game on Sunday. Not only did Moore have a 76.2 pass blocking score which actually landed him third on the team behind Mason Cole (84.3) and James Daniels (76.9), his 91.3 run blocking score was off the charts as it is the third-highest of any player in the NFL in Week 10. Not only was this Dan Moore‘s best score in an NFL game in his career, he had not reached a 70.0 overall score in 2022. Moore’s previous career-high score came in Week 5 of 2021 with a 73.8 against the Denver Broncos.

To cover the rest of the offensive line, James Daniels and Mason Cole have proved to be quality pickups in the offseason. Kevin Dotson came more back down to earth after two impressive games. Although he had a 74.9 pass blocking score, it was his 55.9 run blocking score which hurt him the most. The same can be said about Chuks Okorafor but to a whole different level. Chuks had a 75.0 pass blocking score but an atrocious 39.7 run blocking grade. Even Trent Scott made the most of his two snaps as the jumbo tight end with a 70.0 run blocking score.

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.