Safeties top the Steelers Week 2 defensive Pro Football Focus grades

The Pittsburgh Steelers followed up their big road win to start the season by coming up short in their home opener. Although the Steelers defense surrendered less points than the previous week, it was not getting the key stops at the end of the game which was their downfall. But even if they did get the ball back, the offense had gone three and out the previous two possessions, so there definitely wasn’t anything close to a guarantee that they would put up the necessary score.

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 2 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 68 snaps on defense in Sunday’s game.

Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

S Terrell Edmunds: 86.5 (68 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 79.7 (68 snaps)
DT DeMarvin Leal: 78.7 (16 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 73.8 (57 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 68.6 (6 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

DT Tyson Alualu: 48.2 (32 snaps)
CB Ahkello Witherspoon: 47.0 (68 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 46.0 (6 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 45.3 (22 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 39.4 (8 snaps)

Defensive Front Five

DT DeMarvin Leal: 78.7 (16 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 73.8 (57 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 68.6 (6 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 67.7 (45 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 66.6 (22 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 65.1 (11 snaps)
DT Cam Heyward: 64.8 (52 snaps)
OLB Delontae Scott: 54.6 (7 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 51.7 (43 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 48.2 (32 snaps)

It was nice to see the Steelers third-round draft pick, DeMarvin Lieal, move from the bottom five up to the top five in his second game. Leal’s overall score improved by more than 30 points in Week 2 with scores going higher in run defense, tackling, and coverage. His pass rush score dropped slightly from 51.9 to 50.5, but he was not rushing as many snaps this week (8) as last week (14). It’s also interesting how Alex Highsmith had an increased score despite a decrease in statistics, something PFF claims is their ultimate calling card as they weigh each snap evenly. Highsmith went from 66.5 in Week 1 where he had three sacks to a 73.8 in Week 2 where he had just a single quarterback hit. But it was other parts of scores which improved as he saw significant increases in his run defense, tackling, and coverage but a decrease in his pass rush score.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Myles Jack: 66.2 (59 snaps)
ILB Devin Bush: 61.1 (31 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 45.3 (22 snaps)

Even though Myles Jack head a slight dip in his scores from Week 1 to Week 2, he is still proving to be the best option inside linebacker. Ultimately it was his pass rush score, which was only 4 of 59 snaps, that brought him down the most in Week 2. Devin Bush saw an increase in his score to move above the line, particularly due to a 66.7 pass coverage score which was improved from 40.3 the previous week. As for Robert Spillane, his score took a hit this week as both his run defense and coverage scores were in the 40s. Despite having the lowest coverage score of the three linebackers, Spillane continued to be the player on the field as the single linebacker in dime coverage.

Defensive Backs

S Terrell Edmunds: 86.5 (68 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 79.7 (68 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 54.6 (59 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 49.1 (68 snaps)
CB Ahkello Witherspoon: 47.0 (68 snaps)
S Tre Norwood: 46.0 (6 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 39.4 (8 snaps)

Although not the score he had the previous week, Minkah Fitzpatrick still was in the Steelers top five only behind fellow safety Terrell Edmunds. With Edmunds being knocked down in his tackling the previous week, he had no missed tackles on Sunday and had the Steelers top scoring coverage of 82.0 against the Patriots. What is concerning is the huge drop from these two players down to the rest of the group who all landed in the bottom half of the Steelers defense. Additionally, the snaps counts are interesting with the four starting defensive backs playing every snap as well as Levi Wallace also on the field for all but nine snaps. This ultimately just goes to show how much the Steelers are not in their base defense, at least in Week 2.

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.