Behind the Steel Curtain
The Pittsburgh Steelers need to change something on the defensive side of the ball to limit big plays and scoring drives following a disastrous performance against the Cincinnati Bengals last Thursday night.
Cincinnati finished with 470 yards of offense and converted 7-of-14 (50%) on third down. The Steelers recorded two sacks of Joe Flacco, but couldn’t stop the run or apply enough pressure to force errant throws.
One noticeable absence for half the game was Nick Herbig. Herbig only played 29 snaps of the 76 snaps on Thursday night. This came despite defensive coordinator Teryl Austin saying during the week that Herbig had earned additional playing time.
Head coach Mike Tomlin explained the personnel deployment on Tuesday during his weekly press conference.
“Our inability to control the run and limiting one-dimentional passing circumstances probably effected his participation some,” Tomlin said. “We got a lot of good players. As I mention often, when you guys talk about playing time, just keep watching.”
The game wasn’t one dimensional as Joe Flacco threw 47 times, 62% of the offensive snaps.
Tomlin used the same “just keep watching” phrase in reference to Pat Freiermuth last week. Following the slowest start to his professional career, Freiermuth caught five passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns against Cincinati.
We’re going to utilize all of our good players” Tomlin said. “Sometimes games unfold wether its schematics, matchups, or just how things unfold. You guys were asking me about Muth (Pat Freiermuth) last week, I imagine you’re not going to ask me about Muth this week. That’s just an example of it.”
But should this be the case?
Herbig leads the team in sacks (4.5) and tackles for loss (6) despite mising hte first game of the season. In four games, Alex Highsmith only has 1.5 sacks and one tackle for loss. Since recording a career-high 14.5 sacks in 2022, Highsmith owns only 14.5 sacks in his last 32 games.
The Steelers face a dangerous and well-balanced offense on Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers. Pittsburgh has benefitted from an uptick in playing time for Herbig. If they’re not going to utilize T.J. Watt, Herbig, and Highsmith on the field at the same time, it might be time for Herbig – in his third season – to carry the load of snaps opposite Watt for the time being.
