I reader emailed me recently and asked if I knew how many times this season that Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Jarvis Jones has been on the field and rushed the passer on third and long situations this year. Thanks to the weekly defensive charting that Alex Kozora does, I have that answer.
For starters, the Steelers defense has had a total of 81 passing plays run against them so far this season on third downs when the opposing offense has needed 5 or more yards for a first down.
Jones has been on the field for 33 of those 81 offensive plays with all but three of them coming at the right outside linebacker position. It should be noted, however, that 8 of those 33 snaps came this past Sunday in the win over the Cleveland Browns and that’s not too surprising being as James Harrison missed that contest with a knee injury.
Speaking of Harrison, according to our charting, Harrison has been on the field for 45 of the aforementioned 81 passing plays.
So far this season, Jones has been credited with two total sacks and that includes two half sacks. One of those half sacks came a few weeks ago on third down in the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals needed 15 yards on that play and you can see a gif of it below.
After the 2015 season is over, the Steelers will have to decide whether or not to pick up Jones’s fifth year option for the 2017 season. For his career, Jones now has 5 career sacks in 30 regular-season games played
