The initial snap counts from the Pittsburgh Steelers Friday night preseason opening loss to the Detroit Lions are now in and here’s a few observations from the numbers.
For starters, on offense the Steelers got a long look at linemen Chris Hubbard and B.J. Finney, who both figure to battling right now for one open roster spot. It should be noted, however, that Hubbard had to play some extra tackle snaps in the game after Brian Mihalik left with a knee injury.
After injuring his shoulder last week during practice, rookie Jerald Hawkins played 45 snaps and those came at both tackle spots.
Mike Tomlin said tight end Jesse James needed a lot of preseason snaps and played 28 of them Friday night. While other tight end Xavier Grimble only played 16 offensive snaps, he logged 14 special teams snaps during the game which was the highest of any offensive player.
Defensively, safety Robert Golden and cornerback Ross Cockrell played the most snaps and that included them playing the entire first half against the Lions. Second-year cornerback Doran Grant got a lot of burn as did rookie Sean Davis. Additionally, nose tackle Daniel McCullers had his conditioning tested Friday night as he played 39 defensive snaps.
New linebacker Steven Johnson received the most special teams work in the game and that’s not surprising considering his background and time spent with the Tennessee Titans.
Sitting out Friday’s game were Ben Roethlisberger, Markus Wheaton, Artie Burns, Le’Veon Bell, Senquez Golson, Donald Washington, DeAngelo Williams, Travis Feeney, Bud Dupree, Michael Cooper, Maurkice Pouncey, Roy Philon, Ladarius Green, Antonio Brown, and Jarvis Jones.
| PLAYER | POS | OFFENSIVE SNAPS | DEFENSIVE SNAPS | SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.Hubbard | G/T | 46 | 82% | 0 | 0 | 6 | 20% |
| B.Finney | C/G | 46 | 82% | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13% |
| J.Hawkins | T | 45 | 80% | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10% |
| S.Coates | WR | 37 | 66% | 0 | 0 | 7 | 23% |
| J.James | TE | 28 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 7 | 23% |
| D.Ayers | WR | 28 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3% |
| C.Hamilton | WR | 25 | 45% | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7% |
| D.Richardson | RB | 24 | 43% | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7% |
| L.Jones | QB | 23 | 41% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C.Wallace | C/G | 23 | 41% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D.Vaughan | QB | 22 | 39% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M.Feiler | T | 20 | 36% | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10% |
| C.Manhart | G | 19 | 34% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| F.Toussaint | RB | 17 | 30% | 0 | 0 | 12 | 40% |
| X.Grimble | TE | 16 | 29% | 0 | 0 | 14 | 47% |
| E.Rogers | WR | 16 | 29% | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3% |
| D.Heyward-Bey | WR | 16 | 29% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L.Norwood | WR | 15 | 27% | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10% |
| B.Mihalik | T | 15 | 27% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P.Lang | TE | 14 | 25% | 0 | 0 | 11 | 37% |
| V.Ume-Ezeoke | C/G | 13 | 23% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R.Harris | T | 13 | 23% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B.Gradkowski | QB | 11 | 20% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D.Johnson | TE | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0 | 13 | 43% |
| R.Foster | G | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D.DeCastro | G | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M.Gilbert | T | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A.Villanueva | T | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B.Brown-Dukes | RB | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| I.Blakeney | WR | 8 | 14% | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7% |
| M.Tucker | WR | 7 | 12% | 0 | 0 | 6 | 20% |
| C.Stingily | RB | 6 | 11% | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7% |
| R.Nix | FB | 3 | 5% | 0 | 0 | 8 | 27% |
| R.Golden | S | 0 | 0 | 51 | 66% | 6 | 20% |
| R.Cockrell | CB | 0 | 0 | 50 | 65% | 1 | 3% |
| S.Davis | CB/S | 0 | 0 | 49 | 64% | 1 | 3% |
| V.Williams | ILB | 0 | 0 | 45 | 58% | 9 | 30% |
| D.Grant | CB | 0 | 0 | 45 | 58% | 7 | 23% |
| J.Zumwalt | OLB | 0 | 0 | 44 | 57% | 6 | 20% |
| A.Moats | OLB | 0 | 0 | 40 | 52% | 11 | 37% |
| D.McCullers | NT | 0 | 0 | 39 | 51% | 0 | 0 |
| S.Thomas | S | 0 | 0 | 37 | 48% | 10 | 33% |
| R.Shazier | ILB | 0 | 0 | 35 | 45% | 0 | 0 |
| M.Reilly | OLB | 0 | 0 | 33 | 43% | 8 | 27% |
| A.Chickillo | OLB | 0 | 0 | 27 | 35% | 10 | 33% |
| R.Mathews | DE | 0 | 0 | 27 | 35% | 4 | 13% |
| A.Shabazz | CB | 0 | 0 | 26 | 34% | 8 | 27% |
| L.Fort | ILB | 0 | 0 | 25 | 32% | 11 | 37% |
| J.Dangerfield | S | 0 | 0 | 22 | 29% | 15 | 50% |
| M.Garner | CB | 0 | 0 | 20 | 26% | 6 | 20% |
| C.Lyons | DE | 0 | 0 | 20 | 26% | 0 | 0 |
| S.Johnson | ILB | 0 | 0 | 18 | 23% | 16 | 53% |
| K.White | CB | 0 | 0 | 17 | 22% | 10 | 33% |
| T.Matakevich | ILB | 0 | 0 | 17 | 22% | 10 | 33% |
| J.Hagen | S | 0 | 0 | 16 | 21% | 5 | 17% |
| L.Walton | DE | 0 | 0 | 16 | 21% | 0 | 0 |
| J.Hargrave | NT | 0 | 0 | 15 | 19% | 4 | 13% |
| M.Mitchell | S | 0 | 0 | 15 | 19% | 0 | 0 |
| L.Timmons | ILB | 0 | 0 | 14 | 18% | 0 | 0 |
| S.Tuitt | DE | 0 | 0 | 13 | 17% | 0 | 0 |
| W.Gay | CB | 0 | 0 | 13 | 17% | 0 | 0 |
| C.Heyward | DE | 0 | 0 | 13 | 17% | 0 | 0 |
| J.Maxey | DE | 0 | 0 | 11 | 14% | 5 | 17% |
| J.Harrison | OLB | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13% | 0 | 0 |
| L.Hooks | NT | 0 | 0 | 9 | 12% | 5 | 17% |
| R.Vinopal | S | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8% | 13 | 43% |
| G.Newberry | DE | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6% | 5 | 17% |
| D.Sigler | NT | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5% | 0 | 0 |
| G.Warren | LS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 23% |
| C.Boswell | K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 23% |
| J.Berry | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 20% |
| M.Dooley | LS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 17% |
| W.Monday | P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13% |
| C.Powell | RB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10% |
| M.Cooper | TE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7% |
| D.Washington | CB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3% |
| R.Ventrone | S | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3% |
