The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cleveland Browns 27-24 at home Sunday to close out their 2016 regular season and a few things stick out from that game when you look at the initial snap counts. Here is a recap.
First, while the Steelers chose to sit center Maurkice Pouncey against the Browns, all five of the other starters on the offensive line played every snap despite it being a meaningless game.
Running back DeAngelo Williams received a full load of playing time with starter Le’Veon Bell held out of action as he played56 of a possible 71 offensive snaps. Fitzgerald Toussaint played just 15 total offensive snaps in addition to his normal load on special teams.
Rookie wide receiver Demarcus Ayers led all wide receivers in playing time Sunday as he logged 66 snaps, 9 more than Eli Rogers. While dressed, wide receiver Sammie Coates did not play Sunday.
The Steelers chose not to use tackle Chris Hubbard much as an extra blocker as he was only on the field for 6 offensive plays.
Defensively for the Steelers, while he dressed on Sunday, linebacker James Harrison did not play and that resulted in Jarvis Jones playing most of the game. Fellow outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo also dressed but did not play. The Steelers played all other healthy defensive starters for the entire game and that includes inside linebackers Ryan Shazier and Lawrence Timmons.
Steelers defensive end Ricardo Mathews only played 8 snaps on defense before being forced from the game with an ankle injury.
| PLAYER | POS | OFFENSIVE SNAPS | DEFENSIVE SNAPS | SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.Foster | G | 71 | 100% | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| M.Gilbert | T | 71 | 100% | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| D.DeCastro | G | 71 | 100% | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| A.Villanueva | T | 71 | 100% | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| B.Finney | C/G | 71 | 100% | * | * | * | * |
| L.Jones | QB | 70 | 99% | * | * | * | * |
| D.Ayers | WR | 66 | 93% | * | * | * | * |
| J.James | TE | 61 | 86% | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| D.Williams | RB | 56 | 79% | * | * | * | * |
| E.Rogers | WR | 55 | 77% | * | * | 4 | 13% |
| C.Hamilton | WR | 43 | 61% | * | * | 17 | 55% |
| D.Heyward-Bey | WR | 25 | 35% | * | * | 13 | 42% |
| D.Johnson | TE | 19 | 27% | * | * | 5 | 16% |
| F.Toussaint | RB | 15 | 21% | * | * | 22 | 71% |
| R.Nix | FB | 10 | 14% | * | * | 23 | 74% |
| C.Hubbard | T/G | 6 | 8% | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| A.Burns | CB | * | * | 78 | 100% | 13 | 42% |
| S.Davis | S | * | * | 78 | 100% | 10 | 32% |
| R.Shazier | ILB | * | * | 78 | 100% | 5 | 16% |
| M.Mitchell | S | * | * | 78 | 100% | 5 | 16% |
| L.Timmons | ILB | * | * | 78 | 100% | 5 | 16% |
| B.Dupree | OLB | * | * | 78 | 100% | 5 | 16% |
| R.Cockrell | CB | * | * | 77 | 99% | 5 | 16% |
| L.Walton | DE | * | * | 65 | 83% | 13 | 42% |
| J.Jones | OLB | * | * | 61 | 78% | 12 | 39% |
| W.Gay | CB | * | * | 51 | 65% | 1 | 3% |
| J.Hargrave | NT | * | * | 46 | 59% | 1 | 3% |
| D.McCullers | NT | * | * | 31 | 40% | 4 | 13% |
| J.Maxey | DE | * | * | 31 | 40% | 4 | 13% |
| A.Moats | OLB | * | * | 18 | 23% | 20 | 65% |
| R.Mathews | DE | * | * | 8 | 10% | 1 | 3% |
| J.Dangerfield | S | * | * | 1 | 1% | 23 | 74% |
| V.Williams | ILB | * | * | 1 | 1% | 19 | 61% |
| L.Fort | ILB | * | * | * | * | 23 | 74% |
| T.Matakevich | ILB | * | * | * | * | 23 | 74% |
| J.Berry | P | * | * | * | * | 12 | 39% |
| G.Warren | LS | * | * | * | * | 12 | 39% |
| J.Gilbert | CB | * | * | * | * | 9 | 29% |
| C.Boswell | K | * | * | * | * | 8 | 26% |
| X.Grimble | TE | * | * | * | * | 3 | 10% |
| A.Shabazz | CB | * | * | * | * | 3 | 10% |
