The Pittsburgh Steelers seventh regular season game of 2018 against the Cleveland Browns resulted in the team’s second home win of the year and now their record is 4-2-1 entering Week 9. The initial snap counts from the Week 8 game in Pittsburgh against the Browns have now been released and below is a quick recap of the notable numbers.
Offensive linemen – Outside of starting right tackle Marcus Gilbert missing Sunday’s game with a knee injury, nothing sticks out again this week when it comes to this position group. All five starters almost played every offensive snap as a few were given the final kneel-down play off. Matt Feiler started in place of Gilbert at right tackle and backup tackle Chukwuma Okorafor played 12 offensive snaps as an extra blocker/tight end eligible player.
Wide receivers – Rookie wide receiver James Washington was inactive on Sunday and veteran Justin Hunter played 38 of a possible 71 offensive snaps against the Browns. Fellow veteran wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey returned from his two-game injury absence to play 2 offensive snaps against the Browns. Ryan Switzer surprisingly played 19 offensive snaps on Sunday. Starters Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster had their normal workload against the Browns.
Running backs – James Conner played 56 offensive snaps in total against the Browns, 79% of the possible 71. Backup running back Stevan Ridley played 6 snaps as did rookie running back Jaylen Samuels as he was asked to close out the game. Fullback Roosevelt Nix played just 10 offensive snaps this weekend.
Tight ends – In a bit of a switch, Jesse James played 40 offensive snaps while Vance McDonald played only 27. Backup Xavier Grimble even played 13 offensive snaps against the Browns, so you can see once again how heavy the tight end usage was in the game.
Defensive linemen – Backup Tyson Alualu played just 19 of a possible 64 total defensive snaps against the Browns. Daniel McCullers dressed again and played just 9 defensive snaps against the Browns while starter Javon Hargrave logged 24 total snaps Sunday afternoon. Starters Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt played 54 and 44 defensive snaps, respectively.
Linebackers – Backup outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo logged 22 defensive snaps as he once again spelled starters T.J. Watt (53) and Bud Dupree (53). Inside linebacker Jon Bostic and Vince Williams both played 42 of 64 possible snaps and fellow inside linebacker L.J. Fort returned from his one-game injury absence to play 21 defensive snaps. Rookie inside linebacker Matthew Thomas was limited to special teams play only against the Browns as was backup Tyler Matakevich.
Cornerbacks – Coty Sensabaugh started in place of a benched Artie Burns and played 48 defensive snaps before exiting with a foot injury. Burns only saw time on special teams against the Browns. Starting slot cornerback Mike Hilton played 43 of 64 possible snaps against the Browns while Cameron Sutton saw the field on defense for 15 snaps in total on Sunday. He replaced Sensabaugh on the outside after he left the game injured. Starter Joe Haden played all but two defensive snaps.
Safeties – Veteran safety Morgan Burnett returned Sunday from his long injury absence to play 23 sub package dime personnel snaps. Rookie Terrell Edmunds started again alongside Sean Davis and the two were on the field together for all but two snaps. Davis was the only defensive player to play all 64 defensive snaps against the Browns. Backup safety Jordan Dangerfield played four snaps in total against the Browns and once again was the upback on the punt team.
| PLAYER | POS | OFFENSIVE SNAPS | DEFENSIVE SNAPS | SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D.DeCastro | G | 71 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| A.Villanueva | T | 71 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| M.Feiler | T | 71 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| R.Foster | G | 70 | 99% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| A.Brown | WR | 70 | 99% | 0 | 0% | 2 | 7% |
| M.Pouncey | C | 70 | 99% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| B.Roethlisberger | QB | 70 | 99% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| J.Smith-Schuster | WR | 56 | 79% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| J.Conner | RB | 56 | 79% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| J.James | TE | 40 | 56% | 0 | 0% | 6 | 20% |
| J.Hunter | WR | 38 | 54% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| V.McDonald | TE | 27 | 38% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 3% |
| R.Switzer | WR | 19 | 27% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 37% |
| X.Grimble | TE | 13 | 18% | 0 | 0% | 6 | 20% |
| C.Okorafor | T | 12 | 17% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| R.Nix | FB | 10 | 14% | 0 | 0% | 21 | 70% |
| J.Samuels | RB | 7 | 10% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 30% |
| S.Ridley | RB | 6 | 8% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| D.Heyward-Bey | WR | 2 | 3% | 0 | 0% | 16 | 53% |
| B.Finney | C/G | 1 | 1% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 17% |
| J.Dobbs | QB | 1 | 1% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| S.Davis | S | 0 | 0% | 64 | 100% | 8 | 27% |
| T.Edmunds | S | 0 | 0% | 62 | 97% | 14 | 47% |
| J.Haden | CB | 0 | 0% | 62 | 97% | 10 | 33% |
| C.Heyward | DT | 0 | 0% | 54 | 84% | 8 | 27% |
| B.Dupree | OLB | 0 | 0% | 53 | 83% | 4 | 13% |
| T.Watt | OLB | 0 | 0% | 53 | 83% | 3 | 10% |
| C.Sensabaugh | CB | 0 | 0% | 48 | 75% | 10 | 33% |
| S.Tuitt | DE | 0 | 0% | 44 | 69% | 7 | 23% |
| M.Hilton | CB | 0 | 0% | 43 | 67% | 5 | 17% |
| J.Bostic | ILB | 0 | 0% | 42 | 66% | 9 | 30% |
| V.Williams | ILB | 0 | 0% | 42 | 66% | 0 | 0% |
| J.Hargrave | DT | 0 | 0% | 24 | 38% | 0 | 0% |
| M.Burnett | S | 0 | 0% | 23 | 36% | 0 | 0% |
| A.Chickillo | OLB | 0 | 0% | 22 | 34% | 21 | 70% |
| L.Fort | ILB | 0 | 0% | 21 | 33% | 24 | 80% |
| T.Alualu | DE | 0 | 0% | 19 | 30% | 3 | 10% |
| C.Sutton | CB | 0 | 0% | 15 | 23% | 14 | 47% |
| D.McCullers | DT | 0 | 0% | 9 | 14% | 4 | 13% |
| J.Dangerfield | S | 0 | 0% | 4 | 6% | 20 | 67% |
| T.Matakevich | ILB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 20 | 67% |
| C.Boswell | K | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 37% |
| A.Burns | CB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 10 | 33% |
| J.Berry | P | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 30% |
| K.Canaday | LS | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 30% |
| M.Thomas | ILB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 23% |
