The initial snap counts from the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 9 Sunday afternoon road win against the Dallas Cowboys are now in and they are listed below along with a few observations from each position group. As usual, we will verify the counts during our weekly play charting.
Offensive linemen: The five starters played all 69 snaps on Sunday while tackle Jerald Hawkins (2) also saw just a few plays on offense against the Cowboys as an eligible lineman lined up as a tight end. The other backups, guard Kevin Dotson and center J.C. Hassenauer, both played on special teams only.
Wide receivers: Diontae Johnson (59), JuJu Smith-Schuster (63), and rookie Chase Claypool (56) played th lion’s share at this position group against the Cowboys with James Washington (13) and Ray-Ray McCloud (28) rounding things out. Second week in a row that Washington has been the lowest snap-getter at the wide receiver position.
Running backs: James Conner (32) started again and played almost half of the total offensive snaps in the game. Benny Snell Jr. (5) logged less playing time than rookie Anthony McFarland Jr. (8) against the Cowboys while Jaylen Samuels (0) only played on special teams in Dallas. Fullback Derek Watt (0) was inactive on Sunday with a hamstring injury.
Tight ends: Eric Ebron (59) out-snapped Vance McDonald (20) for a eighth consecutive week while Zach Gentry (0) was once again an inactive.
Quarterbacks: Ben Roethlisberger (65) played all but four snaps due to a left knee injury that occurred late in the first half. Backup Mason Rudolph (4) finished out the first half with Roethlisberger in the locker room early to get his knee checked out.
Defensive linemen: Starters Cameron Heyward (64) and Stephon Tuitt (64) both got their expected amount of work on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Isaiah Buggs (28) filled in Sunday for the injured Tyson Alualu on Sunday and Henry Mondeaux (15) also played more than a dozen defensive snaps against the Cowboys. Rookie Carlos Davis dressed for the first time ever and played 16 snaps in his NFL debut against the Cowboys.
Inside linebackers: Vince Williams (60) and Robert Spillane (67) led the way in snaps at inside linebacker. Marcus Allen (4) played in dime packages on defense. Newcomer Avery Williamson (0) dressed on Sunday but failed to see the field any against the Cowboys in his first game with Pittsburgh.
Outside linebackers: Starters T.J. Watt (66) and Bud Dupree (70) played the majority of defensive snaps against the Cowboys but did get some breathers from rookie Alex Highsmith (12) and Olasunkanmi Adeniyi (2). Jayrone Elliott also dressed on Sunday following his Saturday signing but only saw special team snaps in Dallas.
Cornerbacks: Joe Haden (72) and Steven Nelson (67), as expected, played the most snaps in this position group. Sub package cornerback Mike Hilton (0) was inactive with a shoulder injury again and Cameron Sutton (40) played quite extensively in his place. Justin Layne (13) saw snaps on the outside in the dime defense on Sunday against the Cowboys. Rookie James Pierre was limited to his usual special teams role.
Safeties: Starters Minkah Fitzpatrick (72) and Terrell Edmunds (59) played extensively, as expected. Sean Davis (1) and Jordan Dangerfield (0) mostly played on special teams in the contest.
Special teams: Highsmith (19) Adeniyi (16), Snell (16), Dangerfield (15) and Mondeaux (13) were the special teams snaps leaders against the Cowboys on Sunday.
| PLAYER | POS | OFFENSIVE SNAPS | DEFENSIVE SNAPS | SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A.Villanueva | T | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 15% |
| M.Feiler | G | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 15% |
| C.Okorafor | T | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 15% |
| M.Pouncey | C | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| D.DeCastro | G | 69 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| B.Roethlisberger | QB | 65 | 94% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| J.Smith-Schuster | WR | 63 | 91% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| E.Ebron | TE | 59 | 86% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| D.Johnson | WR | 59 | 86% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| C.Claypool | WR | 56 | 81% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 27% |
| J.Conner | RB | 32 | 46% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| R.McCloud | WR | 28 | 41% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 27% |
| V.McDonald | TE | 20 | 29% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 15% |
| J.Washington | WR | 13 | 19% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| A.McFarland | RB | 8 | 12% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| B.Snell | RB | 5 | 7% | 0 | 0% | 16 | 62% |
| M.Rudolph | QB | 4 | 6% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| J.Hawkins | T | 2 | 3% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| M.Fitzpatrick | S | 0 | 0% | 72 | 100% | 6 | 23% |
| J.Haden | CB | 0 | 0% | 72 | 100% | 6 | 23% |
| B.Dupree | OLB | 0 | 0% | 70 | 97% | 4 | 15% |
| R.Spillane | ILB | 0 | 0% | 67 | 93% | 10 | 38% |
| S.Nelson | CB | 0 | 0% | 67 | 93% | 6 | 23% |
| T.Watt | OLB | 0 | 0% | 66 | 92% | 5 | 19% |
| S.Tuitt | DE | 0 | 0% | 64 | 89% | 10 | 38% |
| C.Heyward | DT | 0 | 0% | 64 | 89% | 9 | 35% |
| V.Williams | ILB | 0 | 0% | 60 | 83% | 6 | 23% |
| T.Edmunds | S | 0 | 0% | 59 | 82% | 6 | 23% |
| C.Sutton | CB | 0 | 0% | 40 | 56% | 6 | 23% |
| I.Buggs | DE | 0 | 0% | 28 | 39% | 5 | 19% |
| C.Davis | DT | 0 | 0% | 16 | 22% | 1 | 4% |
| H.Mondeaux | DE | 0 | 0% | 15 | 21% | 13 | 50% |
| J.Layne | CB | 0 | 0% | 13 | 18% | 10 | 38% |
| A.Highsmith | OLB | 0 | 0% | 12 | 17% | 19 | 73% |
| M.Allen | ILB | 0 | 0% | 4 | 6% | 12 | 46% |
| O.Adeniyi | OLB | 0 | 0% | 2 | 3% | 16 | 62% |
| S.Davis | S | 0 | 0% | 1 | 1% | 10 | 38% |
| J.Dangerfield | S | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 15 | 58% |
| J.Elliott | OLB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 42% |
| C.Boswell | K | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 35% |
| J.Pierre | CB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 35% |
| J.Berry | P | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 8 | 31% |
| K.Canaday | LS | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 8 | 31% |
| J.Samuels | RB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 27% |
| A.Brooks | S | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 5 | 19% |
| K.Dotson | G | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 15% |
| J.Hassenauer | C | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 15% |
