The initial snap counts from the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 14 Sunday night road loss against the Buffalo Bills 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 Steelers had a mess on their offensive line Sunday night due to injuries and especially at left guard. Matt Feiler (10) started but left in the first quarter with a pectoral injury. Rookie Kevin Dotson (29) replaced Feiler only to leave the game with a pectoral injury of his own in the fourth quarter. That left J.C. Hassenauer (18) as the one to mop up at left guard. Even tackle Chukwuma Okorafor (52) left the game injured for five plays and that resulted in Jerald Hawkins (5) replacing him. Center Maurkice Pouncey, guard David DeCastro and tackle Alejandro Villanueva played all 57 snaps in the game.
Wide receivers: JuJu Smith-Schuster (57) played every snap against the Bills. James Washington (46) saw the next most playing time and probably because Diontae Johnson (28) was benched a good portion of the first half for his drops. Rookie Chase Claypool (38) was next on the list but it looks like he only played three snaps in the second half. Ray-Ray McCloud (4) didn’t play very many snaps.
Running backs: James Conner (23) started again upon his return from the COVID-19 list but he wound up playing less snaps than Jaylen Samuels (27) played. Samuels played most of the second half with the Steelers trailing. Benny Snell Jr. (5) played just a few snaps and rookie Anthony McFarland Jr. (0) was inactive. Fullback Derek Watt (0) was limited to only playing on special teams.
Tight ends: Eric Ebron (38) out-snapped Vance McDonald (19) once again and that wasn’t unusual at all. Kevin Rader (0) was inactive a third consecutive game.
Quarterbacks: Ben Roethlisberger (57) played every snap against Buffalo and was once again backed up by Mason Rudolph (0) with Joshua Dobbs (0) being inactive once again.
Defensive linemen: Starters Cameron Heyward (64) and Stephon Tuitt (54) both got their expected amount of work Sunday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Tyson Alualu (36), Chris Wormley (7), and Henry Mondeaux (3) filled in the gaps against Buffalo while and Isaiah Buggs (0) never saw the field and rookie Carlos Davis (0) was back on the inactive list Sunday night.
Inside linebackers: Vince Williams (0) and Robert Spillane (0) were both out on the Reserve list Sunday night so the starters were Avery Williamson (67) and Marcus Allen (56). Ulysees Gilbert III (19) was back off the Reserve/Injured list on Sunday and that was good to see. Tegray Scales, who was elevated from the practice squad, only played a few snaps on special teams against the Bills.
Outside linebackers: Starters T.J. Watt (64) and Alex Highsmith (68) played the majority of defensive snaps against Buffalo but did get some breathers from Olasunkanmi Adeniyi (18). Jayrone Elliott (0), who also dressed for the game, was only used on special teams.
Cornerbacks: Joe Haden (0) was inactive with a concussion Sunday night so Steven Nelson (74) and Cameron Sutton (72) were the starters. Sub package cornerback Mike Hilton (59) played extensively and Justin Layne (11) played almost a dozen defensive snaps in dime. Rookie James Pierre was limited to his usual special teams role.
Safeties: Starters Minkah Fitzpatrick (75) and Terrell Edmunds (75) played every defensive snap against the Bills. Jordan Dangerfield (3) played inside the red zone and Sean Davis (0) played only on special teams in the contest.
Special teams: Adeniyi (25), D. Watt (22), Dangerfield (22), Davis (21) and Elliott (19) were the special teams snaps leaders against Buffalo on Sunday night.
| PLAYER | POS | OFFENSIVE SNAPS | DEFENSIVE SNAPS | SPECIAL TEAM SNAPS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D.DeCastro | G | 57 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 4% |
| A.Villanueva | T | 57 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 4% |
| B.Roethlisberger | QB | 57 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| M.Pouncey | C | 57 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| J.Smith-Schuster | WR | 57 | 100% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| C.Okorafor | T | 52 | 91% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 4% |
| J.Washington | WR | 46 | 81% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| C.Claypool | WR | 38 | 67% | 0 | 0% | 6 | 21% |
| E.Ebron | TE | 38 | 67% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| K.Dotson | G | 29 | 51% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| D.Johnson | WR | 28 | 49% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| J.Samuels | RB | 27 | 47% | 0 | 0% | 6 | 21% |
| J.Conner | RB | 23 | 40% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| V.McDonald | TE | 19 | 33% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 4% |
| J.Hassenauer | C | 18 | 32% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 4% |
| M.Feiler | T | 10 | 18% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| B.Snell | RB | 5 | 9% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 32% |
| J.Hawkins | T | 5 | 9% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 4% |
| R.McCloud | WR | 4 | 7% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 39% |
| M.Fitzpatrick | S | 0 | 0% | 75 | 100% | 5 | 18% |
| T.Edmunds | S | 0 | 0% | 75 | 100% | 5 | 18% |
| S.Nelson | CB | 0 | 0% | 74 | 99% | 5 | 18% |
| C.Sutton | CB | 0 | 0% | 72 | 96% | 13 | 46% |
| A.Highsmith | OLB | 0 | 0% | 68 | 91% | 12 | 43% |
| A.Williamson | ILB | 0 | 0% | 67 | 89% | 11 | 39% |
| C.Heyward | DT | 0 | 0% | 64 | 85% | 4 | 14% |
| T.Watt | OLB | 0 | 0% | 64 | 85% | 2 | 7% |
| M.Hilton | CB | 0 | 0% | 59 | 79% | 0 | 0% |
| M.Allen | ILB | 0 | 0% | 56 | 75% | 14 | 50% |
| S.Tuitt | DE | 0 | 0% | 54 | 72% | 5 | 18% |
| T.Alualu | DT | 0 | 0% | 36 | 48% | 5 | 18% |
| U.Gilbert | ILB | 0 | 0% | 19 | 25% | 6 | 21% |
| O.Adeniyi | OLB | 0 | 0% | 18 | 24% | 25 | 89% |
| J.Layne | CB | 0 | 0% | 11 | 15% | 16 | 57% |
| C.Wormley | DE | 0 | 0% | 7 | 9% | 3 | 11% |
| J.Dangerfield | S | 0 | 0% | 3 | 4% | 22 | 79% |
| H.Mondeaux | DE | 0 | 0% | 3 | 4% | 14 | 50% |
| D.Watt | FB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 22 | 79% |
| S.Davis | S | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 21 | 75% |
| J.Elliott | OLB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 19 | 68% |
| J.Pierre | CB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 16 | 57% |
| J.Berry | P | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 32% |
| K.Canaday | LS | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 9 | 32% |
| C.Boswell | K | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 4 | 14% |
| T.Scales | ILB | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 3 | 11% |
