In many aspects, the 26-22 win for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Cleveland Browns on Monday night was downright ugly.
While the offense was a nightmare for the Steelers, so too was the tackling defensively for the Black and Gold.
Though the Steelers picked up a much-needed win, they were lucky to get out of the primetime matchup in front due to some tackling woes. On the night, Pittsburgh missed 12 tackles, with three defenders missing two each.
Let’s dive into the missed tackles report coming out of Week Two.
Total Missed Tackles vs. Browns — 12
Montravius Adams – 2 (one on sack attempt)
Elijah Riley – 2 (one on sack attempt)
Elandon Roberts – 2
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 1
Kwon Alexander – 1
Patrick Peterson – 1
Joey Porter Jr. – 1
Cole Holcomb – 1
T.J. Watt – 1
Total Missed Tackles Through Week 2 (2 Games) — 21 (10.5 misses per game)
Elandon Roberts – 4 (1o tackles on 14 total attempts, 28.6% miss rate)
Cole Holcomb – 3 (13 tackles on 16 total attempts, 18.75% miss rate)
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 2 (10 tackles on 12 total attempts, 16.6% miss rate)
Patrick Peterson – 2 (four tackles on six total attempts, 33.3% miss rate)
Montravius Adams – 2 (one on sack attempt) (five tackles on seven total attempts, 28.6% miss rate)
Elijah Riley – 2 (one on sack attempt) (two tackles on four total attempts, 50% miss rate)
Damontae Kazee – 1 (1o tackles on 11 total attempts, 9.1% miss rate)
Keanu Neal – 1 (11 tackles on 12 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
Levi Wallace – 1 (eight tackles on nine total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 1 (one tackle on two total attempts, 50% miss rate)
Kwon Alexander – 1 (17 tackles on 18 total attempts, 5.5% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 1 (nine tackles on 10 total attempts, 10% miss rate)
As you can see, it’s not exactly the cleanest-looking missed tackles report coming out of the Week Two win, even with the defense being rather dominant on the night.
Veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts missed two tackles for the second straight game and currently leads the Steelers with four on the season. His miss late in the fourth quarter was a costly one, even after knifing into the backfield for what should have been a big tackle for loss one play after T.J. Watt’s scoop and score to give the Steelers the lead.
Roberts does a great job here of shooting the gap and getting into the backfield to get a hit on Cleveland running back Jerome Ford. He just doesn’t bring his feet with him at the point of contact. What should have been a big tackle for loss that would have blown the lid off of Acrisure Stadium late in the fourth quarter instead went for a first down, thanks to Ford.
After Ford was able to bounce out of Roberts’ missed tackle, he was able to shake backup safety Elijah Riley to get to the edge, turning the corner to pick up the first down. It was a remarkable run from Ford and a big blown play by the Steelers.
Earlier in the game, the Steelers came up very, very small on a 1st and 20 for the Browns backed up deep in their own territory.
A tight end screen to David Njoku moved the chains on 1st and 20, thanks to Njoku breaking three tackles on the play.
First, Patrick Peterson is too passive in space here against the big, physical tight end. It’s 1st and 20, and you have help behind you. Attack downhill and create contact. Instead, he gets caught flat-footed in space and goes diving at Njoku’s ankles to no avail. After that, rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and linebacker Cole Holcomb combine for a missed tackle in space, with both bouncing off of Njoku’s lower legs.
That allows Njoku to rumble for the first down, taking the air out of the stadium in a situation that should have been advantageous for the Steelers.
While he had a dominant night — again — T.J. Watt recorded his first missed tackle of the season in backside contain against Nick Chubb in the first half.
On the zone run here from Chubb, Watt gets caught just a bit too far upfield, leaving a cutback lane for Chubb to hit. As Chubb hits it, Watt tries to get back into the play and get a tackle attempt, but it’s not enough to get Chubb to the ground at the line of scrimmage. Once Chubb gets through the attempt from Watt, he’s able to get into the second level for a nice gain on the play.
Prior to that miss from Watt, the Steelers were struggling against Chubb on the ground.
Here, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick does a nice job of getting downhill in run support to shoot the gap, but he’s just a step slow and is forced to go diving at Chubb’s feet.
That’s never going to work against the Cleveland running back. From there, linebacker Kwon Alexander gets caught up trying to cover two gaps and sets himself up to be blocked by the Cleveland lineman, allowing Chubb to pick a lane and hit it. Alexander tries to get off the block and gets hands on Chubb, but it’s a weak arm-tackle attempt that had no real chance.
Chubb is off to the races from there.
Though the Steelers struggled to tackle defensively, they did a very nice job offensively, forcing the Browns to miss tackles as well. Pittsburgh generated 12 forced missed tackles on Monday night, meaning it was a tie. The Steelers sit at 1-0-1 on the year in the game within the game featuring tackling.
It’s the second straight week the Steelers forced 12 missed tackles.
Total Forced Missed Tackles vs. Browns — 12
Jaylen Warren – 5
Najee Harris – 4
Calvin Austin – 2 (special teams)
George Pickens – 1
Total Forced Missed Tackles Through Week 2 (2 Games) — 24 (12.0 per game)
Jaylen Warren – 8
Najee Harris – 6
Calvin Austin III – 6 (two on special teams)
George Pickens – 2
Allen Robinson II – 1
Diontae Johnson – 1
Once again, Jaylen Warren was very good in the forced missed tackles department on limited touches, as was Najee Harris.
The two combined for just 19 touches in the win offensively and combined for nine forced missed tackles.
Warren’s pair of forced missed tackles on a 3rd and 10 in the first half was downright impressive.
Great job of getting square to the line of scrimmage after the catch, setting up the defenders with a jab step inside to create a crease, and then serious explosion and burst to split the two defenders with speed and power. That’s all heart right there from Warren.
Very impressive stuff.
Same from Harris later in the game.
This was Harris’ 21-yard run in the third quarter.
It’s not a great play design against Cleveland’s front, but Harris does a fantastic job of shrugging off Za’Darius Smith in the backfield and then has the vision and awareness to cut back across the field and rip off the explosive run, providing the Steelers’ offense with a spark.
That’s now two straight games with an explosive run for Harris. He created this one all on his own. Shockingly, after this run from Harris, the Steelers gave him the football just two more times.
