As we do every year, we’re taking the weekly charting we personally conduct at Steelers Depot and summarizing our data every couple of weeks. Everything from individual to team, snap count, blitz rate, personnel groupings, and more will be reflected below.
We’ll update this post in another couple of weeks.
To be clear, these numbers are out of 353 non-“no play” snaps that were wiped out by penalty.
– Those 353 snaps work out to an average of 70.6 snaps per game. A crazy high number. Here’s how it stacks up to past years.
2023: 353 snaps (70.5 per game)
2022: 1,012 snaps (59.5 per game)
2021: 1,108 snaps (65.2 per game)
2020: 992 snaps (62 per game)
2019: 1,067 snaps (66.7 per game)
2018: 1,021 snaps (63.8 per game)
2017: 979 snaps (61.2 per game)
2016: 1,040 snaps (65.0 per game)
2015: 1,102 snaps (68.9 per game)
It’d be the highest per-game snap count since our tracking started in 2015 and is 11 more snaps per game than 2022. To be fair, Pittsburgh’s defense had a similar issue the first four weeks of last year, averaging an even crazier 74 snaps per game over the first month of 2022. This number should come down. It needs to.
– Here are the personnel groupings the team has used. We’ll start with a broad look at personnel.
3-4: 39.4 percent (139 snaps)
Nickel: 36.8 percent (130 snaps)
Dime: 18.7 percent (66 snaps)
4-4: 2.8 percent (10 snaps)
3-3-5: 0.9 percent (3 snaps)
Goal Line: 0.9 percent (3 snaps)
3-5: 0.6 percent (2 snaps)
The Steelers’ 3-4 defense and its variations have been the most popular grouping this year, a reminder that front is not dead and gone even in 2023. Nickel is right behind with dime making up just under 20 percent of the team’s snaps. For all of 2022, Pittsburgh was in its base defense 24.9 percent of the time. Big uptick here, though that number will likely dip a bit over time. Nickel and dime percentages are very similar to a season ago.
To be more specific, here is the usage of every exact grouping this year:
True 3-4: 35.6 percent (126 snaps)
Nickel: 32.6 percent (115 snaps)
Dime: 18.7 percent 66 snaps
Big Nickel: 4.2 percent (15 snaps)
4-4: 2.8 percent (10 snaps)
3-4 Over: 2.0 percent (7 snaps)
3-4 “Big:” 1.4 percent (5 snaps)
3-3-5: 0.8 percent (3 snaps)
Goal Line: 0.8 percent (3 snaps)
3-5: 0.6 percent (2 snaps)
3-4 Nickel: 0.3 percent (1 snap)
To define that a bit more, “true” 3-4 is your traditional 3-4. Big Nickel is a 2-4-5 with three safeties. “Big” 3-4 is with three safeties and one corner. The 3-4 nickel is with three corners and one safety. The 3-4 over is when the defensive line shifts to the offense’s strength and the strongside outside linebacker aligns off-ball.
– Big picture, what is the percentage of base versus sub-package. This will exclude goal line, 3-5, and 4-4 since they don’t fit into either grouping.
Sub-Package: 58.9 percent (199 snaps)
Base: 41.1 percent (139 snaps)
Last year, the Steelers were in sub 68.2 percent of the time. So about a 10-percent decrease so far. If this number holds, and it probably will rise, it’ll be the lowest sub-package rate since we’ve tracked things in 2015.
– The Steelers’ 2023 blitz rate? It sits at 31.6 percent, 62 of 196 drop backs. That’s up from 27.9 percent for all of 2022 and would be the team’s highest mark since 2020 when it ended at 35.6 percent.
Much of that was influenced by the Steelers’ heavy blitz rate against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Here’s the weekly rates:
Week 1 vs. 49ers – 29.4 percent
Week 2 vs. Browns – 30.4 percent
Week 3 vs. Raiders – 17.8 percent
Week 4 vs. Texans – 28.6 percent
Week 5 vs. Ravens – 51.2 percent
A clear change in strategy for Week Five, keeping Jackson contained within the pocket.
The Steelers have rushed five or more defenders this season 34.2 percent of the time. Against the Ravens, that sat at 58.1 percent. Again, different strategy against Baltimore than the other four teams.
– Let’s jump into the positional numbers.
Defensive Line
Pressures
Larry Ogunjobi: 7
Armon Watts: 4
Keeanu Benton: 4
DeMarvin Leal: 4
Montravius Adams: 2
Isaiahh Loudermilk: 1
Cam Heyward: 1
It’s worth noting Benton has six pressures but two were negated by penalties that wiped out the play. Wanted to add that caveat.
Snaps per pressure. The lower the number, the better.
Cam Heyward: 9.0
Armon Watts: 10.8
DeMarvin Leal: 14.8
Keeanu Benton: 18
Larry Ogunjobi: 20.7
Isaiahh Loudermilk: 36
Montravius Adams: 63.5
– Really nice number for Watts while Leal’s number is stronger than I expected.
– Larry Ogunjobi leads the defensive line with 239 snaps. Keeanu Benton has 135. Montravius Adams sits at 215.
– Though this stat shouldn’t be weighed too heavily, the YPC allowed when each are on the field.
Armon Watts: 2.8 YPC
Isaiahh Loudermilk: 3.4 YPC
Keeanu Benton: 3.6 YPC
Larry Ogunjobi: 4.9 YPC
Montravius Adams: 5.2 YPC
DeMarvin Leal: 6.6 YPC
Linebackers
Pressures
T.J. Watt: 24
Alex Highsmith: 16
Cole Holcomb:3
Markus Golden: 3
Elandon Roberts: 1
Nick Herbig: 0
Snaps per pressure. Again, lower the number the better. Just going to do this with the EDGE guys.
T.J. Watt: 7.1
Markus Golden: 9.3
Alex Highsmith: 9.7
Nick Herbig: Infinity (17 Pass-Rush Attempts)
– For reference, Watt’s number last year was 10.4. Highsmith’s was 11.4. Both better this year. Last year’s. No. 3 pass rusher, Malik Reed, sat at 26.1. Golden has 28 total rushes.
– Drop/coverage rate of the four EDGE rushers:
T.J. Watt: 7.1 percent
Alex Highsmith: 11.4 percent
Markus Golden: 22.2 percent
Nick Herbig: 26.1 percent
Last year, Watt dropped 5.7 percent of the time. Highsmith was at 9.7 percent. Upticks in both.
– Yards per carry for the top three inside linebackers when they’re on the field. Again, these numbers mean only so much but provide a small data point.
Cole Holcomb: 4.4 YPC
Elandon Roberts: 4.6 YPC
Kwon Alexander: 5.0 YPC
Target Numbers
Elandon Roberts: 5/5 57 yards
Kwon Alexander: 4/8 24 yards
Cole Holcomb: 2/7 28 yards
QB Rating Against
Cole Holcomb:43.8
Kwon Alexander:56.3
Elandon Roberts: 114.2
Defensive Back
Target Numbers
Damontae Kazee: 4/6 73 yards 0 TDs 0 INTs
Joey Porter Jr.: 1/6 12 yards 0 TDs 1 INT
Keanu Neal: 3/9 35 yards 0 TDs 0 INTs
Chandon Sullivan: 7/9 74 yards 1 TD 0 INTs
Minkah Fitzpatrick: 10/16 110 yards 0 TDs 0 INTs
Patrick Peterson: 14/22 229 yards 4 TDs 1 INT
Levi Wallace: 22/38 262 yards 2 TDs 2 INTs
– QB Rating against:
Joey Porter Jr.: 0.0
Keanu Neal: 45.6
Levi Wallace: 74.7
Minkah Fitzpatrick: 82.8
Damontae Kazee: 108.3
Patrick Peterson: 119.1
Chandon Sullivan: 138.0
Porter pitching a literal shutout. Wallace’s number better than I thought it’d be. Fitzpatrick’s numbers are typically excellent but so far, not this year. Peterson’s is poor. Ditto with Sullivan. I don’t know what he offers.
– Sullivan has blitzed 12 times. He has one pressure. Fitzpatrick has blitzed eight times. He blitzed 15 times all of last season. Last year, he had four pressures. This year, he has one (though a sack was negated by a questionable penalty on him against the Raiders).
– Finally, Minkah Fitzpatrick has been in the box 20.1 percent of the time this season, 63 snaps. Last year, he was in the box 75 times all season, or just over eight percent. Big difference.
– Dime designated snaps this season by player:
Keanu Neal: 48
Minkah Fitzpatrick: 10
Patrick Peterson: 4
There are four snaps of the team’s six DB package where I did not designate a true dime defender so that’s why the 62 here doesn’t match with the 66 total listed earlier.
