Typical, when a blowout has occurred in the Mike Tomlin era, tackling is a major issue for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That was undoubtedly the case on Sunday on the road against the Houston Texans.
Tomlin stated that he didn’t feel that the Steelers were ready to match Houston’s physicality from the start, and it showed in a big way immediately.
Pittsburgh was manhandled at the point of attack throughout the game and really struggled to tackle, leading to a dreadful performance not only in the tackling department, but on the scoreboard as well.
Let’s take a look at the Week Four missed tackles report and try to move on from the disappointing performance.
TOTAL MISSSED TACKLES AT TEXANS — 14
Keanu Neal – 4
Patrick Peterson – 2
Levi Wallace – 1
Elandon Roberts – 1
Kwon Alexander – 1
Montravius Adams – 1
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 1
Joey Porter Jr. – 1
Markus Golden – 1
Miles Killebrew – 1 (special teams)
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH WEEK 4 (4 GAMES) — 39 (9.75 MISSES PER GAME)
Elandon Roberts – 5 (23 tackles on 28 total attempts, 17.6% miss rate)
Keanu Neal – 5 (19 tackles on 24 total attempts, 20.8% miss rate)
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 4 (32 tackles on 36 total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
Patrick Peterson – 4 (14 tackles on 18 total attempts, 22.2% miss rate)
Cole Holcomb – 3 (25 tackles on 28 total attempts, 10.7% miss rate)
Kwon Alexander – 3 (28 tackles on 31 total attempts, 9.7% miss rate)
Montravius Adams – 3 (one on sack attempt) (11 tackles on 14 total attempts, 21.4% miss rate)
Elijah Riley – 2 (one on sack attempt) (three tackles on five total attempts, 40% miss rate)
Damontae Kazee – 2 (15 tackles on 17 total attempts, 11.8% miss rate)
Levi Wallace – 2 (18 tackles on 20 total attempts, 10% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 2 (four tackles on six total attempts, 33.3% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 1 (13 tackles on 14 total attempts, 7.1% miss rate)
Mark Robinson — 1 (special teams) (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Markus Golden — 1 (seven tackles on eight total attempts, 12.5% miss rate)
Miles Killebrew — 1 (special teams) (five tackles on six total attempts, 16.6% miss rate)
That is quite the laundry list of missed tackles from the Steelers in Week Four. It looks as bad on paper as it did on tape watching the game live and a few times in review.
The Steelers just weren’t ready for this game physically. They were sleepwalking after playing two primetime games in a row. That’s simply no excuse. That falls on coaching from a preparation standpoint, but at some point the players have to get going and match the physicality and intensity.
They didn’t and it showed in the tackling department.
Keanu Neal had one of the worst individual days from a missed tackles perspective since I started tracking them in 2019. In fact, Neal’s four missed tackles are the most I’ve ever recorded for the Steelers in a single game, tying linebacker Vince Williams (2019, vs. Colts), safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (2021, vs. Lions) and safety Terrell Edmunds (2022, at Bengals) with four misses each in a single game.
Not great!
Though he had some big hits in the game, he was a mess from a tackling perspective.
Pittsburgh brought him in for his physicality and his ability to tackle in space.
Neal came up short in the latter area on Sunday.
Here on a skinny post from Texans wide receiver John Metchie III, Neal is right there make the play after the catch, limiting it to a short gain. Instead, he whiffs on the tackle as Metchie steps right through it and gains another 10 yards, moving the chains and jumpstarting the Texans’ offense in the second quarter.
Late in the first half, Neal had another big whiff that led to a good play from the Texans and wide receiver Nico Collins.
Quick tunnel screen here to Collins late in the half just looking to get things set up perfectly for a late field goal attempt. Instead, Collins nearly takes it to the house.
Neal does a good job getting around a block on the screen and coming downhill, but his angle and overall balance is off. He’s caught leaning to the side to make the tackle rather than being square and under control. It cost the Steelers big-time.
One play prior to Neal’s miss on Collins, the Steelers had one of the weakest efforts on Collins’ big catch-and-run that sparked the scoring drive late in the first half.
It’s a simple curl route to Collins. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is right there and should have made the play. Instead, Collins is able to spin inside and get up the field, causing Fitzpatrick to go lunging for his ankles and missing. After that, rookie corner Joey Porter Jr. is in position to get Collins on the ground.
He doesn’t even attempt to wrap and instead just tries to use his shoulders and cut Collins’ feet out from underneath him. Porter’s attempt didn’t even bother Collins, who just kept right on trucking for the huge explosive play.
Ugly rep all around.
Late in the game, Patrick Peterson put the final touches on a nightmare of a day from a missed tackles perspective.
He gets burned by Collins here on the flag route, so he’s already at a disadvantage. Peterson has to get Collins on the ground and keep the negative play from getting into the end zone. Obviously he can’t do that, and Collins gets a walk-in touchdown after running right through Peterson’s arm-tackle attempt.
Offensively, the Steelers had a decent day in the forced missed tackles department, which is remarkable considering they had just 225 yards of total offense. Against the Texans, Pittsburgh forced 12 missed tackles. That means they lost the tackles battle within the game by a minus-two mark, dropping them to 2-1-1 on the season.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES AT TEXANS — 12
Najee Harris – 6
Jaylen Warren – 3
Pat Freiermuth – 2
Desmond King – 1 (special teams)
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH WEEK 4 (4 GAMES) — 46 (11.5 PER GAME)
Najee Harris – 17
Jaylen Warren – 15
Calvin Austin III – 6 (two on special teams)
Pat Freiermuth – 2
George Pickens – 2
Allen Robinson II – 1
Diontae Johnson – 1
Kenny Pickett — 1
Desmond King II – 1 (special teams)
Running back Najee Harris was downright remarkable on Sunday. He ran hard, forced six missed tackles and really had his best performance of the season.
It was a continuation of what he’s done all season. He’s tied for fourth in broken tackles in the NFL with eight, which is not the same as forced misses. Those are true run-through-tacklers metrics from Pro Football Reference.
In Houston Harris was a man on a mission. He ran incredibly hard, churned out yards consistently and fell forward every time. He was a load to handle for the Texans.
Look at this run here in the first half. Should have been blown up in the backfield due to rookie tight end Darnell Washington being slow to get across the formation. It doesn’t matter to Harris. He bounces off his teammate, gets vertical in a hurry and runs through two tackles to move the chains.
Harris’ best run of the day was a solid 23 yarder with two forced missed tackles in space.
When he’s able to get to the line of scrimmage with no contact and is running downhill, he’s a problem for defenses. Stop running him in zone, put him in more gap/power situations.
Harris is a force with the football, and he showed that on Sunday. More of that, please.
