Turns out, it wasn’t just the offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers that got a boost following a much-needed coaching change in Week 12.
While the Steelers’ offense exploded for 421 total yards in the first game after the firing of former offensive coordinator Matt Canada, the Steelers’ defense turned in one of its best performances of the season, too, limiting the Bengals to just 222 yards of total offense. Not only that, the Steelers turned in their best performance in the missed tackles department since Week Seven.
Against the Bengals, Pittsburgh missed just five tackles. Four of them came on two explosive plays by the Bengals.
It’s time for the Week 12 missed tackles report.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES AT BENGALS — 5
Damontae Kazee – 1
Markus Golden – 1
Larry Ogunjobi – 1
Patrick Peterson – 1
Chandon Sullivan – 1 (sack attempt)
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH WEEK 12 (11 GAMES) — 92 (8.36 MISSES PER GAME)
Damontae Kazee – 10 (49 tackles on 59 total attempts, 16.9% miss rate)
Patrick Peterson – 9 (30 tackles on 39 total attempts, 23.1% miss rate)
Keanu Neal – 8 (50 tackles on 58 total attempts, 13.8% miss rate)
Kwon Alexander – 7 (41 tackles on 48 total attempts, 14.6% miss rate)
Elandon Roberts – 7 (77 tackles on 84 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 6 (53 tackles on 59 total attempts, 10.1% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 5 (29 tackles on 34 total attempts, 14.7% miss rate)
Cole Holcomb – 4 (54 tackles on 58 total attempts, 6.9% miss rate)
Elijah Riley – 4 (two on sack attempts, one on special teams, nine tackles on 13 total attempts, 30.7% miss rate)
Montravius Adams – 3 (one on sack attempt, 21 tackles on 24 total attempts, 12.5% miss rate)
Levi Wallace – 3 (25 tackles on 28 total attempts, 10.7% miss rate)
Miles Killebrew — 2 (both special teams, 12 tackles on 14 total attempts, 14.3% miss rate)
Nick Herbig – 2 (one on special teams, 13 tackles on 15 total attempts, 13.3% miss rate)
Mark Robinson — 2 (both on special teams, nine tackles on 11 total attempts, 18.2% miss rate)
Markus Golden — 2 (11 tackles on 13 total attempts, 15.4% miss rate)
Larry Ogunjobi – 2 (28 tackles on 30 total attempts, 6.6% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 1 (41 tackles on 42 total attempts, 2.4% miss rate)
Armon Watts – 1 (eight tackles on nine total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
Keeanu Benton — 1 (28 tackles on 29 total attempts, 3.4% miss rate)
Isaiahh Loudermilk — 1 (11 tackles on 12 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
Miles Boykin — 1 (special teams, three tackles on four total attempts, 25% miss rate)
Mykal Walker — 1 (seven tackles on eight total attempts, 12.5% miss rate)
Trenton Thompson – 1 (11 tackles on 12 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
Connor Heyward – 1 (special teams, one tackle on two total attempts, 50% miss rate)
Chandon Sullivan — 1 (sack attempt, 16 tackles on 17 total attempts, 5.9% miss rate)
Though Damontae Kazee had a strong game in Cincinnati, even with dropping an interception, the missed tackles from the veteran safety remain rather concerning this season.
The struggles in the tackling department continued on Sunday as Kazee missed a tackle, remaining in the top spot for most misses on the team this season with 10. The 16.9% missed tackles rate isn’t egregious, but it isn’t good, either.
He missed the initial tackle on the tipped pass caught by Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase Sunday, leading to the star receiver racing his way 31 yards down the field. That helped set up Cincinnati’s lone touchdown of the day.
It’s a broken play without a doubt, but Kazee has to make that tackle in space, putting the play to a stop immediately.
Instead, he misses. After that, veteran outside linebacker Markus Golden misses a tackle in space for his second miss of the season, and then Chase is off to the races. The shoddy tackling on this play wasted a great play in coverage from linebacker Mykal Walker, who leaped high into the air to get a hand on the football.
He did his job, but the other defenders didn’t do theirs when the opportunity presented itself.
Late in the second quarter, slot cornerback Chandon Sullivan missed a tackle on a sack attempt of Cincinnati quarterback Jake Browning. The miss was a painful one. Not only was it a missed sack inside the Bengals’ 5-yard line that led to a big completion to wide receiver Trent Irwin, outside linebacker T.J. Watt got hit with a roughing-the-passer penalty, producing a 50-yard swing.
Sullivan disguises the blitz well, timing it perfectly to get a free run at Browning, who doesn’t see him until the last second.
This is a play Sullivan has to make. He loses his angle late in the rep, leading to Browning being able to avoid the initial contact. Sullivan has to finish it though, even if he’s on the ground. Can’t let a guy like Browning step out of the situation.
Just an awful miss from a slot corner who has been playing much better in recent weeks.
Finally, the Bengals had one more explosive play late in the game, leading to the final field goal to close out the 16-10 scoring.
It came on a screen to running back Joe Mixon.
Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi does a fantastic job of running to the ball, showing great effort in a game the Steelers all but had in the bag. Though he chases the ball, Ogunjobi misses in space because he punches at the ball rather than making sure he gets Mixon to the ground.
Understandable decision there because he’s had success in those situations punching at the ball, but he has to make sure he makes the stop, too. After that, cornerback Patrick Peterson misses late in the rep, allowing Mixon to pick up a few extra yards.
In the end, the play didn’t hurt the Steelers, but it wasn’t great to see two misses in space from veterans on a screen pass.
Offensively, the Steelers had a great day in the forced missed tackles department. The Steelers ran hard all game and generated 11 forced missed tackles against the Bengals. That means the Steelers won the all-important tackling battle by a mark of plus-six, moving to 9-1-1 on the season.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES AT BENGALS — 11
Najee Harris – 5
Jaylen Warren – 4
Diontae Johnson – 1
Darnell Washington – 1
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH WEEK 12 (11 GAMES) — 122 (11.1 PER GAME)
Jaylen Warren – 51
Najee Harris – 39
Calvin Austin III – 9 (three on special teams)
Diontae Johnson – 7
George Pickens – 4
Kenny Pickett — 2
Pat Freiermuth – 2
Allen Robinson II – 1
Desmond King II – 1 (special teams)
Connor Heyward – 1
Darnell Washington — 1
Running back Najee Harris was terrific on Sunday against the Bengals. He turned in his best performance of the season, rushing for 99 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. He ran hard and bullied his way through the Bengals’ defense throughout the day. It was impressive.
His best run was the 20-yarder late in the first quarter that saw him drag defenders with him, turning a short run into an explosive one — all based on effort.
I credited Harris for three forced missed tackles on this run. He was a force on the play, refusing to go down. Running right behind the Broderick Jones Express, he turned what should have been three yards and a cloud of dust into a 20-yard run.
Not many backs can — or will — do that. Harris has a never-say-die attitude though and is starting to turn it on as the weather gets colder and the conditions worsen.
Jaylen Warren ran hard, too.
Late in the Steelers’ touchdown drive in the third quarter, Warren ran through an arm tackle from Cincinnati cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, gaining a few more yards in the red zone.
That’s just who Warren is. He runs through initial contact. There’s almost no chance he’ll go down on first touch.
Two plays later, Harris scored from five yards out, and the Steelers never looked back.
