It wasn’t a good day for anyone virtually in Pittsburgh yesterday. But it was an especially poor day for three Steelers defenders. Pro Football Focus released itsWeek 13 grades heading into Monday night and four players graded out especially poorly: LB Mykal Walker, LB Mark Robinson, S Damontae Kazee, and S Trenton Thompson.
Of the 61 qualified safeties this week, Kazee finished 55th in PFF’s grading, a 41.3 grade. Thompson was right behind him in 56th place, a 40.4 figure.
Both were dinged significantly for their tackling, Thompson’s grade slightly worse than Kazee’s. Pittsburgh’s defense wore down in the second half as the Arizona Cardinals found traction with their running game in the second half, ex-Steeler James Conner ripping off a 30-yard run late as he finished the day over 100 yards, his first such performance since Week Two.
In coverage, Kazee received the fourth-lowest grade while Thompson had the sixth worst. Kazee allowed a touchdown to TE Trey McBride that capped the Cardinals’ 99-yard touchdown drive right before the end of the half. McBride was dominant on the drive and by game’s end, he had accounted for more than 60 percent of the team’s receptions and passing yards.
Pittsburgh got back FS Minkah Fitzpatrick for the first time since he exited early in Week Eight. But he wouldn’t make it out of this game healthy, breaking his left hand sometime in the second quarter. Casted up during the first weather delay, Fitzpatrick did not miss a snap. He finished with the 21st-best grade among qualifiers. In PFF’s mind, the best safety at Acrisure Stadium Sunday was the Cardinals’ Budda Baker, finishing with the fifth-best grade among all safeties heading into tonight’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars.
At linebacker, Walker had a rough outing. He finished with a grade of 46.2, 49th out of 59 qualifiers. He also posted the 55th-worst tackling grade, highlighted by a key miss in the hole on RB Michael Carter on a 3rd and 6 as the Cardinals kept their 99-yard drive alive. It resulted in that touchdown to McBride to close out the half. In coverage, Walker couldn’t match McBride, who made a couple great catches. According to our charting, Walker allowed two receptions on two targets against him, going for 32 total yards. Both resulted in third-down conversions as the Cardinals finished the game 10-of-13 on possessions downs after starting the game 0-of-4. After the game, Walker took responsibility for his poor play.
Replacing the injured Elandon Roberts, Robinson graded even worse than Walker. He finished 54th out of 59 qualifiers, ending with a final 36.3 grade. While he was given a strong tackling grade, his 35.8 coverage grade was third worst among his position.
During his Monday press conference, Tomlin indicated the team would take a look at veterans Blake Martinez and Myles Jack for Thursday night’s game against the New England Patriots, leaning on their experience and communication ability to clean up the Steelers’ mistakes and unforced errors. It’s not clear how the Steelers’ inside linebacker depth chart will look for the game — Roberts is questionable with his groin injury — but it’s likely to include little of Robinson and potentially less of Walker.
