It was a rather difficult season for longtime Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman and team captain Cameron Heyward.
The multi-time All-Pro and face of the Steelers dealt with a groin injury right from the start of training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe and never really improved. Eventually, Heyward completely tore his groin in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, leading to surgery that kept him out for six weeks.
The injury and subsequent surgery was a 12-week recovery, but Heyward made it back in half the time. While it was great to have him back in the lineup for the Steelers, he wasn’t his usual self and often looked his age on the field.
To his credit, he fought through and kept his hand in the pile, but the injury and subsequent recovery in a grueling process slowed him down considerably.
The good news, though, is that Heyward looked like his usual powerful self in the Wild Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills. In 55 snaps in the 31-17 loss, Heyward showed off his power as a pass rusher and his abilities as a run defender for the Steelers, controlling the line of scrimmage and making an impact for the Steelers, finishing with six tackles, one tackle for loss and three pressures.
While he stated that in his heart he wants to play, he’s going to take the offseason to get his body healthy and see where that leaves him for the 2024 season, which would be his 14th in the NFL. But based on his performance against the Bills in the Wild Card round, he can still play good football for the Steelers when healthy.
Since returning from injury in Week Nine against the Tennessee Titans, Heyward was stout against the run. That continued against the Bills as he really controlled the line of scrimmage and gave left guard Connor McGovern fits throughout the night. Same for center Mitch Morse.
Great quickness here from Heyward, crossing Morse’s face with a quick, efficient swim move, allowed Heyward to knife into the backfield and blow up the run.
Heyward’s lateral quickness here to jump from one gap to the other and win with the swim move forced Morse to hold Heyward, though no flag was thrown. Still, Heyward was able to immediately disrupt the play and looked like his usual self against the run.
When Heyward is at his best and healthiest, his power — a real calling card in his game — stands out on tape. That was the case against the Bills as he leaned heavily into his bull rush.
Heyward is lined up over Morse here at nose. Though Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen is able to get the ball out quickly, you can see Heyward’s power here, walking Morse right into Allen’s lap.
Throughout the season since his return, we haven’t exactly seen this from Heyward when rushing the passer. But in cold temperatures and in a big spot, Heyward showed that trademark power that has given offensive linemen fits his entire career.
Again, the power is so impressive when he’s on his game.
The Bills were fortunate that they got the ball out early because Heyward was putting linemen on skates.
This time, it was McGovern.
He does a great job of generating speed off the ball into power, stunning linemen backward. McGovern tried to quick-set him, but Heyward is just a bull off of the line of scrimmage and immediately puts McGovern on his heels. If Allen holds the ball just a second longer, he’d have McGovern in his lap.
Heyward is just so technically sound and very smart as a defender. He’s not going to take himself out of position, especially against the run.
Here in the second half, Heyward gains control of McGovern at the point of attack, clogs up the run lane, and does a great job of using the offensive lineman to blow up the run. Of course, it would have been nice if anybody on the other side of the defense did his job to make a play building off of Heyward clogging everything up.
Instead, nobody was there. Heyward was able to trip up the running back late, but the Bills moved the chains. It was still a great rep from Heyward against the run.
Backup offensive lineman David Edwards found out the hard way about Heyward’s power, this time on a run play.
Heyward does a tremendous job of processing against the run, reading the keys of the linemen in front of him, and letting his eyes take him to the football.
This is a slow-developing run play by the Bills, and Heyward sees it clearly. He’s not in a hurry. Heyward coils and blows up Edwards’ backside, allowing him to get in on the play.
Great play from Heyward.
Then, late in the game with the Steelers down 31-17 late in the fourth quarter, Heyward saved his best play on tape for last, playing his tail off to the final whistle against the run.
Fantastic get-off here from Heyward, beating McGovern immediately off the snap. Heyward blows up McGovern’s outside shoulder and chews up ground to get into the backfield, then makes the play on the running back for the tackle for loss.
When he’s fully healthy and locked in, Heyward makes these types of plays look easy, much like he did here. He might be getting up there in age, but he can still be a force for the Steelers. The Wild Card matchup showed that, even at the end of a very difficult, trying season for the longtime Steeler.
