As the offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers was, well, quite offensive Saturday night in the 9-3 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Steelers’ defense seems to be getting off nice and easy despite a tough performance as well.
Particularly in the tackling department.
Though the Steelers held the Bills to nine points, Pittsburgh was a mess in the tackling department, especially in the second half. That occurred with many backups and fringe roster players on the field, but it was concerning nonetheless, especially after how physical and intense training camp was.
In the loss to the Bills, Pittsburgh missed 12 tackles, with seven of them coming in the second half. Those seven second-half missed tackles matched the amount the Steelers had all game against the Houston Texans in Week One of the preseason.
Hopefully, the Steelers clean things up in the final preseason game against the Detroit Lions on Saturday. For now though, let’s look at this week’s missed tackles report.
Total Missed Tackles vs. Bills — 12
Isaiahh Loudermilk – 2
Mark Robinson – 1
Cameron Sutton – 1
Ryan Watts – 1
Jalen Elliott – 1
Anthony Averett – 1
Kyler McMichael – 1
Tyler Matakevich – 1 (special teams)
Rodney Williams – 1 (special teams
Jacoby Windmon – 1
Larry Ogunjobi – 1 (sack attempt)
Total Missed Tackles Through Two Preseason Games — 19 (9.5 per game)
Isaiahh Loudermilk – 3 (four tackles on seven total attempts, 43%% miss rate)
Payton Wilson – 2 (nine tackles on 11 total attempts, 18.1% miss rate)
Anthony Averett – 2 (three tackles on five total attempts, 40% miss rate)
Damontae Kazee – 2 (one tackle on three total attempts, 66.67% miss rate)
Mark Robinson – 2 (10 tackles on 12 total attempts, 16% miss rate)
Jalen Elliott – 2 (seven tackles on nine total attempts, 22.2% miss rate)
Ryan Watts — 1 (10 tackles on 11 total attempts, 9.1% miss rate)
Rodney Williams — 1 (special teams) (zero tackles on one total attempt, 100% miss rate)
Jacoby Windmon — 1 (eight tackles on nine total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
Larry Ogunjobi — 1 (sack attempt) (two tackles on three total attempts, 33.3% miss rate)
Cameron Sutton — 1 (one tackle on two total attempts, 50% miss rate)
Kyler McMichael — 1 (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Tyler Matakevich — 1 (special teams) (one tackle on two total attempts, 50% miss rate)
Much like the game in general, tackling was really sloppy on the night for the Steelers.
Sure, it’s nice to hold a team to just nine points, but missing 12 tackles is concerning, even if most of the misses came from back-end roster guys.
Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi missed the first tackle of the game, and it came on a potential sack of Buffalo quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Ogunjobi does a great job on the pass rush, using his hands initially to stay clean against Buffalo guard O’Cyrus Torrence, and then does a nice job of ripping through the outside arm and getting a free rush to Trubisky.
He just doesn’t finish against the mobile quarterback. Fortunately teammates Nick Herbig and Keeanu Benton are there to clean it up.
Later in the game, veteran defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk missed both tackles on back-to-back plays. He hasn’t really stood out in a positive way much so far this summer, which is really hindering his chances at winning a roster spot. Not finishing the tackle is frustrating, too.
He’s there to make the play, but he’s just going for an arm tackle here on the Trubisky scramble, allowing the veteran quarterback to get out of it and try to make a play. Those are plays he has to make at this point in his career. If not, he’s not going to be around much longer.
Late in the game cornerback Kyler McMichael, who was just recently added to the roster, had an egregious miss on the perimeter against the run, leading to big gain from Buffalo running back Darrynton Evans.
McMichael previously had a horse collar penalty earlier in the game, and then whiffed badly in space, not showing much physicality on the boundary here. That’s not going to go over well with the coaching staff.
Though the Steelers had 11 missed tackles defensively in a rather sloppy affair, Pittsburgh did force 13 missed tackles offensively, meaning that they won the missed tackles battle with a mark of +
Total Forced Missed Tackles vs. Bills — 13
Justin Fields – 5
La’Mical Perine – 3
Jaylen Warren – 1
Quez Watkins – 1
Connor Heyward – 1
Najee Harris – 1
Daijun Edwards – 1
Total Forced Missed Tackles Through Two Preseason Games — 24 (12.0 per game)
Justin Fields — 5
La’Mical Perine — 3
Najee Harris – 3
George Pickens – 2
Aaron Shampklin – 2
Jaylen Warren – 2
Daijun Edwards – 2
Calvin Austin III – 1
Kyle Allen – 1
Jaray Jenkins – 1
Connor Heyward — 1
Quez Watkins — 1
Though things were really sloppy offensively, the Steelers’ weapons did do a nice job trying to create something out of nothing often.
Forcing 13 missed tackles from the Bills was rather impressive on Saturday night, considering how bad the offense was.
Veteran wide receiver Quez Watkins did a nice job on an end around in the first half, making a defender miss in space, allowing him to turn the corner for a 6-yard gain. It’s not a huge gain on the scoresheet, but his ability to make that defender miss in space was key.
After a dreadful showing against the Houston Texans in the first preseason matchup, Watkins had a strong week of practice to close training camp and then had a nice moment there, forcing a missed tackle.
Later, tight end Connor Heyward did what he does when he gets an opportunity: make plays.
Nice design here on the misdirection rollout, faking the toss left and bringing Justin Fields on the rollout to his right, getting Heyward on a delayed leak across the formation. Fields hits him in stride and then Heyward shows off his athleticism, hurdling the defender to move the chains.
Football player, through and through.
Finally, Fields capped off the night with a highlight-reel play.
Under pressure again, Fields is somehow able to escape this would-be sack, gets out to his left and throws a dart on the move across his body for a completion to wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick.
This play shows the strength of Fields in the pocket, and his ability to make plays after everything breaks down. That part of his game is incredibly intriguing overall, and this play was a great example of that.
