As the No. 3 outside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, second-year pro Nick Herbig often comes off the bench and gives the likes of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith a much-needed breather throughout games, serving as a solid rotational defender for the Black and Gold.
On Sunday, though, his role changed due to the groin injury to Highsmith, which knocked him from the game. Herbig responded by playing 19 snaps for the Steelers defensively and making quite an impact.
Herbig had 3 tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble, wrecking the game for the Steelers’ defense in the process. After an outstanding preseason, Herbig continues to be quite the piece for the Steelers coming off the bench.
Sunday’s performance was another example of that. Let’s dive into the film and take a look at Herbig’s big day.
Herbig will get a ton of credit for his pass rush abilities and the production he had in that department on Sunday against the Chargers, but against the run, Herbig had a solid day, too.
Here against the run, Herbig shows off his motor. He gets too far upfield initially and gets blocked out of the play. But he doesn’t give up.
Great job of staying on his feet and fighting to get back into the play. He then tracks down J.K. Dobbins to clean up the run play for the tackle. Good display of overall team defense as others bottled up Dobbins and Herbig was able to get back in on the play.
As an outsider linebacker in Pittsburgh, you’re going to have to play in space at times, buzzed out in the slot. Herbig had to do that a few times in the second half on Sunday and handled himself well.
Nice job here of having the awareness to get his head back outside on the run play to keep outside contain, and then he shows off the explosiveness and the want-to to get his face into the file and get in on the tackle.
As T.J. Watt said after the game, he’s relentless and plays with a ton of swag and confidence.
Then, there’s the pass rushing ability.
On the final play of the first half, Herbig went up against backup left tackle Trey Pipkins III and hit him with a quick swipe, getting hands on Pipkins’ chest and then knocking his outside hand down, allowing him to turn the corner with ease to get after Justin Herbert.
Though he didn’t finish the sack, that rep set up Herbig to win that way again later in the game on Pipkins.
But first, he had to beat starter Rashawn Slater.
Backed up deep in their own end, the Chargers wanted to come out throwing the ball to get some breathing room. The Chargers motioned TE Will Dissly over to help chip on Watt, which left Herbig on an island against Slater, who had a heavy wrap on his left arm/shoulder, limiting his outside arm.
Herbig took advantage of it with the speed rush, racing around the corner to strip-sack Herbert.
Slater had no shot with the upper body injury, failing to get a hand on Herbig, who hit the punch perfectly to Slater’s chest and then dipped underneath to hit the speed rush.
Shortly after that, Slater exited the game for good, setting up a matchup with Pipkins.
Recalling what worked late in the first half, Herbig went back to the same bag of tricks, this time finishing the sack on backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
Notice the little head fake at the top of the rush, faking like he’s going inside, but then throwing the inside arm to the chest and dipping underneath Pipkins’ punch to win.
Huge sack, and another example of just how good Herbig is rushing the passer with his athleticism he brings to the table. He’s shot out of a cannon and can’t really be blocked when he can pin his ears back.
On the day, Herbig graded out at a 95.5 overall from Pro Football Focus on just 19 snaps. That includes a 74.7 against the run and a 95.4 as a pass rusher. In just 8 pass rush reps on the afternoon, Herbig generated 3 pressures and 2 sacks.
That’s efficient.
We’ll see how much time — if any — Highsmith misses. While that will be a big blow to the Steelers, having a player like Herbig in the fold ready to go and producing like this when on the field will help soften that blow just a bit.
