Things were ugly defensively against the Indianapolis Colts for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their 27-24 loss. The Steelers largely had no answers for the Colts’ offense and couldn’t get timely stops.
It didn’t help that the defense struggled in the tackling department in key spots.
The Steelers tied their season-high in missed tackles Sunday with seven, matching their season-opening performance on the road against the Atlanta Falcons.
A bunch of familiar faces missed key tackles on Sunday, too.
It’s time for the Week 4 missed tackles report from Steelers at Colts.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES AT COLTS — 7
Patrick Queen – 2
Nick Herbig – 1
T.J. Watt – 1
Joey Porter Jr. – 1
Donte Jackson – 1
Beanie Bishop Jr. – 1
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH FOUR WEEKS (4 GAMES) — 22 (5.5 PER GAME)
Patrick Queen – 5 (21 tackles on 26 total attempts, 19.2% miss rate)
Elandon Roberts – 3 (nine tackles on 12 total attempts, 25% miss rate)
Beanie Bishop Jr. — 3 (eight tackles on 11 total attempts, 27.3% miss rate)
Payton Wilson — 2 (one on special teams) (11 tackles on 13 total attempts, 15.4% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 2 (13 tackles on 15 total attempts, 13.3% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 2 (12 tackles on 14 total attempts, 14.3% miss rate)
Nick Herbig — 2 (missed sack) (six tackles on eight total attempts, 25% miss rate)
Donte Jackson — 2 (13 tackles on 15 total attempts, 13.3% miss rate)
Alex Highsmith — 1 (missed sack) (11 tackles on 12 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
For the second time this season, Patrick Queen missed multiple tackles in a game, a rather concerning trend for him.
That tape hasn’t been good (more on that later in the week), and when Queen’s getting to the spot to make a play, he’s not finishing through the tackle. It’s concerning, without a doubt. But it’s not truly a time to panic. This is who he’s always been.
Prior to joining the Steelers, Queen missed 82 tackles in four seasons with the Ravens. He’s not off to a great start so far in Pittsburgh.
Queen just had a rough game, period. He wasn’t as aggressive working downhill as he usually is and appeared hesitant at times. He lacked physicality in key spots, too.
This rep in the first half was a microcosm of Queen’s issues on the afternoon.
He’s a tad slow to scrap over. Though he does what he’s taught correctly by holding his gap to cut down on any sort of cutback, he just doesn’t appear to be playing with much urgency here and then doesn’t have great technique at the point of contact.
That allows Colts running back Jonathan Taylor to run right through his tackle attempt.
Just to put a bow on top of a bad defensive performance, veteran cornerback Donte Jackson had a big missed tackle on a crucial third down in the fourth quarter, missing in the flat and allowing the Colts to convert and continue to drain the clock, leading to a late field goal.
Jackson has been pretty solid as a tackler early in the season. He’s made some clutch open-field tackles, so this was a situation in which he was expected to produce.
Instead, he failed to use the sideline as an extra defender and allowed Colts wide receiver Josh Downs to get back inside and get past the first down marker.
It was a really tough miss in a big spot from a guy who’s been steady so far. Ultimately, that ended up being the difference late, and that’s a tough pill to swallow.
Offensively, the Steelers got off to a slow start and didn’t have much success in the run game, but they made a bunch of plays in the passing game and put up 24 points. In the process, the Steelers forced the Colts to miss 12 tackles, winning the tackles battle for the fourth straight week to open the season. With the +5 margin in the tackle department, the Steelers move to 4-0 in the all-important game within the game in that tackles battle.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES AT COLTS — 12
Pat Freiermuth – 3
Najee Harris – 3
Darnell Washington – 2
Justin Fields – 2
George Pickens – 1
Cordarrelle Patterson – 1
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH FOUR WEEKS (4 GAMES) — 50 (12.5 PER GAME)
Najee Harris – 16
Justin Fields – 9
Calvin Austin III – 8 (seven on special teams)
Cordarrelle Patterson — 5
Pat Freiermuth — 3
Darnell Washington — 2
Scotty Miller — 2
Jaylen Warren – 2
Van Jefferson — 2
George Pickens – 2
Second-year tight end Darnell Washington stole the show on Sunday in the forced missed tackles department for the Steelers.
On his 20-yard catch and run in the first half in the flat off to the right, Washington showed off his strength by throwing Colts linebacker E.J. Speed to the turf, and then hurdling Colts safety Nick Cross down the right sideline to put an exclamation point on the 20-yard gain.
A man that size shouldn’t be able to do stuff like that, but Washington did it on Sunday and dropped some jaws.
What an absurd athletic feat from a man that size.
Late in the game, Najee Harris showed that he is still a powerful running back, even if the success on the ground wasn’t quite there. He made a big play in space on a screen, rumbling 32 yards.
Harris beat an angle initially and then capped the catch and run with force, bowling over Cross late in the rep to dish out some punishment.
That’s who he is as a running back. Any comment otherwise is silly.
