When the Pittsburgh Steelers signed All-Pro linebacker Patrick Queen to a three-year deal in free agency, the expectation was that the Steelers would finally get an answer at the inside linebacker position and an elite-level one to boot.
However, that hasn’t exactly been the case through the first four games of the season.
In fact, there have been more concerning reps and performances from Queen than eye-opening plays. That’s not what the Steelers had in mind.
That continued on Sunday inside Lucas Oil Stadium against the Indianapolis Colts. Queen had plenty of struggles, particularly against the run, as the Colts ran right at him often and had success.
Against the Colts, Queen played 66 snaps and graded out at a 40.4 overall from Pro Football Focus, including a 30.0 run defense and a 29.8 as a tackler. For the second week in a row, Queen generated a pressure as a blitzer, but the tape is rather concerning.
Let’s take a look.
Things did not start well for Patrick Queen on the afternoon. Coming into the matchup, the Colts were expected to take advantage of Anthony Richardson’s legs on designed runs.
Early on, it didn’t seem like the Steelers were prepared for it, especially Queen on this rep.
He doesn’t read it well and is struggling to find the football. Before he knows it, Richardson is running past him through a wide-open lane. It doesn’t help that Nick Herbig sells out against the ball fake to Jonathan Taylor, too, making for an easy pull for Richardson.
If Herbig is going to sell out like that, he is expecting help behind him to cover. Nobody is there.
Then, to make matters worse on the play, DeShon Elliott forced the fumble, and the ball was right at Queen’s feet. The Steelers didn’t recover it.
One issue that was always present during his time in college and with the Baltimore Ravens early in his career was the struggle to shed blocks against the run.
Patrick Queen is an athletic linebacker who thrives on playing fast, slipping around blocks, and making plays at break-neck speed. When he’s not doing that, he’s pretty ineffective against the run.
That was the case against the Colts.
He’s hesitant trying to find the football, and that gives the Colts’ right guard, Will Fries, plenty of time to climb to him and get a hat on him, opening a lane.
Queen eventually gets off the block, but by that point, he’s on his heels and not playing with any power, which leads to a missed tackle.
Similar rep a few plays later, this time on a QB draw with Richardson.
Patrick Queen seemed hesitant and didn’t play like he was trusting his eyes. On film, it felt like he was taking a while to process and was thinking rather than playing freely. After the game, he admitted that the communication issues were on him, so maybe that’s leading to some processing issues.
He just didn’t attack downhill. Instead, he waited and played back on his heels, allowing linemen to climb to him and negating him against the run.
It was a sign of things to come in the first half for Queen.
He has to ensure he has gap integrity here and defend against a possible cutback from Taylor on the outside zone run. But this is just an ugly rep I highlighted earlier in the week in the missed tackles report.
Once he sees Taylor get up into the hole, Queen doesn’t have that burst to cover ground and play with violence in the hole. He takes a bad angle and is too high in his tackle attempt, leading to a miss.
That was the most concerning rep Queen has put on tape through the first four weeks.
To cap off an ugly first half, Queen was buried on a run rep by Colts’ TE Kylen Granson, who is more athlete than blocker at the TE position.
Once again, Patrick Queen is too hesitant here and doesn’t play with the physicality he’s had throughout his career, including last week against the Los Angeles Chargers.
He’s not reading things quickly, not attacking downhill, and struggling to get off the blocks. It’s never good to see your prized linebacker getting put on his back on a run rep against a tight end, even if he’s trying to make a play on the running back in the process.
Fortunately for Queen, he cleaned it up in the second half and was more impactful.
Notice he’s moving downhill on the rep at the snap, anticipating the run. He’s more aggressive here, too, and that allows him to get his head back outside of the blocker on the play, slip around, and make a sound tackle.
Queen also brought some violence to the hit, making sure to strike and drive through Taylor for the quick run stop.
It was a welcome sign, that’s for sure.
A few plays later, Patrick Queen had a key pressure on Colts’ QB Joe Flacco.
It was a real positive sign that he was able to process quickly and then trigger downhill to blitz Flacco through the open gap and get heat on him quickly.
He finished the game well overall, which was encouraging.
But missing two tackles in the game, struggling with physicality early on, and just not seeming all that aggressive right from the jump is concerning. Maybe he’s thinking too much on the field, which could be something he’s struggling with dealing with the green dot and the communication.
Whatever it truly is, he has to figure it out quickly.
It’s not time to panic just yet or write the Patrick Queen acquisition off as a wasted move, but things aren’t trending in the right direction right now for Queen. He’s not playing all that well, and Sunday was a microcosm of that.
