With the one-hour, 25-minute delay due to severe weather prior to kickoff between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys affecting the start of the game, it was only fitting that it was a very sloppy game between the two historic rivals.
It was an especially sloppy game for the Steelers. They couldn’t do much of anything offensively, could not find a way to capitalize on all the turnovers and mistakes from the Cowboys, and then couldn’t get the stops necessary defensively late in the game.
On top of all that, the Steelers really struggled in the tackling department, missing 10 of them against the Cowboys, their most in a game this season.
Let’s take a look.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES VS. COWBOYS — 10
Patrick Queen – 2
Keeanu Benton – 2
Joey Porter Jr. – 2
T.J. Watt – 2
Montravius Adams – 1
Donte Jackson – 1
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH FIVE WEEKS (5 GAMES) — 32 (6.4 PER GAME)
Patrick Queen – 7 (30 tackles on 37 total attempts, 19.0% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 4 (17 tackles on 21 total attempts, 19.1% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 4 (20 tackles on 24 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Elandon Roberts – 3 (12 tackles on 15 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Beanie Bishop Jr. — 3 (11 tackles on 14 total attempts, 21.4% miss rate)
Donte Jackson — 3 (17 tackles on 20 total attempts, 15% miss rate)
Payton Wilson — 2 (one on special teams) (20 tackles on 22 total attempts, 9.1% miss rate)
Nick Herbig — 2 (missed sack) (eight tackles on 10 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Keeanu Benton — 2 (10 tackles on 12 total attempts, 16.6% miss rate)
Alex Highsmith — 1 (missed sack) (11 tackles on 12 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
Montravius Adams — 1 (seven tackles on eight total attempts, 12.5% miss rate)
Through the first five games of the season, linebacker Patrick Queen has had a tough time in the tackling department. He’s on pace to tie his career high in missed tackles with 24, something he did just last season.
In four years in Baltimore, Queen missed 82 tackles. It’s who he is. He has great range to get to plays, but he struggles to finish consistently when he gets there. You live with some of the misses, but on Sunday night against the Cowboys when the Steelers needed a big stop the most, they didn’t get it, and it came down to a Queen missed tackle.
Facing a 3rd and 1, the Cowboys decided to keep it on the ground, giving the ball to Ezekiel Elliott. Queen read it perfectly and got to Elliott in the backfield. He just couldn’t finish.
Queen knew what was coming. He bumped the defensive front over to the left and ran the lane perfectly. He just has to finish this play behind the line of scrimmage.
If he does, it might have been a different outcome as it would have forced a 4th and 2 or longer and would have given the Steelers a chance to get off the field and potentially win the game.
Instead, the Cowboys converted the third down and went on to win the game.
Not only did Queen miss two tackles, so did second-year defensive lineman Keeanu Benton.
They were the first two misses of the season for Benton, who was better against the Cowboys than he had been earlier in the season, but still came up small a couple of times.
Really nice job here of looping with Cameron Heyward and getting free, but this is a play that Benton has to finish. It’s the type of play against the run that he struggled to finish at times as a rookie, and it cost him here, too.
He has great athleticism overall and it’s remarkable that Benton can get into position to make these types of plays at his size. The next step is finishing them on a consistent basis.
Finally, on a key third down late in the fourth quarter during the Cowboys’ game-winning drive, cornerback Donte Jackson came up small again in a big spot from a tackling perspective.
A 3rd and 9 turned into a 10-yard gain to tight end Jake Ferguson due to a bad angle and whiff from Jackson, which was a similar play from the previous week against the Colts and wide receiver Josh Downs, who beat Jackson on a similar move after the catch to move the chains.
Jackson just has to be better in these situations. He’s in position to make the play; he just has to make it.
It’s a really tough look having him miss a tackle like this late in a game in back-to-back weeks in similar fashion.
Offensively, the Steelers had a rough day and didn’t force many missed tackles against the Cowboys. In total, the Steelers generated just seven forced missed tackles, meaning they lost the all-important tackles battle within the game by a mark of -3, doing so for the first time this season, falling to 4-1 in the battle within the battle.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES VS. COWBOYS — 7
Najee Harris — 4
Aaron Shampklin – 2 (one on special teams)
Pat Freiermuth – 1
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH FIVE WEEKS (5 GAMES) — 57 (11.4 PER GAME)
Najee Harris – 20
Justin Fields – 9
Calvin Austin III – 8 (seven on special teams)
Cordarrelle Patterson — 5
Pat Freiermuth — 4
Darnell Washington — 2
Scotty Miller — 2
Jaylen Warren – 2
Van Jefferson — 2
George Pickens – 2
Aaron Shampklin — 2 (one on special teams)
On a rather tough day for the Steelers offensively, it was nice to see running back Najee Harris and tight end Pat Freiermuth have decent days, especially in the forced missed tackles department.
Harris had better success on the ground than he did the previous week. He put his head down and took what was there, rarely spending much time behind the line of scrimmage.
He showed some shimmy, too.
It’s not much to get excited over, but that’s a nice stutter from Harris, causing the Cowboys’ defensive back to lunge at air, allowing Harris to cut back inside and get up the field.
It was noticeable throughout the game that he made it an emphasis to just get the ball and go, which is encouraging.
As for Freiermuth, he didn’t get much work in the passing game, but when he had the chance to stretch the field in the middle, he made it worthwhile.
On his 19-yard catch and run on a strike from Kyle Allen, Freiermuth was able to shake free of a tackle attempt at the catch point to pick up some additional yardage and then not going down easily, he took defenders with him.
