Those who take issue with Pro Football Focus’ grading might have some thoughts about how it graded the Pittsburgh Steelers’ top offensive performances in Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys. While EDGE rushers Nick Herbig and T.J. Watt were the highest-graded players on the team, RB Najee Harris and LG Isaac Seumalo took the top spots on the other side of the ball.
PFF tweeted the top-five Steelers featuring DL Cam Heyward in third place with Harris and Seumalo behind.
There’s a clear drop-off from the top three to Harris and Seumalo in fourth and fifth place but their inclusions are still notable. Harris’ box score didn’t look pretty, averaging only 3.0 yards with a “long” of six yards on 14 carries. He offered more in the passing game, leading the team with 35 yards and highlighted by a 20-yard screen midway through the game.
While Harris’ numbers were ugly and he struggled to break past the second level, he did churn out hard yards and moved the sticks. His running lanes were only marginally better compared to last week and he played with more power and finish to push the pile forward.
Seumalo’s ugliest moment came after getting rolled by Cowboys DL Linval Joseph on a sack/fumble that Pittsburgh was fortunate to recover.
We’ll have to double-check the All-22 to see if he stepped on a teammate’s foot or if he truly was reverse pancaked, making for an incredibly ugly rep. Sunday was Seumalo’s first game back after missing the first month of the season due to a strained pectoral and he probably had some rust to knock off. But PFF evidently liked the rest of his game to make up for that costly above rep.
Elsewhere, PFF gave QB Justin Fields his worst grade of the season with a 59.1 overall figure, 18th out of the 27 qualifying quarterbacks heading into Monday night. His passing grade was a touch worse, ranking 20th.
Across the offensive line, Seumalo and C Zach Frazier were top-30 offensive linemen over the weekend. The worst-graded lineman was OT Broderick Jones, 127th out of 140 qualifying lineman heading into the Week 5 finale between the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs.
Defensively, CB Joey Porter Jr. had a top-15 grade and made a splash play with an interception. Rookie Beanie Bishop Jr. had a dreadful night and is currently 78th out of 85 qualifying cornerbacks while Donte Jackson didn’t fare much better at 70th despite intercepting a pass.
