With Alex Highsmith out with an injury and Nick Herbig returning from a hamstring issue that held him out for a few games, many thought that trade-deadline acquisition Preston Smith would be playing the bulk of the OLB snaps opposite T.J. Watt. Herbig ended up playing 50 snaps on defense compared to Smith’s 17.
Mike Tomlin explained why the division of labor ended up working out that way against the Baltimore Ravens.
“We were getting off the field,” Tomlin said in his Monday press conference on the Steelers’ YouTube. “We were possessing the ball some on offense. There wasn’t as many defensive snaps to go around. Herbig’s conditioning or lack thereof wasn’t as compromised because of those things and it made the divvying of the reps a less significant discussion to be quite honest with you.”
Herbig missed four games, and I can’t imagine he was able to run much to stay in great shape over the last month while he was resting and rehabbing the hamstring injury. The flow of the game played a large role in keeping him on the field, and he was proving drive after drive that he could be highly effective in the work that he was receiving.
The Steelers won the time of possession battle in a landslide with 36:22 for the Steelers and 23:38 for the Ravens. There were only 61 total snaps to go around on defense and Herbig played 50 of them. The Ravens only had one drive that was 10 or more plays. Their average drive was just 4.7 plays long, so there weren’t many times throughout the game where conditioning would have been an issue for the defense.
Herbig ended the game with two total tackles, four pressures, one QB hit, and a critical forced fumble at the beginning of the game on Derrick Henry. Smith had one total tackle.
Tomlin spoke in more general terms about the involvement of both trade-deadline acquisitions, Preston Smith and Mike Williams.
“I think every day is an opportunity to do that,” Tomlin said. “There’s a cumulative component to their involvement that has nothing to do with this week. We’re just building upon days that we’ve already laid out. And so I’m excited about continuing to get to know them more and how they might be able to help us and infusing them more into what it is that we do.”
This upcoming game against the Cleveland Browns might test the defense in a slightly different way. Even in a blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, the Browns managed to be roughly even in time of possession. They managed to put together three drives of 10 or more plays. If that is the case, then maybe we see Smith get a few additional snaps to spell Herbig. Two games in five days is a tough task for any player, let alone one that just returned after a month of sitting out with an injury.
