Coming out of the Week 9 bye week, there was some concern that the Pittsburgh Steelers would be just a bit rusty against the Commanders, particularly in the tackling department.
Getting a week off from a physical sport can lead to some sloppy play, especially early. But to the credit of the Steelers, that wasn’t the case at all.
On Sunday, in the 28-27 win over Washington, the Steelers recorded just five missed tackles, coming up big in the tackles battle throughout the game.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES AT COMMANDERS — 5
Minkah Fitzpatrick – 2
Elandon Roberts – 1
Cameron Heyward – 1
T.J. Watt – 1
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH 10 WEEKS (9 GAMES) — 58 (6.44 PER GAME)
Patrick Queen – 11 (62 tackles on 73 total attempts, 15.1% miss rate)
Donte Jackson — 8 (26 tackles on 34 total attempts, 23.5% miss rate)
Elandon Roberts – 6 (25 tackles on 31 total attempts, 19.4% miss rate)
Payton Wilson — 6 (two on special teams) (40 tackles on 46 total attempts, 13% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 5 (38 tackles on 43 total attempts, 11.6% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 5 (33 tackles on 38 total attempts, 13.1% miss rate)
Keeanu Benton — 4 (17 tackles on 21 total attempts, 19% miss rate)
Minkah Fitzpatrick — 3 (51 tackles on 54 total attempts, 5.5% miss rate)
Beanie Bishop Jr. — 3 (28 tackles on 31 total attempts, 9.6% miss rate)
Nick Herbig — 2 (missed sack) (eight tackles on 10 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Alex Highsmith — 1 (missed sack) (19 tackles on 20 total attempts, 5% miss rate)
Montravius Adams — 1 (eight tackles on nine total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
Isaiahh Loudermilk — 1 (seven tackles on eight total attempts, 12.5% miss rate)
DeShon Elliott — 1 (64 tackles on 65 total attempts, 1.5% miss rate)
Larry Ogunjobi — 1 (25 tackles on 26 total attempts, 3.8% miss rate)
Cameron Heyward — 1 (35 tackles on 36 total attempts, 2.7% miss rate)
Coming out of the bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers were ready to go physically and really tackled well on Sunday against the Washington Commanders.
It was pretty impressive in that aspect of the game.
Against Washington, just four players missed tackles. Though they are all key defensive pieces, the mistakes were largely limited and didn’t result in huge splash plays.
It was a bit discouraging to see star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick missing two tackles, but he played well against Washington for the most part.
His first miss came on one of Commanders’ RB Austin Ekeler’s 1-yard touchdowns.
Not only did Fitzpatrick miss, but so did linebacker Elandon Roberts.
While this one ended up in a touchdown, it wasn’t all that bad, considering it was a 1-yard run. Granted, it should have been a TFL from Fitzpatrick and Roberts. But footing was rough in the first half in Washington, and both Fitzpatrick and Roberts slipped down in a big spot.
This is the type of play that Roberts makes, but he over-pursued and lost his footing. Fitzpatrick did a great job of slipping underneath the pulling lineman, but he lost his footing, too. It happens.
Then, on the first play of the second half, Fitzpatrick missed his second tackle of the game. This one resulted in a huge splash play for the Commanders.
Giving up an easy slant route into the middle of the field isn’t ideal, but it can be corrected quickly after the catch by tackling the receiver to the ground.
The Steelers didn’t do that here. Fitzpatrick gets caught flat-footed by Commanders’ WR Terry McLaurin, which gives the speedy Washington receiver the half step he needs to turn upfield and race past Fitzpatrick, splitting the Steelers’ safety and cornerback Joey Porter Jr.
Fitzpatrick tries to recover by making the tackle in space, but he goes low and ends up grasping at air for the miss. McLaurin took this one 54 yards for the double explosive play, putting the Commanders in business.
Finally, late in the game, star defensive end Cameron Heyward recorded his first missed tackle of the season. That it came on the 11-yard loss by Commanders’ WR Dyami Brown in the fourth quarter makes it a little better, but it’s certainly one Heyward is frustrated by.
This one had no chance from the start, as it was supposed to be a throwback to quarterback Jayden Daniels. But the Steelers blew it up.
Heyward pursues and is in position for the stop, but a speedy receiver against Heyward in space isn’t a great matchup for him, and it resulted in an arm tackle miss for his first of the year.
Overall, the Steelers had a great day in the tackling department. Not only did they miss just five tackles on the road coming out of the bye week, they forced 14 missed tackles offensively, winning the tackles battle with a mark of +9 to move to 8-1 on the season in the battle within the battle. They are rolling in the tackling department right now.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES AT COMMANDERS — 14
Najee Harris – 6
Jaylen Warren – 3
Cordarrelle Patterson – 1
George Pickens – 2
Darnell Washington – 1
Calvin Austin III – 1
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH 10 WEEKS (9 GAMES) — 110 (12.2 PER GAME)
Najee Harris – 47
Justin Fields – 12
Jaylen Warren – 11
Calvin Austin III – 10 (eight on special teams)
Cordarrelle Patterson — 6
George Pickens – 6
Darnell Washington — 5
Pat Freiermuth — 5
Van Jefferson — 4
Scotty Miller — 2
Aaron Shampklin — 2 (one on special teams)
Jonathan Ward — 1
The numbers at the end of the day weren’t all that great for Steelers’ running back Najee Harris, but he was outstanding from a forced missed tackle perspective. He played hard, created things on his own, and really had a strong day when things were stacked against him.
Somehow, Next Gen Stats had Harris down for -32 Rushing Yards Over Expected Sunday, despite Harris having 29 yards after contact and seeing 1.1 average yards per carry before contact. There wasn’t much room there, so it’s unclear how he underperformed.
But those are the numbers.
Still, he ran hard and often made defenders miss, fighting for every yard possible.
Harris has looked more nimble this season and showed off on this run, avoiding one defender as soon as he takes the handoff and then making future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner miss in the hole, leading to a 7-yard gain.
He’s playing some good football right now, even if the Week 10 numbers were a bit ugly.
Then, there’s wide receiver George Pickens.
Pickens had a great game Sunday and created an explosive play thanks to forcing two missed tackles.
Pickens ran through the first tackle attempt here after the catch, absorbed a big hit, stayed on his feet, and ended up picking up 16 more yards on the play, creating the 34-yard catch and run largely on his own.
From a YAC perspective, Pickens has taken his game to another level in the last two seasons, and this was a great example of that.
