With Cory Trice Jr. on IR and Cam Sutton back in action for Week 10, many assumed that Sutton would be the top backup at just about every position in the secondary. That didn’t end up being the case in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 28-27 win over the Washington Commanders. James Pierre ended up stepping in at outside corner once Donte Jackson went down with a hamstring injury late in the game.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was asked about Pierre stepping up against the Commanders.
“JP has been here,” Austin said Thursday via a transcript provided by the team. “He’s garnered more reps outside right now, and so we felt more comfortable with him being the guy playing outside at that particular time.”
For whatever reason, the Steelers failed to list Sutton on their official depth chart ahead of Week 10. He is on there this week, listed as the top backup at both free safety and slot corner.
Sutton played 19 total snaps on defense last Sunday, including 14 in the slot. He had just one snap at outside corner. That is obviously a fraction of the 13 snaps that James Pierre played at outside corner.
Pierre is best remembered in that game for dropping the fake punt, but he bounced back and had a crucial play in coverage on 3rd and 9 during the Commanders’ last drive in the fourth quarter.
Some would maybe argue that it was borderline defensive pass interference, but Pierre was making an attempt to look back for the ball and ultimately did not draw a flag.
Sutton played all over the secondary but didn’t exactly have his best showing. Pro Football Focus gave Sutton an abysmal 27.4 overall grade on defense, including a 27.9 in coverage.
“I think it wasn’t probably as clean as he would like in terms of getting everything done,” Austin said. “But it’s like anything. You get your first live action against a really good offensive team. But I thought, as the game wore on and [with] the things we asked him to do, he was better. We put him in some stressful situations, there’s no doubt.”
Sutton hasn’t played very much football since late January and didn’t exactly have a great offseason with legal issues that resulted in his release by the Detroit Lions.
The Steelers also didn’t play him very much in the preseason or at training camp because they knew they had to get through eight games without him due to his suspension. He can reasonably be expected to improve throughout the final stretch of the season.
