There’s just something about playing the Cleveland Browns that brings out the worst in the Pittsburgh Steelers, particularly in the tackling department.
On Sunday in Week 14 at Acrisure Stadium that was the case as the Steelers missed a season-high 12 tackles. Fortunately, the Steelers came out on top in the game, 27-14, despite the issues tackling.
It wasn’t just a couple of players, either. Ten players missed at least one tackle while one player had multiple misses. It’s time for this week’s missed tackles report.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES VS. BROWNS — 12
Patrick Queen – 2
Beanie Bishop Jr. – 1
Nick Herbig – 1
Keeanu Benton – 1
Joey Porter Jr. – 1
Isaiahh Loudermilk – 1
Cameron Heyward – 1
Connor Heyward – 1 (special teams)
Payton Wilson – 1 (special teams)
Ben Skowronek – 1 (special teams)
Tyler Matakevich – 1 (special teams)
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH 14 WEEKS (13 GAMES) — 87 (6.69 PER GAME)
Patrick Queen – 15 (98 tackles on 113 total attempts, 13.3% miss rate)
Donte Jackson — 10 (31 tackles on 41 total attempts, 24.4% miss rate)
Nick Herbig — 8 (missed sack) (17 tackles on 25 total attempts, 32% miss rate)
Elandon Roberts – 8 (35 tackles on 43 total attempts, 18.6% miss rate)
Payton Wilson — 7 (three on special teams) (55 tackles on 62 total attempts, 11.3% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. – 6 (56 tackles on 62 total attempts, 9.7% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 5 (47 tackles on 52 total attempts, 9.6% miss rate)
Minkah Fitzpatrick — 5 (72 tackles on 77 total attempts, 6.5% miss rate)
Keeanu Benton — 5 (23 tackles on 28 total attempts, 17.9% miss rate)
Larry Ogunjobi — 4 (37 tackles on 41 total attempts, 9.8% miss rate)
Beanie Bishop Jr. — 4 (42 tackles on 46 total attempts, 8.7% miss rate)
Isaiahh Loudermilk — 3 (one on special teams) (10 tackles on 13 total attempts, 23.1% miss rate)
Cameron Heyward — 3 (55 tackles on 58 total attempts, 5.2% miss rate)
Cameron Sutton — 2 (five tackles on seven total attempts, 28.6% miss rate)
Preston Smith — 2 (eight tackles on 10 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Alex Highsmith — 1 (missed sack) (22 tackles on 23 total attempts, 4.3% miss rate)
Montravius Adams — 1 (eight tackles on nine total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
DeShon Elliott — 1 (96 tackles on 97 total attempts, 1.0% miss rate)
Connor Heyward — 1 (special teams) (six tackles on seven total attempts, 14.3% miss rate)
Tyler Matakevich — 1 (special teams) (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Ben Skowronek — 1 (special teams) (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
While he made quite a few plays against the Browns, flying around, making 10 tackles and breaking up a pass in coverage, Patrick Queen continues to miss tackles at a pretty frustrating rate.
That was the case on Sunday, though his missed tackles came on the same play. No, seriously. Queen missed two tackles on the same play, leading to a 7-yard gain for Browns RB Jerome Ford.
Pretty brutal from Queen there. He goes high on the first tackle attempt, and Ford isn’t the type of running back to go high on.
That leads to Ford shaking him off. Credit to Queen for recovering nicely, leading him to then going low for the ankles to try to wrap and roll. Problem is, Queen misses entirely, allowing Ford to get the corner and add some yardage before Isaiahh Loudermilk comes in to clean things up.
Beanie Bishop Jr. played 58 snaps on Sunday compared to just 13 for Cameron Sutton one week after there was seemingly a pecking-order shift in the slot. Bishop played well but did miss a tackle that allowed the Browns to pick up a first down.
He does well to get into phase here after the short completion to Browns WR Mike Woods, but he doesn’t finish the play.
Bishop takes a stiff-arm to the chest and flails at air as Woods tiptoes down the sideline for a few additional yards and a first down. This has typically been a play that Bishop makes, but he just missed here in space.
Finally, the Steelers’ kick coverage unit was a mess on Sunday. Pittsburgh allowed Ford to rip off a 56-yard return to open the second half, in large part due to three missed tackles.
Payton Wilson has the first miss, flying in out of control and going for an arm tackle attempt that had no shot. After that, Tyler Matakevich misses in space, flailing at Ford’s legs as he runs by.
Ben Skowronek has the best shot at getting Ford on the ground after wrapping him up from behind. But he’s unable to finish the play as Ford gets free and continues running. Chris Boswell does his best to slow Ford down, attempting a slide tackle on the returner, which allows James Pierre to track back and make the stop.
On the day, the Steelers struggled in the tackling department and dropped their second game within the game in the tackling department on the season. The Steelers forced just nine missed tackles, losing the game within the game by a mark of -3, dropping to 11-2 on the season.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES VS. BROWNS — 9
Jaylen Warren – 4
Najee Harris – 4
MyCole Pruitt – 1
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH 14 WEEKS (13 GAMES) — 160 (12.31 PER GAME)
Najee Harris – 69
Jaylen Warren – 25
Justin Fields – 12
George Pickens – 11
Calvin Austin III – 10 (eight on special teams)
Cordarrelle Patterson — 9
Darnell Washington — 6
Pat Freiermuth — 6
Van Jefferson — 4
Russell Wilson — 3
Scotty Miller — 2
Aaron Shampklin — 2 (one on special teams)
Jonathan Ward — 1
MyCole Pruitt — 1
Over the last few weeks, Najee Harris has been the story for the Steelers when it comes to forced missed tackles. Last week alone, Harris forced nine missed tackles against the Bengals.
This week Jaylen Warren was the story for the Steelers.
In a game where the Browns were very aggressive downhill defending the run, Warren’s quickness was a key counter to Cleveland’s defense. Warren had the most success on the ground in the game, running hard and taking it to the Browns.
Nice initial blocks by Isaac Seumalo and Mason McCormick to give Warren a crease here and watch what the bowling ball with legs does after that.
He runs through two tackle attempts and then drags a third for additional yardage before going down. It went down as a 12-yard gain in the box score, but it was a tone-setting run for Warren, who took off after that.
Again, good block from McCormick to create a lane and Warren does the rest. He runs through a tackle attempt from Browns safety Juan Thornhill, chewing up yardage in the process.
He finishes the run in style, barreling through Denzel Ward, dragging the Browns CB a few extra yards to cap the 14-yard run.
