Another week, and another Pittsburgh Steelers rookie who set a career-best performance. This time it was OG Mason McCormick, who had a very impressive performance in both the run and pass game.
As always, we are going to take a look at the previous week rookie performances including snap counts, PFF grades, and a clip or two of their play to analyze. This time, for the 44-38 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Week 13 – At Cincinnati Bengals
C Zach Frazier
Snaps: 69 on offense (100 percent), 0 on special teams
PFF Grades: 68.2 overall, 84.2 pass block, 68.6 run block
Frazier had one of his worst games last week against the Browns, but bounced back against the Bengals. It wasn’t perfect, but he was good in pass protection and showed his normal finish in the run game. He plays to the whistle every play. No different here.
ILB Payton Wilson
Snaps: 35 on defense (56 percent), 17 on special teams
PFF Grades: 81.5 overall, 55.4 run defense, 76.6 coverage, 75.9 tackling, 77.3 pass rush
Wilson is back to playing a healthy share of the snaps on defense. His role was shrinking for a couple weeks, but now he is back to logging nearly the most of his career with a healthy 56 percent of the total defensive snaps. He also plays a lot of special teams. According to PFF, he has had four straight games with very strong grades. This was the second-best of his career.
He does a nice job here getting out to the running back on the swing route. He’s had issues with coming in too fast and overrunning the play, but he comes in under control here and forces Chase Brown to the sideline for a gain of just four yards.
OG Mason McCormick
Snaps: 69 on offense (100 percent), 9 on special teams
PFF Grades: 79.6 overall, 79.2 pass block, 75.7 run block
McCormick has done such a good job of correcting his mistakes this season, both on the large scale of the whole season and throughout the course of individual games. Mike Tomlin issued a challenge last week, and McCormick responded. For a full film breakdown, you can view my Thursday post.
This was maybe my favorite rep of the day where he helps Broderick Jones to blow the defensive tackle off the line before peeling off and picking up the linebacker in the A gap. It would have been a tackle for loss, but McCormick made it a seven-yard gain.
CB Beanie Bishop Jr.
Snaps: 6 on defense (10 percent), 14 on special teams
PFF Grades: 68.1 overall, 68.0 coverage, 79.4 tackling
Bishop played a career-low snap count after trending down the week prior against the Browns, too. All six of the snaps were in coverage, but he still managed to make a tackle. Mike Tomlin explained why Cam Sutton flipped Bishop in snaps, but said he will be a big part of what they do moving forward.
He comes down hill here to tackle the catch on Ja’Marr Chase.
