The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped a third-consecutive game, capping their three-game, 11-day gauntlet with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. There have been four Steelers rookies to track in this report for the last several weeks, but CB Beanie Bishop Jr. didn’t receive a single defensive snap last Wednesday. It was an unexpected twist in things as Cam Sutton played a majority of the slot snaps. Sutton struggled in coverage, so I don’t think we will be seeing that type of snap breakdown again.
As always, we will break down the rookie performances including snap counts, Pro Football Focus grades, and clips of their play. It will be a lighter report this week with just three players to track.
Week 17 – Vs. Kansas City Chiefs
C Zach Frazier
Snaps: 75 on offense (100 percent), 0 on special teams
PFF Grades: 74.6 overall, 70.0 pass block, 81.3 run block
Frazier bounced back with probably his best performance since returning from an ankle injury following the Steelers’ bye week. The offensive line as a whole allowed a lot of sacks and pressures, but Russell Wilson put himself in some of those bad situations and the rest of the pressure was allowed by the tackles. Frazier didn’t allow a single pressure. Some of this is because he got a break and didn’t have to deal with five-time Pro Bowler Chris Jones due to an injury, but he handled what he was given.
Frazier helped create one of the few explosive plays on offense by widening the hole that Jaylen Warren ran through. They weren’t highlight-reel blocks by any means, but he helped LG Isaac Seumalo widen the gap and then turned around to help seal off the inside to create a 22-yard run.
ILB Payton Wilson
Snaps: 29 on defense (47 percent), 18 on special teams
PFF Grades: 49.8 overall, 61.6 run defense, 52.3 coverage, 40.7 tackling, 50.2 pass rush
The communication issues affected the entire defense and Wilson was, at times, out of position due to some of the communication errors. He ended up playing a larger share of the snaps than normal with nearly 50 percent. PFF dinged him for one missed tackle, which makes three weeks in a row with at least one missed tackle. He was previously doing pretty well as a tackler. Wilson also allowed five receptions on five targets for 52 yards, including a 21-yard long (which included his missed tackle). The Steelers actually used Wilson as a blitzer way more than normal with six of his 29 snaps rushing the passer. They got little to no value out of that.
This won’t go down as a missed tackle, but it probably should. I am not sure what Wilson was seeing, but he ran past the play and gave Travis Kelce an opportunity to find space. Thankfully Cory Trice Jr. saved the play, but it could have been a big problem had Kelce found the sideline with room to run.
OG Mason McCormick
Snaps: 75 on offense (100 percent), 2 on special teams
PFF Grades: 69.6 overall, 74.6 pass block, 64.3 run block
Like Frazier, McCormick had a nice bounce-back game against the Chiefs. It wasn’t perfect, but he did much better as a pass blocker than in his abysmal performance against the Baltimore Ravens the week prior. This was his highest PFF grade since Week 13 after a few tough performances. The outlet only had him surrendering one pressure on 49 pass-blocking snaps.
McCormick gave up a little ground on this rep but ended up being able to anchor. Russell Wilson felt pressure and bailed out of the pocket before getting sacked by Broderick Jones’ guy from the back side.
CB Beanie Bishop Jr.
Snaps: 0 on defense (0 percent), 12 on special teams
