The Pittsburgh Steelers won their season opener, but it wasn’t all pretty. Amidst their chaotic win, Pittsburgh lost one of their key defenders, DeShon Elliott, to an injury. It’s not a major one, but it will keep him out a couple weeks. To compensate, the Steelers went out and signed Jabrill Peppers in his place.
Being so new to the organization, Peppers may not play an ton against the Seattle Seahawks come Sunday. When he is on the field, Cam Heyward hopes he can help make a difference.
“Peppers, got to see him when he was with New England, when he was with Cleveland,” Heyward said, speaking to the media on Thursday via Steelers.com. “I just think he plays fast, he plays downhill. We gotta be a lot better with him.”
If there’s one thing this defense wants to do, it’s play aggressively. Fortunately, that’s the exact type of game Jabrill Peppers brings. He’s an aggressive tackler that plays like a linebacker, and isn’t scared to fly downhill. Especially considering he’s replacing DeShon Elliott, Peppers should immediately fit this unit with his play style.
He only played six games with the Patriots last year, but he excelled as a run stopper. Jabrill Peppers had 40 tackles, with two resulting in a loss. Peppers missed only two tackles during that span, just 4.8-percent of his attempts. Anytime you can post a season with the same amount of missed tackles as tackles for a loss, you’re doing something right.
Peppers was good against the pass, too. He allowed a 57.1-percent completion rate and a 51.2 passer rating when targeted. However, that’s not really the name of his game, and it’s not why the Steelers brought him to town. During his seven years, Peppers has allowed a passer rating over 100 when targeted three times.
He’s joining a populated secondary, and will compete alongside Chuck Clark and Juan Thornhill for playing time in Elliott’s absence. The Steelers, though, badly need his help against the run. The Jets gashed them all Sunday long, so they’ll take any help they can get at this point, including from Peppers.
He’s starting his season late, and has only been in Pittsburgh for a few days. Thus, Jabrill Peppers probably won’t make a massive impact this week. However, he’s certainly a good run defender to have on a team that can’t seem to stop it.
