They had two wait two extra weeks to see him in action, but Pittsburgh Steelers first-round DT Derrick Harmon finally made his regular season debut against the New England Patriots after a preseason knee injury. They kept him on a limited snap count, but he flashed when he was on the field and even notched his first NFL sack.
Mike Tomlin summed up his play after the game.
“I was appreciative of his efforts. Excited for him,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube. “He’s a competitor. He wanted to be out there with his teammates. I thought he represented himself well today, and so it’s just upwards and onwards from here.”
Harmon officially finished the day with two tackles, including a sack and a tackle for loss. He also had a quarterback hit and another near sack as he tried to chase down Drake Maye in the open field. He got one finger on him but wasn’t able to bring him down as Maye scrambled for a gain.
Here is a clip of his sack. They initially split the sack with Cam Heyward, but ended up correcting that to a full sack for Harmon later in the game after further review.
With his first regular season action now out of the way, it won’t be long before the Steelers start ramping up his snaps. He’s been listed as a starter since the initial depth chart, so that is their intention moving forward.
The defense still struggled today, but the defensive line was less to blame for those struggles with the secondary and the inside linebackers getting shredded in the passing game all day. The Patriots ended the day with 29 carries for 119 yards. That’s more than the Steelers would like, but not too bad when considering the Patriots possessed the ball for most of the game.
Derrick Harmon was the Steelers’ offseason answer to their defensive line issues from 2024. Today was a step in the right direction for the unit.
