The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers were on the field in Week 4, they turned in the best tackling performance I’ve ever charted here at Steelers Depot.
In the Week 4 win over the Minnesota Vikings, the Steelers missed just two tackles, turning in a stellar performance overseas in Ireland. It was a great showing and gave the Steelers some confidence moving forward.
But in AFC North action against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, things were rough from a tackling perspective. The Steelers missed 11 tackles, including nine on defense and two on special teams. Granted, the Browns ran 82 snaps offensively, but the Steelers still took a step back in the tackling department.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES VS. BROWNS — 11
Patrick Queen – 2
Derrick Harmon – 1
Payton Wilson – 1Â
Brandin Echols – 1Â
Darius Slay – 1Â
DeShon Elliott – 1Â
Cole Holcomb – 1Â
Jabrill Peppers – 1Â
Jack Sawyer – 1 (special teams)
Nick Herbig – 1 (special teams)
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH SIX WEEKS (FIVE GAMES) — 41 (8.2 PER GAME)
Patrick Queen — 6 (missed sack) (44 tackles on 50 total attempts, 12% miss rate)
Nick Herbig — 5 (two on special teams) (14 tackles on 19 total attempts, 26.3% miss rate)
Payton Wilson – 4 (one on missed sack) (42 tackles on 46 total attempts, 8.7% miss rate)
Darius Slay – 3 (19 tackles on 22 total attempts, 13.6% miss rate)
Juan Thornhill — 3 (32 tackles on 35 total attempts, 8.6% miss rate)
Yahya Black – 2 (one on missed sack) (seven tackles on nine total attempts, 22.2% miss rate)
Chuck Clark — 2 (25 tackles on 27 total attempts, 7.4% miss rate)
Keeanu Benton — 2 (nine tackles on 11 total attempts, 18.2% miss rate)
Derrick Harmon — 2 (missed sack) (seven tackles on nine total attempts, 22.2% miss rate)
Cole Holcomb — 2 (15 tackles on 17 total attempts, 11.8% miss rate)
Alex Highsmith – 1 (12 tackles on 13 total attempts, 7.7% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 1 (24 tackles on 25 total attempts, 4% miss rate)
Ben Skowronek – 1 (special teams) (six tackles on seven total attempts, 14.3% miss rate)
Miles Killebrew – 1 (special teams) (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Daniel Ekuale — 1 (six tackles on seven total attempts, 14.3% miss rate)
Jalen Ramsey — 1 (24 tackles on 25 total attempts, 4% miss rate)
Brandin Echols — 1 (13 tackles on 14 total attempts, 7.1% miss rate)
Jabrill Peppers — 1 (seven tackles on eight total attempts, 12.5% miss rate)
Jack Sawyer — 1 (special teams) (15 tackles on 16 total attempts, 6.25% miss rate)
The only defensive player to play all 82 snaps Sunday was linebacker Patrick Queen, who had a great game once again. He’s been outstanding the last few weeks, providing the Steelers with a significant physical element at the linebacker position. He continued that on Sunday, but he did miss two tackles.
One of Queen’s missed tackles came on the same play as fellow linebacker Cole Holcomb, and it came against Cleveland rookie RB Quinshon Judkins.
The Steelers do a nice job of bottling up this run, thanks to the initial penetration by outside linebacker Alex Highsmith. Queen then comes over the top, but he’s too high and slips off Judkins, who runs hard.
As Queen goes high and misses, Holcomb is underneath attempting to get to the rookie, but he misses around his legs, too. Fortunately, it was held to a 1-yard gain. Judkins did all that work to gain one yard. Sounds about right for the Browns’ offense on Sunday.
Rookie defensive lineman Derrick Harmon had a strong game against the Browns, too, and has been a huge boost to the run defense. But he did miss a tackle in the win over the Browns.
It came on a short-yardage play in which the Browns went into their own heavy package.
Harmon does a good job working back across the blocker’s face to get into the hole. But he’s unable to finish at the point of attack, sliding off of Judkins, who was able to barrel his way forward to move the chains.
It’s an encouraging rep from the rookie, showing his potential as a run defender moving forward.
Later in the game, veteran cornerback Darius Slay missed a tackle, and unfortunately, it was one on which he injured his shoulder.
It’s a short pass to rookie TE Harold Fannin Jr., and Slay does a nice job closing across the field. But he goes for a shoulder hit, rather than attempting to wrap up and take down the rookie properly, and bounces off the turf.
You can see he was slow to get up and ultimately came off the field with a shoulder injury. Fortunately, he was able to return. But it’s just not good technique from a veteran there.
While the Steelers were a bit sloppy and missed 11 tackles, they were good offensively, forcing 13 misses by the Browns. That means the Steelers remain perfect in the all-important tackles battle within the game, winning by a margin of +2 this week to move to 5-0.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES VS. BROWNS — 13
Jaylen Warren – 4Â
Ke’Shawn Williams – 3 (special teams)
Jonnu Smith – 2Â
Kenneth Gainwell – 2
Kaleb Johnson – 1Â
DK Metcalf – 1
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH SIX WEEKS (FIVE GAMES) — 63 (12.6 PER GAME)
Jaylen Warren – 25
Kenneth Gainwell – 16 (one on special teams)
Jonnu Smith – 7
Kaleb Johnson – 4 (two on special teams)
DK Metcalf – 3
Ke’Shawn Williams — 3 (special teams)
Trey Sermon — 2 (special teams)
Calvin Austin III — 1Â
With Jaylen Warren back in the mix, the Steelers’ offense had a real edge once again. He is such a hard, punishing runner, and he really dished it out on Sunday.
But I want to highlight DK Metcalf here first. Once again, he created yards after catch and had a big one on a quick out.
Metcalf does a nice job of winning within the route quickly and then turns the corner on cornerback Tyson Campbell, forcing a missed tackle in space. As he turns the corner, he’s able to accelerate in the blink of an eye, picking up a gain of 20 yards on the day, turning a simple out route into an explosive play.
That’s what he’s brought to the Steelers’ offense, and it’s been huge so far this season.
