Each week, the Post-Gazette will recap the most interesting Steelers grades released by Pro Football Focus, the scouting website that evaluates players’ performance on every play of every game. You can read more about the methodology here. For context, players are graded on a 0-100 scale.
Minkah Fitzpatrick (29.1)
Lost in the excitement of the Steelers’ season-opening win at Buffalo was a pretty poor review for the All-Pro safety. His 38.5 grade for the afternoon was almost as bad as Ben Roethlisberger’s headline-grabbing mark.
On Sunday against Last Vegas, he was even worse. Scouts were particularly harsh on his work in coverage, giving him a 29.6 grade in that area. And that might have been kind. Officially, PFF observed that he was targeted three times, yielding three receptions for 47 yards. Unofficially, he shares responsibility with cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon for Henry Ruggs III’s 61-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that more or less put the game out of reach. That kind of catastrophic failure would be bad enough on its own. Instead, scouts see it as merely one chapter in an ugly overall start.
Just two safeties in the entire league currently have worse overall grades. With the defense navigating numerous injuries, Fitzpatrick simply has to be better — and soon.
Coverage (33.2)
Lest Fitzpatrick shoulder all of the secondary’s blame here, it should be noted that he was far from alone in his foibles. The unit’s overall mark in coverage was by far the worst on the team. Yes, worse than the offensive line’s pass-blocking grade (63.4) while giving up 10 quarterback hits. And worse than the rushing attack’s grade (57.6) while generating just 39 yards on 14 carries.
Of the defense’s 18 graded players Sunday, defensive backs accounted for the six worst reviews. Fitzpatrick was the worst, but none of Witherspoon, Cam Sutton, James Pierre, Tre Norwood or Justin Layne received a coverage mark better than 50.5 or an overall mark better than 52.3. They stank out loud.
The secondary’s only redemption came in the form of safety Terrell Edmunds. His 69.3 grade was fourth-best on the defense, and his 62.4 grade in coverage saved his teammates from an even uglier fate.
Ben Roethlisberger (73.8)
The quarterback gave himself harsh postgame reviews, setting the tone for outside analysis that he needed to be better. The scouts didn’t quite see it that way, though. Instead, they gave him credit for two big-time throws and faulted his receivers for two drops — a major bugaboo for the position group a year ago.
There was also room for improvement, as PFF listed three of his throws as turnover-worthy. That contributed to a No. 14 ranking among NFL quarterbacks this week. But that’s about where Roethlisberger was for most of last season, when the team got off to an 11-0 start.
Translation: Roethlisberger was far from the primary problem Sunday. He was good enough to win when many of his teammates were not — at least in the scouts’ eyes.
Run defense (80.7)
This was the team’s best grade of the day despite losing Tyson Alualu to a fractured ankle in the first quarter and linebacker T.J. Watt to a groin injury in the second. Unsurprisingly, the incomparable Cam Heyward led the way with a run defense grade of 89.6.
But he was far from alone in his contributions. Linebacker Alex Highsmith (85.5) was right behind him. Reserve defensive linemen Chris Wormley (68.5) and Isaiah Buggs (66.6) were more than competent in Alualu’s stead. And Edmunds (76.8), Melvin Ingram (65.2), Robert Spillane (63.9) and rookie Isaiahh Loudermilk (63.9) turned in decent performances themselves.
So if you’re worried about this run defense unit without Alualu and Stephon Tuitt for the foreseeable future, consider this performance to be some peace of mind. There remain plenty of pieces in place. Be more worried about the secondary, which was only missing cornerback Joe Haden and still looked quite rough.
Adam Bittner: abittner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @fugimaster24.
First Published: September 21, 2021, 3:13 p.m.
Updated: September 21, 2021, 3:19 p.m.
