James Pierre leads the Steelers defensive PFF grades

Nov 30, 2022 - 6:30 PM

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The Pittsburgh Steelers got back on the winning track by defeating the Indianapolis Colts 24-17 on Monday Night Football. The offense played strong in three of the four quarters as they bounced back in the fourth for the come-from-behind win. As for the defense, holding a team to zero yards in the first quarter got things started in the right way.

But how did the individual players grade out?

For this exercise, we will be looking at the player grades from Pro Football Focus (PFF) for the Steelers Week 12 performance. Remember, these are just the grades for the Steelers for this past game and not combined with their previous performances. Before going any further, I must give the typical disclaimer that PFF grades are subjective. While some people rely on them heavily, others are quite skeptical of the process in which they are determined. It is completely up to each person as to how much stock they put into PFF’s grades. For me, I often look at the grades to see if my own “eye test” lines up with what others viewed as how a player performed. If nothing more, the grades create a discussion about how accurate, or inaccurate, they are each week.

Instead of looking at the entire team at once, we break up the scores into offense and defense. Next up is the defense. Included will be all the players who played at least one defensive snap and the total snap counts for each player will be included. For reference sake, the Steelers played 64 snaps on defense in Sunday’s game.

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Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

CB James Pierre: 87.1 (30 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 85.9 (51 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 85.4 (14 snaps)
ILB Devin Bush: 83.1 (64 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 75.8 (64 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

S Terrell Edmunds: 53.9 (56 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 51.8 (21 snaps)
DT Cam Heyward: 46.5 (44 snaps)
ILB Myles Jack: 36.6 (44 snaps)
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 29.9 (4 snaps)

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Defensive Front Five

OLB Alex Highsmith: 85.9 (51 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 85.4 (14 snaps)
OLB T.J. Watt: 70.7 (55 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 64.7 (19 snaps)
OLB Jamir Jones: 63.8 (8 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 63.2 (10 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 56.3 (45 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 51.8 (21 snaps)
DT Cam Heyward: 46.5 (44 snaps)
DT Isaiahh Loudermilk: 29.9 (4 snaps)

Alex Highsmith continues to bring high scores, and T.J. Watt is drawing a lot of attention and still giving scores that aren’t off the charts but are above the line. This week I noticed Malik Reed when he was in the game and not in a bad way, so I’m not surprised by his score. The big take away from this game was Cam Heyward‘s 46.5 overall score which was his lowest since Week 3 of the 2015 season. To put that timeframe in perspective, that game was against the St. Louis Rams. It should also be noted that the last time Cam Heyward scored below a 50 was Week 16 of the 2020 season when facing… the Indianapolis Colts. Showdowns between Heyward and Quenton Nelson have been quite the battle over the years where Heyward got the best of it in 2019 but Nelson has appeared to win the last two matchups.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Devin Bush: 83.1 (64 snaps)
ILB Myles Jack: 36.6 (44 snaps)

According to PFF, Devin Bush just had the best game of his career on Monday night as this is the highest score he has ever seen in his NFL career. Although he was not off the charts with his tackling score like usual as it was a 67.8, what made Bush’s score so high was an 81.2 coverage score, which was a bit surprising to me. Myles Jack landed in the bottom five again with individual scores where none of them were as low as his collective score. Jack had a 41.1 coverage score, a 56.9 tackling score, and a 46.5 run defense score.

Defensive Backs

CB James Pierre: 87.1 (30 snaps)
S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 75.8 (64 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 71.8 (18 snaps)
S Damontae Kazee: 65.9 (32 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 64.9 (61 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 63.6 (64 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 53.9 (56 snaps)

While Pierre‘s interception is definitely a play that stands out, his overall coverage score was second highest among all NFL cornerbacks in Week 12 and he did it when playing almost half of the defensive snaps. What is interesting is Pierre was only credited by PFF of giving up one reception in the entire game, but it was a 6-yard touchdown. Minkah Fitzpatrick is surprisingly pulling in high scores from PFF as he did not get much love last season. This entire group had a solid performance with only Terrell Edmunds having a score that came in below the 60.0 standard. Honestly, I didn’t notice Edmunds that much but he was credited with giving up one reception for 28 yards.

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So, what do you think of the above grades? Do they pass the eye test? Let us know your thoughts on the Steelers’ defensive grades in the comments below.