Minkah Fitzpatrick leads the Steelers defensive PFF grades

Dec 6, 2022 - 6:31 PM

The Pittsburgh Steelers got back-to-back wins for the first time this season with both victories on the road. The offense scored on five of their seven drives although they only were able to finish one with a touchdown. As for the defense, they were vulnerable against the run in the second half against one of the NFL’s best rushing attacks.

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 13 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 54 snaps on defense in Sunday’s game.

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Overall

Top 5 (regardless of position)

S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 92.0 (54 snaps)
ILB Robert Spillane: 74.3 (13 snaps)
DT Cam Heyward: 72.3 (33 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 72.2 (6 snaps)
S Damontae Kazee: 65.2 (23 snaps)

Bottom 5 (regardless of position)

CB Cam Sutton: 42.3 (54 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 38.3 (50 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 33.3 (32 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 29.2 (15 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 29.1 (25 snaps)

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Defensive Front Five

DT Cam Heyward: 72.3 (33 snaps)
OLB Alex Highsmith: 63.4 (44 snaps)
DT Chris Wormley: 61.4 (24 snaps)
DT DeMarvin Leal: 53.0 (7 snaps)
OLB T.J. Watt: 52.5 (47 snaps)
OLB Malik Reed: 52.2 (17 snaps)
DT Larry Ogunjobi: 33.3 (32 snaps)
DT Tyson Alualu: 29.2 (15 snaps)
DT Montravius Adams: 29.1 (25 snaps)

It was good to see Cam Heyward bounce back and land at the top of this position group and in the top five for the defense. What might be concerning is the fact only three players got scores that were above the line. Although they did the job the first half, the Steelers struggled to stop the run against a powerful Atlanta team in the second half. This is probably why the number of players from this group landed in the bottom five. As for T.J. Watt getting his lowest score of the season and his lowest since Week 16 of last year, it really came down to all of his scores as he had a 54.1 run defense score, a 42.9 tackling score, a 53.5 pass rush score, and a 60.0 coverage score. As much as anything, it appears as if he was pretty banged up throughout the game but powered through to help the defense as much as he could.

Inside Linebackers

ILB Robert Spillane: 74.3 (13 snaps)
ILB Myles Jack: 56.8 (41 snaps)
ILB Devin Bush: 45.6 (47 snaps)

I think there’s an important takeaway from Robert Spillane leading this group and having the second-best defensive score this week. There was one other time this season, against the Buffalo Bills, when Spillane scored in the 70s. What these two games have in common is the fact that he played less than 20 snaps on defense. It appears when the Steelers utilize Spillane in the right spots he can come through in a better way. As for the other two, they got pushed around a little bit in this game. When looking particularly at Devin Bush, he is not the type of inside linebacker they can constantly take on blocks from offensive linemen and be able to shed them. I believe his run defense score of 35.8 is reflective of that.

Defensive Backs

S Minkah Fitzpatrick: 92.0 (54 snaps)
CB Arthur Maulet: 72.2 (6 snaps)
S Damontae Kazee: 65.2 (23 snaps)
CB Levi Wallace: 55.4 (51 snaps)
CB James Pierre: 54.7 (11 snaps)
CB Cam Sutton: 42.3 (54 snaps)
S Terrell Edmunds: 38.3 (50 snaps)

Minkah Fitzpatrick has put up quality PFF scores throughout the 2022 season, but this week saw his highest yet. In fact, it was his highest score since Week 6 of 2020 against the Cleveland Browns. Fitzpatrick‘s overall score had him second-highest among safeties in Week 13 and his coverage score of 91.8 was the highest of any safety this week. When looking at the season as a whole, Fitzpatrick has the highest score among safeties in terms of coverage and is ranked fourth in overall score. As for the rest of the group, their scores mostly fell in line with how they finished last week with the exception of James Pierre falling back down into place. It is concerning that only three players scored above the 60.0 standard and two of them are sub-package players. Arthur Maulet came through with a high score for the second week in a row much in the way of Robert Spillane as his usage was minimized but impactful went on the field.

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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.