Nick Herbig has been on fire over the last month, so it was curious to see the Pittsburgh Steelers OLB only receive 29 snaps against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 7. Mike Tomlin explained the lack of snaps Tuesday during his weekly press conference.
“Our inability to control the run and limiting one-dimensional passing circumstances probably affected his participation some,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube. “But again, we got a lot of good players. As I mention often when you guys talk about playing time, just keep watching.”
The Steelers didn’t enter the week intending to limit Herbig, but game circumstances created less opportunities to get him on the field. T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith are the starters, and Herbig is the top backup.
With how badly the Steelers were getting picked apart in the passing game by Joe Flacco and his quick throws, they had to live in nickel defense more with an extra defensive back on the field. It wasn’t as easy to get a third outside linebacker involved in their Bronco package.
Some will have qualms with Herbig being the backup to Highsmith. He was announced as a 12th starter in Week 6 against the Browns, but he hasn’t been promoted on the depth chart and his 29 snaps compared to Highsmith’s 53 are proof of that.
Tomlin never tips his hand on personnel usage from week to week, but he did draw a notable parallel between Nick Herbig and Pat Freiermuth.
“You guys were asking me about Muth [Pat Freiermuth] last week, I would imagine you’re not gonna ask me about Muth this week,” Tomlin said. “That’s just an example of it.”
Freiermuth only logged 36 total snaps in the previous two games before getting 37 in Week 7 with 111 yards and two TDs. There were similar questions about Freiermuth and his usage, but he now has the second most receiving yards on the team.
Game circumstances will dictate how much the Steelers are able to rotate bodies on defense as always, but don’t be surprised if they make a more concerted effort to get Herbig involved against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.
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