Water is wet, and the Pittsburgh Steelers defense can’t stop tight ends. A tale as old as time, the Steelers’ woes haven’t just continued this season but been exacerbated. Getting lit up by Green Bay Packers’ TE Tucker Kraft is the most obvious instance of it, but hardly the only one this season. The numbers back that up.
Heading into Week 8, Pittsburgh is about the worst defense against tight ends. Here’s where the Steelers rank in each of the major categories against the position. These stats, courtesy of Pro Football Reference, are before Thursday night’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. These stats are also per game to paint a clearer picture, considering only about half of the league has had its bye week. Teams that haven’t had the off-week naturally have bigger numbers.
Category (Per Game) Stat NFL Rank
Receptions 6.4 30th
Yards 79.3 Last
Yards Per Catch 12.3 31st
Touchdowns 0.86 31st
Only the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals have allowed more receptions per game to tight ends. The Steelers are last in yards. Only the Denver Broncos allow more yards per catch, and only the Bengals allow more touchdowns (Pittsburgh’s big day against Cincinnati is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here).
Kraft had a historic day, but it’s hardly an outlier. Here are notable performances by tight ends against Pittsburgh this season.
AJ Barner/Seahawks: 2 receptions, 26 yards, 1 TD
Hunter Henry/Patriots: 8 receptions, 90 yards, 2 TDs
Harold Fannin Jr./Browns: 7 receptions, 81 yards
Noah Fant/Bengals: 4 receptions, 44 yards, 1 TD
Tucker Kraft/Packers: 7 receptions, 143 yards, 2 TDs
Pittsburgh has plenty of speed at linebacker. Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson are as fast as practically any linebacker in football. That’s not the issue. But that speed alone isn’t the cure. Neither has proven to be a strength in coverage this season. Queen has historically struggled, while Wilson hasn’t built on the promise in coverage he showed as a rookie. In fact, he’s regressed.
Not to mention, there are other factors that play into these stats. The safeties have struggled. DeShon Elliott has been hurt. Coverages have been busted and tackles have been missed – by everyone.
No matter the reason, the trend continues. Pittsburgh has ranked poorly before. Last year, the Steelers were in the bottom third in these categories. This year, they have bottomed out. With the Indianapolis Colts’ rookie Tyler Warren coming to town Sunday, these numbers could get even worse.
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