Things went very well for the Pittsburgh Steelers defensively in Week 9 action against the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers forced six turnovers, and the offense turned those turnovers into 24 points. That resulted in a 27-20 win at Acrisure Stadium, which wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
Pittsburgh came out looking to make a statement defensively against the league’s best offense. The Steelers did just that.
On top of the six turnovers generated, the Steelers made a slight improvement in the tackling department. It wasn’t great, but it was better than it had been in recent weeks. Against the Colts, the Steelers missed 11 tackles, though three of the missed tackles came on special teams.
Let’s take a look at this week’s missed tackles report.
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES VS COLTS — 11
Patrick Queen – 2
Keeanu Benton – 2
Malik Harrison – 2 (one on special teams)
Jack Sawyer – 2 (both on special teams)
Jalen Ramsey – 1
Nick Herbig – 1
Kyle Dugger – 1
TOTAL MISSED TACKLES THROUGH NINE WEEKS (EIGHT GAMES) — 80 (10.0 PER GAME)
Patrick Queen — 14 (one on missed sack) (56 tackles on 70 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Darius Slay – 8 (32 tackles on 40 total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Nick Herbig — 6 (two on special teams) (19 tackles on 25 total attempts, 24% miss rate)
Juan Thornhill — 5 (37 tackles on 42 total attempts, 12% miss rate)
Chuck Clark — 5 (33 tackles on 38 total attempts, 13.2% miss rate)
Keeanu Benton — 4 (19 tackles on 23 total attempts, 17.4% miss rate)
Joey Porter Jr. — 4 (22 tackles on 26 total attempts, 15.4% miss rate)
Payton Wilson – 4 (one on missed sack) (71 tackles on 75 total attempts, 5.3% miss rate)
DeShon Elliott — 3 (38 tackles on 41 total attempts, 7.3% miss rate)
Brandin Echols — 3 (one on special teams) (25 tackles on 28 total attempts, 10.7% miss rate)
Cole Holcomb — 3 (26 tackles on 29 total attempts, 10.3% miss rate)
Jack Sawyer — 3 (all on special teams) (15 tackles on 18 total attempts, 16.6% miss rate)
Malik Harrison – 2 (one on special teams) (five tackles on seven total attempts, 28.6% miss rate)
Jalen Ramsey — 2 (39 tackles on 41 total attempts, 4.9% miss rate)
Yahya Black – 2 (one on missed sack) (seven tackles on nine total attempts, 22.2% miss rate)
Derrick Harmon — 2 (missed sack) (13 tackles on 15 total attempts, 13.3% miss rate)
Alex Highsmith – 2 (22 tackles on 24 total attempts, 8.3% miss rate)
T.J. Watt – 2 (34 tackles on 36 total attempts, 5.5% miss rate)
Ben Skowronek – 1 (special teams) (10 tackles on 11 total attempts, 9.1% miss rate)
Miles Killebrew – 1 (special teams) (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
Daniel Ekuale — 1 (six tackles on seven total attempts, 14.3% miss rate)
Jabrill Peppers — 1 (eight tackles on nine total attempts, 11.1% miss rate)
Kyle Dugger – 1 (four tackles on five total attempts, 20% miss rate)
While missing 11 tackles is still a high number, the Steelers cut down on the mistakes in the tackling department by three compared to the last two weeks. That’s an encouraging sign of progress, especially considering the Colts ran 71 offensive plays Sunday.
Still, the usual names are missing tackles, with Patrick Queen missing another two. Fellow inside linebacker Malik Harrison, in his first game back from Injured Reserve, missed a pair as well. The two combined for missed tackles on a big 4th and 1 play on the Colts’ first drive of the game, allowing them to extend and eventually score a touchdown.
Nice little formation here in short-yardage for the Colts, getting the ball to running back Jonathan Taylor quickly.
To the Steelers’ credit, the defense blew the play up quickly with Harrison penetrating. He doesn’t make the play, though, leaving his feet and going high on Taylor. The Colts running back easily shrugs him off and turns upfield. Queen is right there to help clean up, but he leaves his feet, too, and gets twisted off the tackle attempt.
Keeanu Benton is there to clean up the pair of misses, but Taylor did enough to convert. It was a major missed opportunity early in the game for the Steelers.
In his first game with the Steelers after a mid-week trade, safety Kyle Dugger stepped in and played 77 of 78 snaps defensively. That earned him a game ball from head coach Mike Tomlin. Dugger was sound for the Steelers, providing a physical presence in the process.
He did miss one tackle, though.
Here, on a 6-yard run from Taylor, Dugger does a nice job working downhill, staying gap sound and reading the play. Once he sees Taylor bounce outside, you can see how quickly Dugger triggers downhill.
He has good form here, going for the tackle with his head up and staying square. But he does leave his feet at the end. Sometimes the offensive player makes a great move, and that’s what Taylor did in the hole, side-stepping the tackle attempt to gain a few more yards.
Finally, Jalen Ramsey moved to safety to play a split-safety look with Dugger throughout the game. While he had a great game, earning praise from Tomlin, Ramsey missed a tackle. It was just his second miss of the season, showing how remarkable he’s been as a tackler.
Colts quarterback Daniel Jones did a remarkable job of hitting the hole shot here against the Steelers’ defense, putting the ball perfectly over Darius Slay’s outstretched hand to wide receiver Alec Pierce. After the catch, Pierce has some room to run, but Ramsey closes in.
Typically, this is an open-field tackle for Ramsey, but he misses badly. He drops to a knee and goes for the arm tackle, allowing Pierce to side-step the attempt and turn upfield. Fortunately for Ramsey, linebacker Payton Wilson hustles and tracks down Pierce, limiting the YAC on a 36-yard play.
While the Steelers’ defense improved in the tackling department, the offense didn’t force many misses from the Colts. The Steelers forced just seven missed tackles against the Colts, meaning Pittsburgh lost the all-important tackling battle by a margin of -4, falling to 5-3 on the season.
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES VS. COLTS — 7
Kenneth Gainwell – 2
Calvin Austin III – 1
Jonnu Smith – 1
Darnell Washington – 1
DK Metcalf – 1
Ke’Shawn Williams – 1 (special teams)
TOTAL FORCED MISSED TACKLES THROUGH NINE WEEKS (EIGHT GAMES) — 85 (10.63 PER GAME)
Jaylen Warren – 36
Kenneth Gainwell – 18 (one on special teams)
Jonnu Smith – 8
DK Metcalf – 5
Kaleb Johnson – 4 (two on special teams)
Ke’Shawn Williams — 4 (special teams)
Darnell Washington — 2
Trey Sermon — 2 (special teams)
Calvin Austin III — 2
Pat Freiermuth — 1
Scotty Miller — 1
Things weren’t working well in the running game for the Steelers offense, even with two rushing touchdowns from Jaylen Warren. There wasn’t much room to run all game. Fortunately, the Steelers created some chunk plays through the quick passing game from Aaron Rodgers.
Running back Kenneth Gainwell was able to force two missed tackles as a receiver out of the backfield.
Nice little design here from the Steelers to get Gainwell the football in space with a blocker in front. That allows Gainwell space to catch the ball cleanly and get upfield.
He destroys one angle and runs through the arm tackle attempt, turning a pass behind the line of scrimmage into an 11-yard gain. YAC is huge for the Steelers.
Calvin Austin III showed that, too.
Quick RPO here with Rodgers on 2nd-and-short, and he makes the right read. He fires a dart to Austin in the flat with time and space to run.
Austin beats the angle from cornerback Kenny Moore II, turning upfield and generating an 18-yard gain. That’s what Austin brings to the table with his speed. It was nice to see that in a big spot.
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