With rookie defensive lineman Derrick Harmon set to miss Sunday’s pivotal Week 13 matchup with the Buffalo Bills at Acrisure Stadium, the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to need depth players to step up in his place.
Namely, fellow rookie Yahya Black needs to step up and give the Steelers a bit more.
Fortunately for the Steelers, the Iowa product is playing some of his best football of the season in recent weeks and has teammates believing in him.
That includes team captain and fellow defensive lineman Cameron Heyward.
“I think Yahya’s ready. Yahya’s getting more comfortable in his alignment, playing with better extension,” Heyward told reporters Wednesday, according to video via the team website.
After putting together a dominant training camp and preseason in which he looked like a man among boys, there was a lot of hype entering the regular season for Black, who had the look of another late-round Steelers find. But then reality hit and Black struggled in a reserve role early in the season.
In recent weeks though, Black has started to put it all together. He was dominant against the Los Angeles Chargers in the Steelers’ Week 10 loss on the road and then had another standout game against the Chicago Bears in Week 12, headlined by his forced fumble and recovery on running back De’Andre Swift.
Black played just 13 snaps against the Bears, but he finished with a grade of 91.7 overall from Pro Football Focus, marking the second time in three weeks he’s generated an elite grade from the analytics website. The forced fumble against the Bears was an incredible play, one that still has Heyward buzzing.
“He’s coming away with some big plays for us. That fumble, he just ripped it from the guy’s arms,” Heyward said. “You need that from your young guys, who are continual learning. But he’s in the right spot and I think he’ll be ready to play.”
With Harmon on the shelf, Black will have to be ready to roll against a run-heavy Bills offense with Josh Allen and James Cook in the backfield. It remains to be seen how many snaps the Steelers will play in base defense against Buffalo, but even in sub-package football Black will have to be ready to roll.
He’s played 224 snaps on the season and has generated five pressures and five run stops. He’s getting better each week, which is encouraging for a young player, and now he has a big opportunity in front of him against a great offense on a big stage.
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