Week 1 snapshot tallies show Bills strategy and who the Steelers are

The Pittsburgh Steelers won a big game to open their 2021 season, beating the Buffalo Bills 23-16, making what was predicted by most analysts and “experts” (yes, that includes me) one of their losses this season.

They did it with phenomenal defense and some key plays on offense and on special teams. Let’s start by looking at what Matt Canada showed us, on a personal level, in his first game as the Steelers offensive coordinator.

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Offense

A few things stand out here. First off, Najee Harris played all of the game’s offensive snaps, as did Ben Roethlisberger and four of the offensive linemen. At one point, Kendrick Green left the field and was replaced by JC Hassenauer for three snaps.

The Steelers are averaging 2.65 wide receivers per snap, with JuJu Smith-Schuster leading with 91% of snaps. The Steelers averaged 1.31 tight ends and full-backs per snap, meaning they spent just over a quarter of their offensive snaps in formations with multiple tight ends or with a full-back.

Matt Canada likes to use tight ends and full-backs, often putting them in the more flexible H-back role. The balance of the 3 sets of receivers and the heavier sets will be important to watch as Canada and Ben Roethlisberger flesh out the best balance for the offense.

A surprising note is that Zach Gentry plays 28% of the shots, one more shot than that received by James Washington. Matt Canada is going to use a lot of players at the close end and H back, he always has, looking to exploit a defense that underestimates a player or engages too much in staff-based training. If linebackers see Gentry, a blocking tight end, and attack the run more aggressively, it can open up the playing action even more than having Pat Freiermuth’s receiving skills on the court. The snaps that Gentry and fullback Derek Watt are getting are another trend we’ll have to watch out for as the season progresses.

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Defense

Let’s put the basics aside, any time the Steelers have their starting outside corners and safeties healthy for an entire game, it’s rare to see one of them leave the field. Cameron Sutton, Joe Haden, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds all played the entire game.

Devin Bush joined this squad in 2020 before his injury, Mike Tomlin turned the linebackers more in this game, and while Bush still led the squad he also got 12 snaps, which will hopefully keep Bush fresh and will reduce the risk of injury for the Steelers’ star young linebacker.

TJ Watt only played 81% of the snaps, slightly less than at the start of 2020, and a steep drop from the end of 2021 when he played around 90% of the snaps. This is a good thing. Outside linebackers and defensive linemen are high impact players, battling the offensive lineman and tight ends on almost every snap. Defensive backs spend a good percentage of their snaps running and have minimal contact with other players. Melvin Ingram and Alex Highsmith both played well, and the Steelers showed creative use of outside linebacker rotation and that generated a lot of pressure, with sacks, QB hits and retention penalties dominant. big games in defense. What’s even more impressive is that the Steelers did it by blitzing 2 times in total. It was almost entirely 4-man rushes arriving at Josh Allen.

The real meat of that snapshot tally report is in high school, where the Steelers played 2021 NFL Draft 7th round pick Tre Norwood, snaps 80% in his first NFL game. The young defensive back was up to the challenge, holding his nickel against one of the best passing offensives in the NFL. Overall, the Steelers were averaging 5.32 defensive backs per snap, meaning they were way over dimes than they were using their 3-4, seven-man front. Tre Norwood received 80% of the snaps, but Arthur Maulet returned as a returning nickel for several series while James Pierre came in as a returning penny. This rotation allowed Cameron Sutton to stay in the outside corner in nickel wrappers and then slide in to play the role he’s been good at for years.

The Steelers played so many defensive backs because the Bills averaged 3.48 wide receivers per snap, while they only played a tight winger on 50 snaps and a running back on 74 of the 85 snaps they played. ‘they were on attack. While the Steelers were content to run their 3-4 sets against 11 staff in 2020, the Steelers responded with plenty of defensive backs this game, the Bills only had a 14 snaps advantage in receivers per. compared to defensive backs, with 11 of those snaps counted. when the Steelers went dime to 5 receivers, meaning they had 1 linebacker when the Bills had no tight ends or running backs. The Bills plan was to attack the depth of the Steelers’ defensive back with their deep receiver, and they scored just 16 points. It’s a huge win for a group that was seen as the weakest link in the defense going into this game.

On special teams, Derek Watt led the way with 20 snaps, followed by the rest of the core special teams players, all with 19 snaps, Benny Snell, Marcus Allen, Miles Killebrew and Ulysees Gilbert III.

Miles Killebrew paid excellent dividends for his special teams snap with a blocked punt that Ulysees Gilbert III returned for a touchdown to turn a tight game into a 10-point Steelers lead that would hold for the win.

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to point out that Minkah Fitzpatrick continues his undefeated streak for the Steelers in every game, the Steeler star playing at least one snap in attack.

Be sure to stay tuned to BTSC for the latest black and gold news and notes as they prepare for the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2 of the regular season.