Five things we learned from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 29-24 victory at the Detroit Lions on Sunday:
1. Mister Everywhere
No defensive back in the NFL this season has played more snaps than Jalen Ramsey. Teammate Patrick Queen — an inside linebacker — is the only defensive player in the league (regardless of position) to play more. And when it comes to Ramsey’s deployment, he’s coming from all over the place.
Sunday’s game was the latest example. While Ramsey’s “permanent” move to safety is in its eighth week, against the Lions he was forced back to some of his old proverbial stomping grounds.
The Steelers entered the game without a player who had been starting for them at outside cornerback — James Pierre was out because of a calf injury. Then, Brandin Echols left the game during the second quarter because of a groin injury.
Echols — himself a positional nomad in the Steelers’ secondary this season — had been manning the slot/nickel spot.
When he went down, with the Steelers already thin at CB — undrafted rookie Daryl Porter Jr. was elevated from the practice squad to make his NFL debut Sunday — coaches elected to move Ramsey to fill in for Echols. Veteran Chuck Clark subbed for Ramsey at safety.
As is custom in his first season with the team, Ramsey played every one of the Steelers’ defensive snaps in Detroit. According to Pro Football Focus, for 44 of the 74 snaps he played Ramsey was lined up in the slot and for 15 each he was at free and strong safety.
It marked the seventh game this season that Ramsey was most often lining up in the slot. He also has seven games during which he most often was at fee safety and one in which he primarily was an outside cornerback — a position at which he has three times been named AP NFL All Pro.
Ramsey also averages almost nine snaps per game coming from an “in the box” safety, including three games in which that was his second-most utilized spot for a game.
2. Above the line
Building on that the Steelers have now clinched 22 consecutive non-losing seasons — setting a new NFL record — consider the sustained success not only since 2004 when this streak began but since just after the AFL/NFL merger.
In only 12 of the 54 seasons since 1972, the Steelers have had a losing record. Their 42 non-losing seasons (even if you extend the sample size back to 1970) are the most in the NFL.
For context on the Steelers’ 22 consecutive non-losing seasons, consider the plight of the Cardinals’ franchise. Born in 1920, the Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona team has had only 36 non-losing (non-strike) seasons in its 106-year history. They have had only 31 non-losing seasons over the past century. And they have had only 16 non-losing full seasons since 1972, when the Steelers span of 42 non-losing seasons began.
The Lions also have had only 16 non-losing seasons in that span (since 1972). The Browns have had only 14 — albeit, they did not exist for three of those years.
Again, the Steelers have forty-two.
3. Shut them down
That the Lions entered Sunday with the NFL’s fifth-best rushing offense only all the more underscores how impressive it was that the Steelers limited them to 15 yards on 12 carries.
Jahmyr Gibbs entered the game with 1,100 rushing yards and ended it with a new NFL record for most touchdowns over the course of any player’s first three seasons (48). But Gibbs’ touchdown Sunday came on a reception. He had four carries for zero net yards during the Lions’ first drive — but had just three carries the rest of the game.
The Lions’ other high-end running back, David Montgomery, had four carries for 13 yards — the final three of which netted minus-4 yards.
Montgomery had a 17-yard run in the first quarter, making it even more remarkable that the Lions finished with 15 rushing yards. Aside from that run, the entire Detroit offense netted minus-2 yards on 11 carries.
The Steelers were credited with seven tackles for loss.
As unearthed by Steelers assistant director of communications Michael Bertsch, the Lions hadn’t had as few as 15 net rushing yards in a game in nine years. The Steelers had gone more than a decade since they held an opponent to 15 or fewer yards in a game.
4. Opposite on the other side of it
Meanwhile, in regards to rushing offense, the Steelers likewise had an effort they hadn’t had the likes of since President Barack Obama was still in office.
Led by Jaylen Warren (143 yards on 14 carries), the Steelers had 230 rushing yards — their most since a Le’Veon Bell-led attack racked up 240 yards during a snowstorm on Dec. 11, 2016, at the Buffalo Bills.
The performance left Warren on the verge of perhaps his first 1,000-yard rushing season. He is up to 828 yards on 185 carries, meaning he needs to average 86 yards each in games at the Cleveland Browns on Sunday and against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18.
5. Snap chat
For the third consecutive game since his acquisition off waivers, veteran Adam Thielen ranked second behind DK Metcalf among Steelers wide receivers in snaps played. Thielen was on the field for 32 of the Steelers’ 74 offensive plays (43%) — well behind Metcalf (88%) but ahead of fellow veterans Marquez Valdes-Scantling (42%) and Scotty Miller (20%). Calvin Austin III played 12 snaps before leaving the game because of a hamstring injury.
Darnell Washington paced Steelers tight ends in playing time with a 68% snap share, followed at the position by Pat Freiermuth (43%), Jonnu Smith (38%) and Connor Heyward (9%) — albeit, only four of Heyward’s nine snaps were as a tight end. Additionally, two of Smith’s snaps were as a running back.
Gainwell played 40 snaps and Warren 36, implying they were on the field together for a handful of snaps.