The Steelers defense looked a bit different in their win over New England.
After giving up 30 points in back to back games to open the 2025 season, the Steelers looked like a team that needed to make some changes, especially on defense.
And during Week 3’s 21-14 win over the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh mixed up its defensive personnel.
Using PFF’s snap counts from Sunday, it’s clear there were some promotions and demotions versus New England:
After playing 86% of defensive snaps against the Seahawks last week, linebacker Payton Wilson played just 47% against New England. As a result, it was the veteran Cole Holcomb who saw more snaps opposite starter Patrick Queen, rising from 20% of defensive snaps last week to 50% on Sunday.
There was another big change at safety. Juan Thornhill played 100% of the Steelers’ defensive snaps last week, but his usage dropped to 39% against the Patriots. Instead, Chuck Clark was Pittsburgh’s most played safety on Sunday (76% of defensive snaps) while the recently-signed Jabrill Peppers (58%) also outsnapped Thornhill.
Both Holcomb and Peppers started on Sunday for the Steeler defense, recording six tackles each. Holcomb forced a fumble and Peppers notched a fumble recovery.
The final (non-injury) notable change on defense was rookie defensive lineman Yahya Black dropping from 62% of defensive snaps last week to 34% against the Patriots. However, that change correlates with first-rounder Derrick Harmon’s NFL debut on Sunday, where he played 47% of defensive snaps.
Where the Steeler defense has struggled the most through three weeks has been in the middle of the field, so it’s not surprising to see the team changing its personnel the most in that area of the defense. Entering Week 4 against the Vikings, we’ll have to see which changes stick, and which were just weekly adjustments from Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
Category: General Sports
