After registering 10 sacks in their last two games, the Pittsburgh Steelers defenses will get a real chance to show Sunday at home against the New York Giants just how far they’ve come when it comes to getting after opposing quarterbacks.
On Sunday, the Steelers defense will face a Giants offense that has only allowed 14 sacks all season with one of those being a takedown of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on an attempted trick play against the Green Bay Packers a few weeks ago. In short, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has only been sacked 13 times so far this season on 429 total dropbacks. That’s once every 33 dropbacks.
In case you’re curious, I timed all of Manning’s sacks so far this season and his average time to contact on those 13 plays was 3.26 seconds. It’s also worth noting that on 5 of those sacks that Manning fumbled the football.
The Steelers enter their game against the Giants with 24 total sacks and their outside linebackers are responsible for 10 of those with James Harrison leading the team with 4.
While the Steelers defense did register 10 sacks in their last two games, it’s important to keep in mind that they came against two of the worst pass protecting teams in the league in the form of the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts.
Sunday will mark the third game that outside linebacker Bud Dupree will play in this season and his snap totals figure to increase some because of that. Dupree, who registered 4 sacks during his rookie season, has yet to record a quarterback takedown since making his 2016 debut in the game against the Browns.
