Steelers Vs. Patriots: Player Snap Counts – Week 15

The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their third loss of the season on Sunday to the New England Patriots and in the process they dropped to No. 2 in the AFC seeding with two weeks remaining in the regular season. The snap counts from the game have now been compiled and as usual, while there aren’t many surprises included in them, there are a few totals worth pointing out.

Offensive line – All five starters, Alejandro Villanueva, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Chris Hubbard, played every snap Sunday against the Patriots. Additionally, tackle Jerald Hawkins, who dressed over Matt Feiler once again, played 9 offensive snaps mostly as a blocking tight end.

Running backs – Le’Veon Bell played all but ten offensive snaps Sunday against the Patriots on his way to touching the football 29 times in total. Backup James Conner played just 9 offensive snaps Sunday before leaving the game with a knee injury. Fitzgerald Toussaint only played one offensive snap while fullback Roosevelt Nix played 7 offensive snaps against the Patriots.

Wide receiver – Antonio Brown played 21 snaps against the Patriots prior to being forced from the game with a quad injury. Rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster played all but one offensive snap in his first game back from his suspension while Martavis Bryant played 36 snaps. Eli Rogers (25 snaps) and Darrius Heyward-Bey (31 snaps) were the other two Steelers wide receivers to see the field on offense against the Patriots.

Tight ends – Jesse James played 60 of 67 snaps with Vance McDonald sidelined with an injured shoulder. Xavier Grimble played just 13 offensive snaps in total against the Patriots.

Defensive linemen – Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt both played 54 and 52 snaps respectively against the Patriots out of a possible 60. Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave played 39 snaps again with a lot of them being in sub-package and in place of an outside linebacker. Defensive end L.T. Walton played 11 snaps and fellow defensive end Tyson Alualu played 19 snaps.

Outside linebackers – As usual, T.J. Watt (40) and Bud Dupree (36) once again played the lion’s share of defensive snaps Sunday. However, both played as lower percentage of total snaps this past week as the Steelers used defensive linemen some in sub packages. Anthony Chickillo and Arthur Moats were confined to just working on special teams and James Harrison did not see the field against the Patriots even though he dressed for the game.

Inside linebackers – Vince Williams was on the field for 45 of 60 snaps against the Patriots as was Sean Spence, who played his second game of the season with the team on Sunday. L.J. Fort was the only other inside linebacker to see defensive action against the Patriots and he played just 15 snaps in total. Tyler Matakevich only played on special teams Sunday in his first game back from a shoulder injury.

Defensive backs – Cornerback Artie Burns and safeties Sean Davis and Mike Mitchell played all 30 defensive snaps against the Patriots while rookie cornerback Cameron Sutton played all but 3 snaps in his first start. Mike Hilton played 48 snaps while dimeback William Gay played just 15 snaps. Safety Robert Golden played 3 snaps while rookie cornerback Brian Allen played one. Coty Sensabaugh only played on special teams.