Steelers Snap Counts Versus New England

Here is the player participation data for the Steelers offense and defense from last night’s game in Foxborough. As you can see from the table below, the offensive line remained intact for the entire game. Villanueva was used mainly as a blocking TE (eligible receiver) in goal line situations.

Darrius Heyward-Bey was in for a whopping 43 plays. More action than he’s seen since week 13 of the 2013 season. Tyler Murphy was in for a handful of plays, and recorded his first career reception.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Steelers mixed things up quite a bit. The division of labor was spread across the outside linebackers, but James Harrison saw the most playing time among them. All of the safeties played, though Shamarko Thomas saw very little time on defense. For whatever reason, CB Brandon Boykin did not play last night.