Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin confirms suspicion surrounding Nick Herbig’s lack of playing time against the Bengals
It’s clear that Nick Herbig’s lack of snaps against the Bengals was premeditated.
Less than two weeks ago, Nick Herbig had arguably the best game of his career against the Cleveland Browns. A two sack performance that put him in the national spotlight, it has become clear to the naked eye that Herbig is one of the better pure pass rushers in the league.
Yet last Thursday against the Cincinnati Bengals, Herbig played just 38 percent of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ snaps, opposed to Alex Highsmith, who played 70. That may have had something to do with Joe Flacco throwing for over 340 yards and Ja’Marr Chase breaking records.
But from Mike Tomlin’s perspective, the Steelers didn’t plan on playing Herbig as much going into the Bengals game. It was done to stop the run, but it still backfired.
Steelers wanted heavier personnel to combat Bengals’ rushing offense
“You know, certainly our inability to control the run and limiting one-dimensional passing circumstances probably affected his participation some,” said Tomlin of Herbig’s role on Tuesday via the Steelers YouTube channel. “But again, we got a lot of good players. As I mentioned, often when you guys talk about playing time, just keep watching.
“We’re going to utilize all our good players. Sometimes games unfold, whether it’s schematics or matchups or just how things unfold. You guys were asking me about Muth last week. I’d imagine you’re not going to ask me about Muth this week, and that’s just an example of it.”
Everyone who watches and analyzes football knows that Highsmith is a more complete player than Herbig. He’s a bigger body and better against the run. Ultimately, that’s why Highsmith played more. But coming into the game, the Bengals had the worst rushing offense in the league. And even with Highsmith out snapping Herbig by a lot, they let the Bengals go for over 140 yards on the ground.
So the plan was bad, but the lack of adjustments was worse. The Steelers sat, watching Flacco get the ball out quickly and play pitch-and-catch with Chase, and decided against putting in their fastest and most dynamic pass rusher.
On a snap-by-snap basis, Herbig has been more efficient in terms of sacks, tackles for loss, forced fumbles, and pressures compared to Highsmith. I’m not saying that to discredit Highsmith and what he does for the Steelers, but rather to show that the way Herbig was used against the Bengals can never happen again. He’s too efficient and too disruptive to play only 29 snaps a game.
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