PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – For three straight games 23-year-old outside linebacker Nick Herbig had a least a sack, 3.5 in the last two with seven quarterback hits combined. Why did the third-year linebacker only have 27 snaps against the Bengals Sunday?
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly news conference that the inability to control the Cincinnati run, which the Bengals ran for 86 yards over its average, was a big reason. Tomlin said it limited the opportunities for obvious passing situations, which in turn, limited Herbig’s snaps. That included no snaps for Herbig in the final Bengals possession.
“We got a lot of good players,” Tomlin said. “As I mention often when you guys talk about playing time, just keep watching. We are going to utilize all of our good players, sometimes games unfold whether it’s schematics or matchups or just how things unfold.”
“You guys were asking me about ‘Muth’ (Pat Freiermuth) last week. I imagine you are not going to ask me about ‘Muth’ this week.”
Whether out of spite or not, Tomlin was asked about Freiermuth. But as for Herbig, he finished with two tackles and a quarterback hit Thursday in Cincinnati. Highsmith, in his second game back from injury, played 53 snaps (70% of the defensive snaps) and had three tackles and no QB hits, sacks or tackles for loss.
Steelers host Jordan Love and the Packers Sunday night.