The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up a 30-27 win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Sept. 27 at Acrisure Stadium.
The day featured major steps forward for coach Mike McCarthy’s offense and some clutch moments to seal the game from the defense. It also put the team back in a tie for first in the AFC North division after a disappointing loss to the New England Patriots back in Week 2.
Here’s a look at some notable numbers from the afternoon via Pro Football Focus, the scouting website for whom evaluators grade players for every snap of every game on a 1-100 scale.
Max Iheanachor (81.3) and Brock Hoffman (76.8)
The pair replaced Dylan Cook and Spencer Anderson at right tackle and right guard, respectively,
and immediately made a noticeable impact on the effectiveness of the offensive line. Between them, they allowed just two pressures of Rodgers all day across 40 pass blocking snaps. Those two we low-impact hurries allowed by Iheanachor. Hoffman posted a clean sheet for the day. Then in run blocking, Iheanachor earned an impressive 91.4 grade to help pave the way for a big day from running back Jaylen Warren – 17 carries for 127 yards to go with four catches for 49 yards. Not a bad way for the team’s first-round pick in 2024 to debut. For comparison, teammate Troy Fautanu earned a 64.4 grade in his first start with the Steelers in 2024 after the Steelers used their top choice on him the previous spring. Former teammate Broderick Jones, the top pick in 2023, posted a 53.0 grade.
Asante Samuel Jr. (45.4 season grade)
The darling of training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe has yet to make his success translate to games in stadiums. As a starter so far this year, he’s allowed receptions on nine of 12 targets that have gone for total gains of 168 yards for opponents and an average of 18.7 yards. He has missed fully a third (33.3%) of his tackle attempts. And his coverage grade of 49.0 ranks 70th out of 91 cornerbacks with at least 50 snaps this season. Sunday against Cincinnati, Samuel was outmuscled by Tee Higgins for a touchdown and was subsequently taken out of the game in favor of Daylen Evertte. Whether it was a straight benching or a matchup decision remains unclear. What is, statistically, is that Samuel isn’t doing what the Steelers had hoped he might in place of Joey Porter Jr., who has yet to play this season amid his contract dispute with the team.
DK Metcalf (54.1 season grade)
Through three weeks of the season, the Steelers’ highest paid player on offense ranks poorly against his peers statistically. His overall grade ranks 69th out of 74 receivers with at least 10 targets. His yardage total (98) ranks 55th within that cohort. His yards after catch (28) rank 51st. And his yards per route run (0.78) rank 68th. He continues to struggle in making plays against tight coverage. He has four catches on nine contested targets this season. About the only place where he is where he should be is an average depth of target (ADOT) of 13.3 yards. Even that makes one wonder, though. His ADOT was 11.4 in 2025, when his yards per route run figure was 1.78, so there’s a case to be made that cleaner reception windows closer to the line of scrimmage could be key to unlocking more success from the veteran.
Derrick Harmon (84.3 season pass rush grade)
The man who got a strip sack of Joe Burrow to win the game against the Bengals has been making great progress as a pass rusher beyond that moment, too. Through three games, he has six pressures, putting him on pace for 34 for the season. That would be 11 more than in his rookie season in 2025. And his pass rush grade has jumped from 55.2 as a rookie to 84.3 this year, so the evaluators are seeing some upside beyond the raw numbers, too. This is an encouraging development for the team as it looks toward life without Cam Heyward eventually. Harmon, the team’s first-round pick in 2025, was great against the run last season, but needs to pick up his numbers against the pass to mimic the type of production the Steelers have gotten consistently from his older teammate since 2011.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Steelers PFF grades: Max Iheanachor shines; Asante Samuel Jr., not so much
