One of the many bright spots for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons It was the defensive line, which was solid throughout the game.
Not only was Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins under pressure throughout the game, but Atlanta’s rushing attack couldn’t really get going. The Falcons’ backs averaged 4.2 yards per carry and didn’t come up with an explosive play.
For Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen, it made for a boring game, as the front group was able to take care of business and take up a lot of his time.
“It was pretty boring,” Queen said, according to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette“I missed two tackles that I would have liked to have recovered, but when you have a defensive line like that, it’s a little difficult to make plays.”
By Josh Carney of Steelers DepotQueen missed three of the five tackle attempts he made, which is a 60% failure rate. He posted a very poor 3.6% tackle rate despite playing 100% of the snaps, according to Jon Macri of Focus on professional football.
Queen also had some coverage issues after allowing two receptions on the two targets thrown his way for 36 yards, earning him a coverage grade of 49.4, according to PFF.
Pittsburgh signed Queen for a three-year, $41 million contract this past offseason, which only makes his struggles more glaring. But it’s only one game, so no one should be celebrating just yet.
That said, if this continues, it will put more pressure on the rest of the defense.
