Last season I decided to switch up how I report the grades by Pro Football Focus (PFF) because of my frustration due to the absurdity of their findings. Instead of listing out all the scores, I gave highlights of some of the highs and lows and whether or not I thought their grading passed my own eye test. Since it seemed to be the most receptive approach, I decided to make this a weekly thing where I give my opinion of the PFF scores.

As always has to be the case when PFF is mentioned, the disclaimer is these grades are subjective and merely the opinion of those doing the evaluation. While PFF looks at every player on every snap, they are still simply forming an opinion of what they believe that player was supposed to be doing that play in order to determine if they were successful or not.

So here are my overall impressions of the scores from the Steelers Week 13 win over the Bengals with my grade of PFF at the end.

Offense

The top score of the Steelers offense this week, and the only score above an 80.0, went to Cordarrelle Patterson with a 91.9 overall. Patterson had a 93.1 passing score and a 79.3 running score, both the highest on the team this week.

There were two players who scored above a 75.0 this week in Mason McCormick (79.6), and Russell Wilson (78.6). McCormick had quality marks in both pass blocking (79.2) and run blocking (75.7). Wilson had his top passing score of the year with an 80.3 which was the second highest of all quarterbacks in Week 13 only behind Joe Burrow (85.5).

There were six other players who scored at least a 70.0 on the Steelers offense this week. They included Najee Harris (73.6), Ben Skowronek (72.7), Broderick Jones (71.4), Connor Heyward (71.0), Calvin Austin (70.3), and George Pickens (70.0).

When it came to scores at the bottom, there were only three players that had a score less than a 60.0 and none that were less than a 50.0. Mike Williams had the bottom score of a 53.4 based on average passing and run blocking scores. Isaac Seumalo had a 54.7 overall score despite a team-high 87.8 pass blocking score. What brought down Seumalo wasn’t as much the 57.0 run blocking score as it was the two penalties called on him even though one was declined. The other score below 60.0 was Jaylen Warren with a 58.0. Even though he had an 81.0 passing score, Warren was brought down by a 55.1 running score and a 16.2 pass blocking score. But as I have noted many times, PFF has no clue how to grade running backs in pass protection as this week Najee Harris had a 24.2 pass blocking score as well.

The top run blocking score this week went to Pat Freiermuh with an 84.2 followed closely by Ben Skowronek with an 83.3. The top run blocking offensive lineman score went to Broderick Jones with a 77.1. As for pass blocking, it was already mentioned that Seumalo was the top of the list but Zach Frazier was second with an 84.2.

Defense

The scores for the defense were much more spread out. The top overall score went to Nick Herbig with a 91.9 based off a team-high pass rushing score of 93.8 and was the second highest score in that category this week across the NFL. The only other score above an 80.0 belonged to Payton Wilson with an 81.5 overall with Wilson scoring in the upper 70s in tackling, pass rush, and coverage. Wilson’s coverage score of 76.6 was the best on the team this week.

There were four other players who scored above a 70.0 in the Steelers defense, all of which were on the defensive line, in Cam Hayward (79.2), Keeanu Benton (78.9), Isaiah Loudermilk (74.5), and Dean Lowry (72.4).

What stands out a lot this week is the number of Steelers at the bottom of the list with four players scoring less than a 40.0 overall. Damontae Kazee had a 29.2 overall score based on a 33.1 coverage score despite having an 81.8 tackling score. It’s no surprise Joey Porter Jr. and his six called the penalties had him at the bottom of the list with a 32.4 overall based on a 34.7 coverage score. Patrick Queen also was at the bottom of the list with a 33.0 overall score based on a team-low 29.1 coverage score. PFF has Queen giving up 10 receptions on 10 targets for 141 yards which may be true, but I don’t remember during the game feeling like Patrick Queen was the one responsible for that many plays. The final player below a 40.0 was Elandon Roberts with a 37.0 based on a 41.2 running score and a 48.1 coverage score.

Believe it or not, the top run defense score went to Cam Sutton with a 78.5 followed by a Lowdermilk with a 75.3. Sutton had only a 63.2 overall score based on a 57.7 coverage score and a 49.4 tackling score. When it came to tackling, three players scored in the 80s, all of which are safeties, in DeShon Elliott (85.6), Minkah Fitzpatrick (83.2), and Damontae Kazee (81.8). When it came to coverage, only three players scored above a 60.0 were the previously mentioned Payton Wilson (76.6), Beanie Bishop (68.0), and Minkah Fitzpatrick (62.0). Beanie Bishop saw his quality score on only six snaps total in the game.

For those who were wondering, T.J. Watt had a 67.6 overall score based on a 70.2 pass rushing score, 65.1 run defense score, 73.1 tackling score, and 60.0 coverage score. Despite not having the highest scores this week, Watt still has the second highest PFF score of any defender for this season with a 92.5 overall, which is only behind the five games of Aidan Hutchinson and his 94.9 score which will not change this season as he is out for the year.

Overall

I still don’t understand how they score things on special teams. They must not have held a blocked field goal against Chris Boswell as he had a 70.3 overall score which was second highest in the NFL this week only behind Cameron Dicker (70.8). Yet last week when Boswell only missed a 58-yard field goal his score dropped all the way to a 56.0. It makes no sense.

There’s not anything offensively that stands out to me overall as being incorrect this week. Of course, the pass blocking score by the Steelers running backs has been horribly incorrect for multiple seasons so I won’t go on about it too much, but it greatly affects my opinion of PFF’s ability to do this job. As for the defense, I would have to go back and look at Patrick Queen in coverage to see if that was an issue. I’m wondering if he just got dinged on a lot of passes where he happened to be the closest guy but it’s not like they were throwing at him. But maybe they were.

In a game where the Steelers scored 44 points and gave up 38 points, even though seven points on each side were done by the opposing defense, I’m not surprised these scores are what they are. With so much else to be happy about with the Steelers after this game, I’m not letting PFF’s evaluation of things affects my feelings on it.

My grade of this week’s PFF scores: C+