Steelers 4 Downs: Nick Herbig statistically rates as best pass rusher in football

1. ‘Herb’ is the word

Nick Herbig started the season — and remains — the third option for the Pittsburgh Steelers at outside linebacker.

By one respected measure, though, he’s No. 1 in the NFL.

A third-year former fourth-round pick, Herbig is the best in the league among edge rushers in the ESPN metric “pass rush win rate.” In effect, ESPN reports Herbig is beating his blocker within 2.5 seconds on 36% of his pass rush snaps. The second-best in the league in that category is Will Anderson of the Houston Texans at 33%.

Notably, the Steelers’ starters at outside linebacker — perennial All-Pro T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith — are not among the top 20 edge rushers in PRWR.

Incidentally, Pro Football Focus grades rate Herbig as the 10th-best pass-rushing edge defender and have credited him with 20 pressures in four games he’s played this season. That’s 5.0 per game — by comparison, the NFL leader in pressures as measured by PFF (the Detroit Lions’ Aiden Hutchinson) averaged 6.0 pressures.

2. Air A-Rod

A frequent ongoing storyline surrounding the Steelers offense this season has been a bevvy of short passes. Veteran Aaron Rodgers remains the NFL quarterback who on average throws passes the least far downfield. For the season, his completions average getting caught 3.2 yards past the line of scrimmage. His average throw (regardless of whether it was caught or not) is 5.4 yards down the field. All data is courtesy NFL Next Gen Stats.

During the win against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, though, Rodgers was relatively airing it out. His 5.0 average completed air yards and 7.5 average intended air yards were season highs.

Both those figures came in at (roughly) league average. That won’t have anyone confusing Rodgers with the great deep-ball throwers of the league, but it was a significant bump up from the (largely) dink-and-dunk approach of games in the recent past.

3. Blitzing in the ’Burgh

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin spoke this week about how much more he and the defensive staff felt enough of a level of trust in the personnel this season, so much so that they felt more comfortable blitzing.

The data bears that out.

The Steelers’ blitz rate (according to pro-football-reference.com) of 35.5% ranks third in the league. By comparison, the 2024 Steelers blitzed just 25.9% of the time, accounting for a rare instance in which they did not rank among the top 10 in the NFL in blitz rate.

The most recent time the Steelers had a season blitz rate higher than this season was 2020. That was also the most recent time they finished in the top three in blitz rate. Last season was only the second occasion since such data became available in 2017 that the Steelers were not in the top 10.

4. And then there were two

Cameron Heyward continues to climb lists related to holding a place among Steelers all-time franchise greats. Suiting up for Thursday night’s game at the Cincinnati Bengals would represent his 217th game for the team. That will tie him with former receiver (and former teammate) Hines Ward as third-most for the franchise. Only another ex-teammate, Ben Roethlisberger (249 games), and Hall of Fame center Mike Webster (220) have more. Assuming he stays healthy. Heyward is on pace to pass Webster exactly one month after he ties Ward (Nov. 16, also against the Bengals).

On Thursday, Heyward also will tie former 1970s and 80s Washington Redskins stalwart Dave Butz for the eighth-most games played by a defensive tackle in NFL history. Next up is Hall of Famer Alan Page at 218. If Heyward plays in all of the Steelers’ remaining games in 2025, he will climb to fourth all-time in games played among NFL defensive tackles.