Tag: Nick Herbig

Former Wisconsin linebacker records game-changing strip-sack in Steelers loss to Browns

Former Wisconsin linebacker records game-changing strip-sack in Steelers loss to Browns

Former Wisconsin linebacker Nick Herbig made his presence felt in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24-19 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday.

Herbig stepped up when it mattered most as a blizzard roared on at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio. With just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the UW alumnus strip-sacked Browns quarterback Jameis Winston near Cleveland’s 20-yard line to flip possession in favor of Pittsburgh.

Fellow Wisconsin alumnus Russell Wilson would help the Steelers capitalize on Herbig’s huge play with a 23-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Calvin Austin III. In the blink of an eye, Pittsburgh turned an 18-13 deficit in a 19-18 edge.

Here’s the full play:

Winston would ultimately lead the Browns on a nine-play, 45-yard scoring drive capped by a rushing touchdown from Nick Chubb. After that sequence, the score remained 24-19 in favor of Cleveland for the remainder of the contest.

Regardless of the outcome, Herbig played extremely well. The former Badger tallied five tackles, two QB hits and the strip-sack. His season-long numebers are now up to 15 total tackles, 3.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.

Steelers injury updates: Pittsburgh getting key defender back just in time

This will be Alex Highsmith’s second injury but Nick Herbig is back to fill in.

The Pittsburgh Steelers came out of Sunday’s win over the Washington Commanders with a huge win. They also came out of it with a huge injury. Starting outside linebacker Alex Highsmith went down with an ankle injury suffered trying to sack Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.

According to Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac, Highsmith was set to have an MRI on his injured ankle on Monday and would have a better idea of how long Highsmith would be out. Dulac speculated that Highsmith would be out at least a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, help is on the way. After missing the last four games with a hamstring injury, Herbig was back at practice last week and should be good to go against the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers also get help from Preston Smith who Pittsburgh traded for with the Green Bay Packers at the trade deadline.

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Report: Alex Highsmith seen in crutches following Week 10 injury

Alex Highsmith was seen on crutches leaving the Steelers’ locker room, raising concerns about the severity of his ankle injury.

In what should be an exciting celebration for the now 7-2 Pittsburgh Steelers, fans can’t help but sympathize with star EDGE Alex Highsmith, who appeared to suffer a serious ankle injury during his team’s Week 10 victory over the Washington Commanders.

While the severity of the injury remains unclear, more details regarding Highsmith’s availability for the 2024 season will be revealed in the coming days. The outlook, however, doesn’t look promising.

Highsmith was seen using crutches as he left the Steelers’ locker room, suggesting the injury may cause him to miss significant time.

Highsmith recently missed Weeks 4 to 6 with a groin injury, and backup Nick Herbig is also nursing a hamstring injury. With this in mind, the Steelers’ trade for veteran OLB Preston Smith seems to have been a perfect move.

Smith will fill in admirably if Highsmith is forced to miss serious time, but fans of the Black and Gold are nonetheless hoping for a speedy recovery.

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Steelers injury update: Nick Herbig’s status still in question

Steelers EDGE Nick Herbig was limited at Thursday practice.

On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers made a trade with the Green Bay Packers, landing outside linebacker Preston Smith. Pittsburgh might need Smith to get on the field Sunday against the Washington Commanders as part of the team’s pass-rushing rotation.

The reason is that on Thursday, outside linebacker Nick Herbig was still limited at practice.  Herbig continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out of the team’s last three games. Herbig got two starts in place of an injured Alex Highsmith and was well on his way to a breakout season.

If Herbig isn’t ready to go, we could see a heavy dose of Smith who joined the team on Tuesday. Pittsburgh is also without Demarvin Leal who was placed on IR. The Steelers take on the 7-2 Washington Commanders on Sunday.

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Insider predicts Steelers to upgrade defense at trade deadline

Steelers insider Gerry Dulac believes Pittsburgh could have their eyes on defensive players at the trade deadline, primarily edge rushers.

The day has finally arrived—the exciting trade deadline!  Several analysts, players, and fans believed the Pittsburgh Steelers would be heavily involved in acquiring wide receivers at the trade deadline; however, one insider thinks that is unlikely. Steelers insider Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette predicts the team will use the trade deadline to bolster the defense, focusing on depth concerns.

Appearing on the Randy Baumann & the DVE Morning Show, Dulac stated that “I do think they might make a deal to improve their depth, and you could look at maybe certain positions where they are lacking a little depth.” He mentioned concerns with edge rushers and cornerbacks.

This aligns with relevant issues, as OLB Nick Herbig is dealing with a serious hamstring injury, and OLB Alex Highsmith recently returned from an injury in Week 3.

Whether Pittsburgh should make the safe trade or the exciting one remains to be seen. However, the trade deadline on November 5th at 4:00 PM EST is around the corner, and fans of the Black and Gold will soon know what the team’s roster will look like in the second half of the 2024 season.

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Raiders, Steelers Week 6 final injury report: Steelers without couple pass rushers

Steelers will ithout couple pass rushers and starting linebackers Sunday vs the Raiders

Both the Raiders and Steelers have their top pass rusher. That’s the good news. But both teams also are suffering from depth at the position.

This week the Steelers are officially without starting linebackers Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith, along with DE DeMarvin Leal, making them pretty thin at linebacker and edge rusher.

Herbig in particular is second on the team in sacks (2.5) and tackles for loss (three) behind only TJ Watt. And Highsmith is a full time starting linebacker.

Overall, the Steelers are pretty banged up, with six players officially OUT, four of whom are defenders.

The Raiders injury list is long, but several of the players who had been missing from practice early in the week returned on Friday and are Questionable for the game including WR Jakobi Meyers (ankle), G Jackson Powers-Johnson (knee), and RB Zamir White (groin).

The only players officially OUT are Davante Adams (hamstring) and TE Michael Mayer (personal). And, of course, Christian Wilkins (foot) was placed on IR this week.

Steelers vs Raiders injury updates: Game status report for both teams

The Steelers are missing several key players this weekend.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders square off on Sunday and both teams will be doing it without several of their best players. Here is the game-status report for each of the teams.

Steelers

S Damontae Kazee (OUT)

EDGE Nick Herbig (OUT)

EDGE Alex Highsmith (OUT)

DE Demarvin Leal (OUT)

RB/WR Cordarrelle Patterson (OUT)

TE MyCole Pruitt (OUT)

RB Jaylen Warren (Questionable)

Raiders

WR Davante Adams (OUT)

TE Michael Mayer (OUT)

LB Tommy Eichenberg (Questionable)

WR Jakobi Meyers (Questionable)

OT Tab Munford (Questionable)

G Jackson Powers-Johnson (Questionable)

RB Zamir White (Questionable)

S Trey Taylor (Questionable)

With Highsmith, Herbig and Leal out, the Steelers are terribly thin at edge rusher. Based on the depth chart, it will be second-year player Jeremiah Moon getting the start opposite T.J. Watt.

For the offense, a return of running back Jaylen Warren would be huge. With Cordarrelle Patterson out, Najee Harris can’t really be the guy to carry the rushing attack. If Warren on a snap count is better than Just Harris and the occasional Justin Fields run.

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3 reasons for optimism as Raiders face the Steelers Week 6

The Steelers have similar issues as the Raiders right now. Including a QB controversy, struggles in the run game, and mounting injuries.

Sunday the 3-2 Steelers come to Las Vegas to face the 2-2 Raiders. The Steelers started the season 3-0, but have lost two straight. The Raiders are coming off a huge loss to the Broncos, so both teams are currently searching for answers, primarily at the quarterback position.

Here are reason for optimism for the Raiders as they face the Steelers.

Familiarity with either QB

There could be a QB change in Pittsburgh. But it may not matter in terms of the Raiders preparrations because they know both QB’s pretty well.

If they were to stick with Justin Fields, his former OC Luke Getsy is the OC with the Raiders, so few would know Fields better.

If they go with Russell Wilson, well this entire Raiders defense is familiar with him. They beat his three times over the past two seasons as the quarterback in Denver. Not to mention, if you’re turning to Russell Wilson as your answer at QB, that suggests things have gotten pretty bad.

Steelers run game is not strong

While we talk about the Raiders zone scheme not meshing in Las Vegas, the Steelers are having similar issues. In fact, while the Raiders have moved up to 28th in the league in yards per attempt (3.9 ypc), the Steelers are actually below them at 29th (3.7 ypc). Yeah, so neither of these teams are running the ball too well.

Edge rushers banged up

Nick Herbig and Demarvin Leal both left the Steelers loss to the Cowboys last Sunday and neither were at practice on Wednesday leaving the team thin at outside linebacker. They still have one TJ Watt, which goes a long way. But even the best pass rushers are helped by a complementary edge rusher on the other side.

Steelers injury updates: 2 key defenders already ruled out vs the Raiders

The Steelers have quickly run out of edge rushers.

When Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media on Tuesday, it was almost all bad news on the injury front. The Steelers are preparing to take on the Las Vegas Raiders this week and Tomlin already ruled out edge rushers Nick Herbig and Demarvin Leal with injuries.

This leaves T.J. Watt and Jeremiah Moon as the only edge rushers on the roster. Pittsburgh is already minus Alex Highsmith who is on IR. The Steelers do have three edge defenders on the practice squad and Tomlin said one of them could get an opportunity this week.

They are Adetokunbo Ogundeji, Eku Leota and Jacoby Windmon. Windmon had a pretty strong preseason and showed some solid athleticism as a rookie. We expect to see the Steelers work in inside linebackers Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson into the gameplan as well, either as inside blitzers or even coming off the edge.

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Former Wisconsin legends were PFF’s highest-graded edge defenders for NFL Week 5

Former Wisconsin legends were PFF’s highest-graded edge defenders for NFL Week 5

Through five games of the 2024 NFL season, a group of former Wisconsin defenders have wreaked havoc on opposing offenses.

Among those top playmakers are Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig. The duo put on quite the show against the Dallas Cowboys during Week 5 on Sunday Night Football.

Despite losing 20-17 after Cowboy quarterback Dak Prescott engineered a game-winning drive with under 30 seconds to spare, the duo made their presence felt throughout the game. Watt finished with eight tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, one tackle for loss and three quarterback hits while Herbig recorded two tackles, 1/2 sack, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Their spectacular outputs also impressed some folks at ProFootballFocus. Herbig reeled in an overall grade of 91.0, the highest among any qualified edge rusher this week, while Watt finished with a grade of 90.3, tied for second only behind his teammate.

The most notable play for each Badger alumnus occurred on the same sequence. Facing a critical third down sequence, the two converged in the Cowboys’ backfield to strip-sack Prescott to prevent Dallas from scoring and to flip possession back in Pittsburgh’s favor.

While Watt has morphed into the heartbeat the Steelers’ defense, Herbig has just dipped his toes into his NFL career. After selected in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL draft, he put up 27 tackles, 3.0 sacks, five tackles, three quarterback hits and two forced fumbles as a rookie.

In just five games, he already boasts eight tackles, 2.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. If he continues to play at this pace, Steelers fans will see much more of him alongside Watt throughout the season.