Players aren’t hitting quarterbacks any more or less than they were a few years ago. And we’ve already seen some ridiculous plays called “roughing.” For example, Steelers safety Keanu Neal’s was penalized for a hit on Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence two weeks ago, but not fined by the league, meaning the NFL viewed it as a clean play.

But we are seeing more quarterback fumbles. Last season, four quarterbacks – Justin Fields, Matt Ryan, Josh Allen and Lawrence – had 10 or more fumbles over the course of the season. In fact, the statuesque Ryan had a ridiculous 15 in just 12 games, which led to his eventual benching in Indianapolis.

This season, we’ve got 10 quarterbacks on pace to reach double digits in fumbles.

• There is a feeling in some circles that Najee Harris is having a down season. But that’s not been the case.

Harris ranks second in the NFL in broken tackles with 14, three behind leader Travis Etienne of Jacksonville. But when you look closer, Harris is producing a broken tackle once every 7.1 rushing attempts, which leads the NFL.

He just doesn’t have the number of rushing attempts of Etienne, who is breaking a tackle once every 8.9 carries. Etienne has 51 more rushing attempts than Harris, who enters Week 10 with 100 carries.

Then there’s the always important running back statistic yards after contact. Breece Hall of the Jets leads the league in that important statistic at 2.4 yards after the first defender contacts him.

Harris is tied for sixth in the NFL with Tennessee’s Derrick Henry at 2.0 yards after contact.

In addition to Hall, the running backs ahead of Harris in terms of yards after contact include the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, San Francisco’s Christian McCaffery, James Cook of the Bills and Jahmyr Gibbs of the Lions.

Jaylen Warren, by the way, has seven broken tackles on 56 rushing attempts and is averaging 1.9 yards after contact, so he’s been very effective, as well.

• Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s decision to have rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. shadow Tennessee’s DeAndre Hopkins at times last week wasn’t just about Porter’s coverage ability. There was a lot more that went into the decision than simply putting the best coverage corner on Tennessee’s top receiving threat.

“It’s good that Joey wants an assignment like that, but it has to be good for us,” Tomlin said this week. “And there were a lot of things that made it advantageous for us. You know, a lot of their run game went away from (Hopkins) and so, Joey didn’t have to worry about a lot of run game fits and dealing with (Derrick) Henry. All of your screens went away from him and so, he didn’t have to worry about screen fits.

•Dale Lolley is co-host of “SNR Drive” on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast

“And so, there’s a young guy with some natural coverage abilities and skills and some other components of his game of growing and developing and just by virtue of traveling with D Hop some of those other things got minimized. And so, there’s always a lot of depth to decisions and oftentimes it’s some other things that are equally as important as some obvious things in terms of decision making.”

Those are things most people don’t think about when it comes to making a decision such as having Porter travel with a certain receiver.

• One other thing that isn’t taken into consideration is how rookies will respond to certain things.

With Broderick Jones now getting an extended look at right tackle, the Steelers’ first four draft picks – Jones, Porter, defensive tackle Keeanu Benton and tight end Darnell Washington are all playing important snaps.

But Benton and Washington aren’t being counted upon to start and play the majority of snaps. Benton has played just over 40 percent of the team’s defensive snaps, while Washington has played just over 45 percent of the offensive snaps.

An offensive tackle and a cornerback never come off the field because of the positions they play.

Easing those two players into the lineup helps avoid them both hitting the rookie wall. Jones, for example, started 14 games last season at Georgia. Even with the two games he’s started this season already for the Steelers, he would only reach that total again if the team gets to the Super Bowl.

The same goes for Porter, who now has started two games, as well.

After his rookie season in 2017, T.J. Watt admitted the next he hit the rookie wall late in his rookie year.

The Steelers have plans on playing deep into this season. They don’t want Jones and Porter hitting any kind of rookie wall.