Steelers Week 11: Winners and Losers
What can I say about the Steelers win over the Jaguars this Sunday? Ben Roethlisberger and company scored 6 points through the first three quarters, and the Steelers defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed. However, after a 16-0 deficit, Pittsburgh did the unbelievable – posting 20 unanswered points and a game-winning touchdown with 5 seconds on the clock. It was one of the most unbelievable comebacks I’ve seen. Here are my winners and losers:
Winners
Ben Roethlisberger
I was the biggest critic of Ben through three-quarters of this game, but talk about a clutch performance from the 36-year old quarterback. After starting the game with 3 interceptions and putting up a goose-egg on the scoreboard through two quarters, Ben came alive and became one of the biggest winners of this game – leading his team to 14 fourth-quarter points and the win over Jacksonville.
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Like Ben, JuJu had a quiet first half, but exploded for a pair of great contested catches over Jalen Ramsey late in the game that were crucial to the Steelers comeback. JuJu finished with 8 catches on 10 targets for 104 yards.
Javon Hargrave
The Steelers run defense was awful in the first half, but Hargrave had a pretty solid game, getting key penetration in the second half, and collecting a pair of sacks on Blake Bortles.
T.J. Watt
Watt wasn’t perfect in this game. He took some wide angles against the run and was sloppy in the first half. He turned up the heat though – helping the team shut down the run in the second half. Watt recorded 2 sacks and a pair of forced fumbles.
Vince Williams
Vince didn’t always contain the run well against the Jaguars, but he had a great second half. Williams was heavily involved in the run defense and posted a few key third down stuffs. Vince finished with 10 tackles, a sack, a pass defense, and a QB hit.
Determination
Determination was the real winner in this game. The truth is nobody was playing well for the Steelers for the majority of the game as they went down 16-0. It was sheer determination from Mike Tomlin’s team that not only kept the Steelers in this game, but gave them an opportunity for a comeback win with just seconds on the clock.
Losers
Run defense
The Steelers improved drastically in the second half, but their first-half run defense was pitiful. Pittsburgh’s defense allowed a whopping 179 rushing yards in this contest. The loss of Stephon Tuitt hurts, but the root of the problem runs even deeper than that.
Ben-to-Brown connection
The Ben-to-Brown connection in the first half wasn’t happening. Roethlisberger threw 2 interceptions in Brown’s before mounting a comeback, and Brown didn’t record a reception until the third quarter. Eventually, (and fortunately) everything worked out for Pittsburgh, but it was tough sledding in the first half for Ben and Brown.
James Conner
Conner doesn’t make this list often, but it wasn’t a good showing for the second year running back against Jacksonville. The Steelers were playing from behind for almost the entire game, and Conner couldn’t get much going. He had only 9 rushing attempts for 25 yards and dropped a would-be game-winning touchdown catch on the last drive (though, fortunately, it did not affect the outcome of the game).
