Steelers’ “Studs and Duds” from Week 14 against the Bengals
Steel City Underground’s “Studs and Duds” takes a look at the winners and losers from each of the Pittsburgh Steelers games during the 2020 season. Check with us after every game each week for our list, and to also see who climbed, or fell, down the rankings.
Studs
T.J. Watt
Edge rusher T.J. Watt got off to a fast start in the Steelers’ 27 to 17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He stuffed running back Giovanni Bernard in the backfield on consecutive plays on the Bengals’ first drive of the game, forcing them to punt, and picked up 2 more tackles for loss and a sack throughout the rest of the game. The Bengals did manage to slow Watt down, at least by his standards, later in the game though.
Alex Highsmith
Rookie edge rusher Alex Highsmith made a critical mistake in the 4th quarter, allowing Bengals quarterback Ryan Finley to fool him on a fake handoff and run in what would be the game-winning touchdown for the Bengals, but Highsmith played well enough throughout the game that he should be recognized for it. Though he, unfortunately, did not record a sack in the game, he won his matchups on the outside more often than you would expect for a rookie edge rusher and brought pressure on Ryan Finley often, especially early on. It should be an encouraging performance for the rookie.
Steven Nelson
Cornerback Steven Nelson had one of his better games this season in coverage. He made two impressive pass breakups in 3rd down situations and did not have his name called very often during the game for giving up plays to Bengals’ wide receivers.
Diontae Johnson
After multiple consecutive poor performances by wide receiver Diontae Johnson, it was refreshing to see him have a solid game against the Bengals. He was benched the prior week for dropping too many passes, so dropping one early against the Bengals did not bode well for him, but, outside of that, he came down with most of the catchable passes thrown his way and made at least two impressive catches on poor throws. He also caught a touchdown pass in the game and drew a long pass interference penalty that set the Steelers’ offense up on the one-yard line.
Benny Snell
Running back Benny Snell filled in admirably as the starting running back in place of the injured James Conner. He looked like the best offensive player for the Steelers at times and added a much-needed spark to what has been an unimpressive running game as of late for Pittsburgh. Snell rushed for 84 yards on 18 carries, scored a touchdown, and caught 3 passes for 23 yards. He also converted on at least two short-yardage runs for first downs in the game.
Duds
Ben Roethlisberger
Ben Roethlisberger had one of the worst first-half performances of his career, if not the worst, against the Bengals. He threw for a total of 19 yards in the half, missing horribly on the majority of his throws. He threw a horrendous interception in the first half as well and made multiple poor throws that could have also been intercepted. “Big Ben” played better in the 2nd half, but his performance in the 1st half ultimately lost the game for the Steelers.
The Offensive Line
It was a long night for left tackle Alejandro Villanueva trying to keep Carl Lawson away from Ben Roethlisberger. Lawson beat Villanueva far too often, so often in fact that he racked up a sack and a total of 6 quarterback hits on “Big Ben.”
Right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor did not fair much better on the other side of the offensive line. He also committed an inexcusable late hit penalty in the 1st half that cost the Steelers’ offense 15 yards in a game where they were already struggling to move the football.
“Big Ben” and center Maurkice Pouncey fumbled a snap early in the 1st half that set the Bengals’ offense up on the Steelers’ 20-yard line and ultimately resulted in a field goal for Cincinnati.
Overall, it was a very poor performance by the offensive line as they failed to get significant push up-front and allowed the Bengals’ pass rush to exert too much influence on the game.
