Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers came into Week 17 playing their best football of the entire season, leading us to believe that they were peaking at the right time. Instead, their struggles in Cleveland, Ohio, continued with a 13-6 loss behind a slow-starting defense, an anemic passing game, and conservative coaching.
Strangely enough, the Browns didn’t even play particularly well. They committed six penalties, turned the ball over twice, and couldn’t recover three fumbles that Pittsburgh put on the turf.
The good news is that they still control their own destiny with a home game on deck, but it won’t be easy, especially if Lamar Jackson is back in the lineup for the Ravens. Before burning the tape on this performance, let’s talk through some winners and losers.
Over the past month, #56 has been the Steelers’ best player on defense, and I’m not sure that it’s been overly close. Highsmith finished the day with four pressures and two sacks, according to PFF’s initial charting. The Charlotte product was also stout in setting the edge versus the run, drew multiple penalties, and was a key cog in holding the Browns’ rushing attack to a measly 23% rushing success rate. T.J. Watt leaves big cleats to fill, but he’s done an admirable job leading the group in his absence.
We can certainly quibble with the decision-making process to have MVS, who was a street free agent just two months ago, lead the team in routes run in a game with playoff implications. Nonetheless, he really struggled to get open all day aside from an early fade route from the slot where he had a step of separation. His nine targets were a team high, but only three of those were successful. The buddy ball approach from Rodgers and his former Packers teammate simply was detrimental to the cause.
Warren’s usage continues to be one of the more head-scratching developments around the league this season. To his credit, he made the most of his chances per usual. He received 12 carries and finished with a 58% success rate, creating 56 of his 64 yards after contact thanks to four forced missed tackles. Cleveland’s front seven is a tough code to crack, but they were able to stay ahead of the chains and continue some of their momentum in the trenches from recent weeks. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope he has a larger role next week.
As a whole the defense shares very little blame for the loss, as the Browns offense was completely non-functional after the first quarter. However, it was important for the Steelers to get off to a quick start and play from a favorable game script in this one. That didn’t happen because a pair of big plays came at their safeties’ expense. Clark was toasted for a 42-yard completion on the opening drive. Shortly after, Dugger couldn’t...
