On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost 22-20 to the Baltimore Ravens and below is my list of winners and losers from the game. Feel free to add your own in the comments below.
Winners:
Jason Worilds – Worilds has likely made himself a ton of money the last three weeks as once again he was the Steelers best defensive player. Worilds was credited with 10 total tackles, two sacks, three hits and one forced fumble to go along with a few unofficial pressures. The Ravens dedicated a little more help to his side in the second half, which seemed to quiet him some.
Le’Veon Bell – This was easily Bell’s best game of his young career. He had 73 yards on 16 carries and chipped in another seven catches for 63 yards. He had one rushing touchdown in the game and would have had two if his helmet wouldn’t have come off on the final drive. Bell also blocked well in the backfield and he ate up grass nicely on blitz pickups. Once again, several of his yards came after first contact.
Lawrence Timmons – Timmons had a fine game. Not only did he register eight total tackles, all but one was within two yards or less from the line of scrimmage.
Heath Miller – Miller led the Steelers in receptions with eight and yardage with 86. While he failed to score a touchdown, he moved the chains several times. Miller has struggled quite a bit in the blocking department this season and while he wasn’t perfect Thursday night, he did have several key blocks and one of them helped Bell walk right into the endzone for a touchdown.
Kelvin Beachum – Before leaving late in the game with an injury, Beachum did a great job on Ravens linebackers Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil. A few pressures perhaps, but quarterback Ben Roethlisberger once again wasn’t sacked and that says a lot. Suggs came into the game with nine sacks and 67 tackles. His lone solo tackle Thursday night was on a nine yard completion to Bell.
Mat McBriar – McBriar finally had a good game punting and he pinned the Ravens inside their own 20 twice on four punts.
Losers:
Ike Taylor – While Taylor was not fully to blame on the first big play and short touchdown that followed, he does share some of it. Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith caught six passes for 93 yards and a touchdown in the game and Taylor also was flagged for a 26 yard pass interference penalty in addition.
Emmanuel Sanders – Sanders had sveral drops in this game and while it would have been a tough catch on the two point conversion that would have tied things up, it’s one that he has to make. Sanders also quite on one option route and his run blocking was far from great. Yes, he did have a touchdown and a nice leaping catch in the game, but he left several other plays on the field.
Will Allen – Allen shares blame with Taylor on the first big play and overall his deep help in the game was not great. This was by far Allen’s worst game since arriving back in Pittsburgh.
Jarvis Jones – For as good as Worilds was on the left side, Jones was invisible on the right when it came to rushing the passer. While the rookie did record two total tackles, one was after a nine yard scramble by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. The other, an assist, was on a seven yard completion to running back Ray Rice.
Troy Polamalu – Only two total tackles in the game for Polamalu and one was after an eight yard completion to tight end Dallas Clark. On the first touchdown pass to Smith, Polamalu guessed wrong and he left Taylor with no help underneath. Technically Polamalu is playing linebacker right now and he certainly wasn’t a difference maker against the run.
Shaun Suisham – Cadence? Really? That botched field goal attempt really was huge and in addition, none of his kickoffs went into the endzone. Suisham’s onsides kick at the end of the game didn’t even travel the necessary 10 yards. Fail.
