The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered yet another ugly loss Sunday and this time it was to the Cleveland Browns. This week’s losers list could include 10 or players, but I tried to narrow it down to the worst of the worst. Feel free to add your own winners and losers that you think I missed in the comments below.
Winners:
Antonio Brown – As usual, Brown was one of the few bright spots for the Steelers in a loss. While he didn’t find the end zone Sunday, he did manage to catch seven passes for 118 yards. A few of his catches were of the back shoulder variety and he had a long in the game of 23.
Le’Veon Bell – The Steelers leaned on Bell heavily in the game and he averaged 4.6 yards on his 18 carries. He ended the day with 105 total yards thanks to him catching four passes for 23 yards to go along with his 82 yards on the ground.
Lawrence Timmons – It’s hard to list any Steelers defensive player as a winner after what we saw Sunday, but Timmons was consistently around the football. He finished the game with 10 total tackles and several of those were within three yards or less from the line of scrimmage.
Ross Ventrone – Ventrone was one of the few players to show up on special teams Sunday for the Steelers. He recorded two total tackles Sunday after being promoted to the 53 man roster on Saturday.
Losers:
Cortez Allen – It was another rough day at the office for Allen as the Browns went after him quite a bit in the game. Not only did Allen have his issues in coverage, he also showed Sunday that he still needs improvement when it comes to helping out against the run. On the Browns first touchdown of the game, Allen easily gave up the edge for the score. To make matters worse, Allen was flagged for holding on a third down play that ultimately resulted in another Browns rushing touchdown in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
Markus Wheaton – Wheaton was certainly not on the same page with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Sunday and you can probably credit the young receiver with either two or three drops in the game. He was targeted a total of 11 times against the Browns and finished the game with a measly four catches for 33 yards.
Troy Polamalu – Polamalu was fooled quite a bit Sunday in the passing game and he can be blamed for a poor fill attempt on one of the early touchdown runs. Sometimes Polamalu tries to do too much and I believe Sunday was a perfect example of that.
Sean Spence – Spence found himself stuck to several Browns offensive linemen for most of the game. He needs to do a better job of getting his arms extended in an effort to fight off blocks.
Ben Roethlisberger – While Roethlisberger had several of his passes dropped Sunday, he also had a few misfires at key times.
Cam Thomas – What a waste of a roster spot. When pushed back three yards against outside zone runs it forces the linebackers to have to work over top of him which put them out of position several times. Not being to keep his feet will eventually result in teammate of his getting injured.
