The Pittsburgh Steelers notched their ninth win of the season Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons and here is just a little sampling of some winners and losers for you to discuss. Feel free to add your own in the comments below that you think I missed.
Winners:
Antonio Brown – Sunday was just another day at the office for Brown as he caught all 10 passes thrown his way for 123 yards. Brown’s biggest reception in the game came with 37 seconds left in the half as it resulted in a gain of 28 yards. The play was initially ruled out of bounds but was rightly overturned after a review. One play later the Steelers offense was in the end zone. Brown, who set a new franchise record Sunday for receptions in a single-season, did have a costly taunting penalty in the third quarter, but I feel he did enough in the game to cover for that.
Le’Veon Bell – While not overly successful on the ground Sunday, Bell still managed to register 129 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the win. Perhaps even more impressive were Bell’s blitz pickups on passing downs. Thanks to his efforts Sunday, Bell set a new franchise record for total yards from scrimmage in a single season against the Falcons. The former second-round draft pick still has two games left in the season to run that total even higher.
William Gay – Gay recorded his third pick-6 of the season in the second quarter of Sunday’s game and it put the Steelers up 13-0. Gay also led the team in total tackles in the game and also broke up another pass intended for Falcons wide receiver Roddy White in the fourth quarter.
Sean Spence – Spence had three tackles in the game and only one of those plays went for positive yardage (2 yards). He continues to play in the Steelers base defense.
Shamarko Thomas – While Thomas failed to see time on defense once again, he did make an impact on special teams. Both of his tackles of Falcons return-man Devin Hester came on kickoffs.
Losers:
Antown Blake – Blake gave up several catches Sunday and two of them went for touchdowns. While he is a high-effort guy, he’s still often overmatched by bigger wide receivers and especially inside the red zone.
Jarvis Jones – Jones didn’t register a tackle in the game against the Falcons and when used as a nickel pass rusher he was very ineffective on the right side against Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews.
Mike Mitchell – Two of Mitchell’s three tackles in the game came after gains of 40 yards or more. On one of those two plays it looked like he took a very poor angle.
