The Pittsburgh Steelers 30-9 win over the Cleveland Browns Sunday at Heinz Field featured some strong and poor play on both sides of the ball and Pro Football Focus has now attempted to identify that in their initial set of grades from the game.
Offensively for Steelers, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that wide receiver Antonio Brown (2.5) earned the highest grade for the team thanks to his 10 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. No word if PFF gave him extra points for nailing the landing on his flip, however.
Guard David DeCastro (2.3) and tackle Marcus Gilbert (2.2) both graded out strong in their 69 snaps as did quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (1.9), who came off the bench in the first quarter after starter Landry Jones (-1.1) went down injured. The second part of that sentence sure was was weird to type.
Grading out poorly on that side of the football for the Steelers were center Cody Wallace (-4.1) and running back DeAngelo Williams (-1.2). Wallace had problems right from start and especially in the run blocking department. He also allowed one hit and a hurry during the game in pass protection. Williams ended the game with 54 yards rushing on 17 carries.
Defensively for the Steelers against the Browns, safeties Will Allen (2.8) and Mike Mitchell (2.7) had the top two grades. Allen led the team in tackles with 11 and also had a forced fumble in the game. Mitchell, on the other hand, was credited with 5 total tackles to go along with his interception and two passes defensed.
Grading out poorly on Sunday were linebacker Anthony Chickillo (-2.0), linebacker Arthur Moats (-1.7) and defensive end Cameron Heyward (-1.6).
The Heyward grade is quite curious as I thought he handled Browns rookie guard Cameron Erving quite well throughout the game, which I have watched three times now. It will be interesting to see if that grade gets adjusted up when the all-22 comes out.
As for Chickillo, he saw his first defensive action on Sunday with James Harrison out but only registered a tackle on special teams. He played 22 snaps against the Browns which is certainly a lot more than most thought he would play.
