Well, that was certainly a wild game.
Somehow, some way, the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled out a 26-22 win on Monday Night Football over the Cleveland Browns, moving to 1-1 on the year.
The defense turned in two touchdowns — one each from outside linebackers Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt — George Pickens had a 71-yard touchdown and the Steelers found a way to win a rather ugly game in the end.
A win is a win, no matter how it looks. Keep that in mind when looking at the report card coming out of the Week Two win.
QB — D
For the second straight week Kenny Pickett got off to a rough start. He misfired on some early throws as his accuracy was again a mess. He also threw a rather ugly interception to Cleveland safety Grant Delpit, staring down the slant route to George Pickens, giving Cleveland a very short field.
After that, Pickett was up and down throughout the primetime matchup.
He had some great throws on the night, like a dart to Calvin Austin III along the right sideline in tight coverage and did a nice job with his timing and accuracy on the 71-yard touchdown pass to Pickens over the middle for a huge YAC splash play. But he was just a bit too inconsistent throughout the night.
Pickett finished 15-of-30 for 222 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He had another interception dropped early in the third quarter as well and made some head-scratching decisions. He bailed from clean pockets at times, held onto the ball too long in other instances and tried to make plays with his legs in situations that didn’t quite dictate it.
It’s a bit concerning seeing Pickett struggling like this early in his second season, especially after such a promising offseason, training camp and preseason.
RB — C
Outside of a couple of splash plays, there wasn’t much to write home about for Pittsburgh’s running backs.
Najee Harris rushed for 43 yards on just 10 carries, ripping off a 21-yard run and a 17-yard run in the third quarter that helped spark the offense. Those two carries accounted for 38 of his 43 yards. On his eight other carries he gained just five yards. Not good enough. Blocking wasn’t good, either.
Jaylen Warren wasn’t much better running the football, generating just 20 yards on six carries. For a brief sequence in the third quarter though he gave the Steelers a bit of a spark on the ground. He did damage as a receiver though, thanks to his 30-yard catch and run in the second quarter, a key third-and-10 conversion, running through some tackles and a pair of other big-time catches. Warren finished with 66 receiving yards on four catches.
He did have a major mistake in pass protection in the fourth quarter, three plays after a turnover by the Browns. He was supposed to stay in and block the blitzing linebacker with the offensive line sliding right. Instead, Warren did a delayed release to become a receiver, leading to a linebacker taking a clear path to Pickett for a big sack.
Harris also had a big fumble on a two-point conversion try in the first half in which he tried to leap over the line of scrimmage, rather than running through it, trying to extend the ball over the line but fumbling it in the process.
Some good, some bad from the running backs.
WR — B
In his first real shot at being a true No. 1 wide receiver with Diontae Johnson out with a hamstring injury, George Pickens turned in a star performance. Pickens finished with four receptions for a career-high 127 yards and a 71-yard touchdown. He would have had an even bigger night if Pickett was accurate on a few more throws.
Pickens was targeted 10 times and found himself open quite a bit. He handled a true No. 1 workload quite well and came through with a few big plays to provide the offense with a major spark.
Allen Robinson II was targeted just three times and finished with two catches for 12 yards. He made a tough catch early in the game along the sideline for a 7-yard gain. Calvin Austin III had just one catch for 10 yards, but it was a big one on a dart from Pickett while in tight coverage. Making the contested catch along the Browns sideline, he gave the Steelers a bit of a spark.
TE — C-
The tight ends were barely used in the passing game on Monday night with Pat Freiermuth drawing just two targets, finishing with one catch for two yards. That said, he ran a great clear-out route on Pickens’ touchdown, drawing the attention of the safeties, opening up the route underneath for the explosive touchdown.
Darnell Washington struggled as a blocker in the win. He got pushed around a bit by the powerful Cleveland defensive front and lost at the point of attack a few times in the run game, which was rather discouraging.
OL — D-
Yes, the Steelers offensive line did a good job negating the likes of Myles Garrett, Za’Darius Smith and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo as pass rushers. The trio combined for just five tackles, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits on Monday night as the Steelers did a nice job of handling them.
But it wasn’t good enough overall.
The line struggled to generate any type of push in the run game as the Steelers rushed for just 56 yards on 21 carries. That’s 2.6 yards per carry. Second week in a row the Steelers have struggled mightily to run the football, even with another explosive run from Harris.
The offensive line allowed two sacks of Pickett and nine quarterback hits, not to mention countless pressures. They really struggled throughout the night in the trenches causing the pocket to be muddied at times. When they did provide Pickett with clean pockets, he appeared to have happy feet and bailed.
The offensive line has to improve in a hurry.
DL — C+
Without Cameron Heyward in the matchup, the Steelers — as expected — struggled to stop the run. Cleveland gashed the Steelers for 198 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries, including a 69-yard run from Jerome Ford in the third quarter. The Steelers really didn’t have much of an answer.
Montravius Adams struggled at the point of attack and was pushed around. So was Isaiahh Loudermilk, who just can’t be trusted to hold up in the run game at this point. Two straight weeks he’s been a major liability in the run game.
That said, Larry Ogunjobi, DeMarvin Leal and Keeanu Benton all had strong games, Ogunjobi especially.
Needing to step up in a major way, Ogunjobi was a force on Monday night. He had a sack, four tackles and two quarterback hits, consistently winning his matchups on the interior. Leal added a sack and played well throughout the night, while Benton added two tackles and held his own as a run defender again.
Hopefully he continues to see more playing time.
LB — A-
The outside linebackers were again fantastic, this time single-handedly carrying the Steelers to the win. Alex Highsmith had a career night, intercepting a pass on the first play from scrimmage and returning it for a touchdown and then later notching a strip sack of Deshaun Watson that T.J. Watt returned 16 yards for the game-winning score.
The Browns had no answers for the duo.
Watt also set the Steelers’ all-time franchise record with a sack of Watson late in the first half and finished the night with four tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, two quarterback hits and the game-winning touchdown. Highsmith led the way with seven tackles, a sack, tackle for loss, one pass defensed and two quarterback hits.
Dominant performance.
Markus Golden and Nick Herbig had strong performances, too, in relief of Highsmith. Golden recorded his first sack as a Steeler in the win, while Herbig should have had his first career sack with a great pass rush but did draw a game-changing facemask penalty on Watson on the play.
Inside, Cole Holcomb had a big forced fumble in the second half, punching the football out of David Njoku’s hands on a key third-down play. Holcomb added eight tackles and a tackle for loss. He had issues against the run at times, but he was around the football quite a bit.
So, too, was Kwon Alexander. The veteran finished with a game-high nine tackles and a tackle for loss, leading the Steelers in tackles for the second straight week. He drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Watson in the second half, too, which eventually forced a punt.
Before exiting with an injury, Elandon Roberts had a couple of nice plays against the run, including a thunderous tackle on Cleveland running back Pierre Strong Jr. at the goal line following Ford’s long run. He also missed a big tackle in the backfield later in the game that Ford was able to bounce out of and move the chains. Up and down night for Roberts, who had just two tackles.
DB — C
Though Joey Porter Jr. stole the show late in the game on Monday night with a big play on fourth down against Donovan Peoples-Jones, it was a rough showing for the Steelers secondary.
Levi Wallace really struggled once again for the Steelers. Cleveland went after him time and time again. He had no answers for Amari Cooper in coverage. He also dropped an interception in the end zone after a miscommunication between Watson and a receiver that should have been a touchback for the Steelers.
Patrick Peterson struggled throughout the night as well. He did have one pass breakup, but Cooper had his number throughout the night, especially on a contested catch along the Browns sideline in the first half in which Peterson was flagged for pass interference, too. Porter needs to be playing more. He had a huge pass breakup on a third down early in the game to hold the Browns to a field goal and then had the play on fourth down to force a turnover on downs and give the Steelers the win.
Chandon Sullivan was a mess on the night. He was slow to get home on nickel blitzes in the first half, allowing easy completions from Watson. He also had a facemask penalty that gave the Browns 15 yards and a first down after it looked like the Steelers got a stop.
Minkah Fitzpatrick was rather good before exiting with a chest injury. He had six tackles, two passes defensed and popped the football into the air for Highsmith’s pick-six. His hustle was impressive on Ford’s 69-yard run, too, getting off of a block behind the play to chase down the running back, a play on which he was injured.
Damontae Kazee had a big fumble recovery and finished with six tackles. He played relatively well coming downhill against the run in the second half, as did Keanu Neal, who added six tackles and a pass breakup.
Elijah Riley had a strong night as well, and quietly had a sack on Watson that saved the game, racing home on a scramble from Watson to track down the quarterback like a heat-seeking missile. That sets up the fourth down on which Porter Jr. forced an incompletion on for the win.
The cornerback position needs to get figured out in a hurry, though. Wallace and Peterson aren’t good enough.
Special Teams — B+
Hats off to Pressley Harvin III. After getting called out by Mike Tomlin in his press conference last Tuesday, Harvin turned in his best punting performance of his career. He averaged 45.7 yards per punt, dropped two punts inside the 5-yard line — including one at the 1-yard line — and had four total downed inside the 20.
Remarkable stuff. He also had a great hold on Chris Boswell’s 50-yard field goal, saving a bad snap from Christian Kuntz to get the ball down for a clean kick.
Boswell drilled a 50-yarder and a 52-yarder in the win and hit both extra points. No issues from him whatsoever at home.
Outside of Harvin and Boswell though, special teams remain a concern.
Gunner Olszewski made one of the worst plays I’ve ever seen early in the game, catching a kickoff at the 9-yard line and stepping out of bounds immediately, even toe-tapping his feet inbounds. He never waved fair catch, either. Disastrous play. Then, Patrick Peterson raced offside on a Browns extra point, which allowed Cleveland to go for two. They successfully converted.
Second straight week that Peterson went offside on a field goal attempt. Be better — and smarter.
Calvin Austin III had a nice 14-yard punt return to spark the Steelers in the second half.
