Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 27-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday afternoon.
WINNERS
EDGE T.J. Watt
Watt did all he could to make plays and compensate for another slow Steelers start. His first half was as strong as you could hope for, Watt recording two sacks and forcing fumble that Pittsburgh recovered. Facing a quality right tackle in Lane Johnson, Watt beat him and a chip for a late-second quarter sack.
His ability to produce impact plays in bunches is remarkable and isn’t talked about enough. Sunday was another example. Hopefully, his ankle/leg injury isn’t too serious.
TE Pat Freiermuth
After a quiet first half to the season, Freiermuth has heated up the last month. Now with a touchdown in three-straight games, he made a terrific hands catch to rip the ball away from physical S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to haul in a much-needed first-half touchdown.
There were other blips like a borderline dropped pass late in the half but that was a huge red-zone play that produced something in the passing game.
LB Mark Robinson
Kudos to Robinson and the energy Pittsburgh’s special teams came out with. They were hitting hard early in this one, including Robinson. He made a textbook tackle on Eagles PR Cooper DeJean to force the Steelers’ second fumble of the first quarter. Recovered by Nick Herbig, that takeaway produced a Steelers field goal.
Robinson has barely played on defense this year and has settled into a pure special teams role but he’s found ways to earn his keep and impact games.
WR Calvin Austin III
Without WR George Pickens and no obvious No. 1 target, someone had to step up. In the receiver room, Austin was that guy. He made a key catch on a slant to get back into field goal range at the half after Russell Wilson was sacked. He also hauled in a tough downfield grab on a flea flicker (when’s the last time the Steelers converted one of those?) and some short fourth-quarter catches he got YAC on.
LOSERS
CB Donte Jackson
Tough game for Jackson. Not only did he leave with a back injury, one of several games he’s missed time and/or been unable to finish, but his time on the field wasn’t much better. The Eagles went after him, including on WR A.J. Brown’s early touchdown catch. Jackson missed a key tackle on RB Kenneth Gainwell in the first half, too. CB James Pierre didn’t have a great day replacing him but is bigger and made a key third-down tackle in space.
OC Arthur Smith
Tough spot for Smith to be in without top WR George Pickens while facing a talented and creative defense. I get it. But it was an ugly plan that only changed when circumstances, like late in the first half, forced his hand.
Said coming into the game that Pittsburgh couldn’t come out heavy and packed in tight. Running the ball wouldn’t be effective that way. While I don’t hate the toss calls nearly as much as the rest of you, doing them out of I-formation and condensed formations isn’t going to produce results. And it didn’t.
Smith needed to spread and space things out, even if that meant still running the football. He stubbornly stuck to his plan despite losing Pickens and knowing the Eagles’ personality that would use five- and six-down fronts to plug gaps. On third down, he was totally outclassed by Philadelphia DC Vic Fangio.
Nothing came easy for the Steelers. And the scheme did nothing to help.
RB Najee Harris
You know why he’s here. The fumble. Pittsburgh was driving and inside the Eagles’ 30-yard-line when Harris muffed a toss on a play call that QB Russell Wilson changed at the line of scrimmage. Philadelphia recovered and marched downfield for a Tush Push touchdown, something Tomlin aimed to avoid. It was a long drive against a tired Pittsburgh defense.
It’s just one play but it was a play that changed the game. The Steelers’ odds of winning were drastically reduced from that miscue.
Open-Field Tackling
Not good enough in this one. Josh Carney will burn the midnight oil charting all the misses. The aforementioned one by Jackson and another one from Gainwell where CB Joey Porter Jr. and LB Patrick Queen missed. Damontae Kazee missed one on Hurts in open grass on a designed draw and that’s just a fraction of them.
In tight, the Steelers didn’t do a bad job, but 1v1 or out in space there were lots of issues.
Line Of Scrimmage/Time Of Possession
Pittsburgh just got beat up here. Not much needs to be said, the tape is the tape, but Philadelphia beat the Steelers at their own game. Harris’ fumble didn’t help but Pittsburgh still won the turnover battle 2-1. Despite that, they held the ball for just over 20 minutes and just about six minutes in the entire second half. That’s not how the Steelers have been winning, and they got a master class in what their ideal philosophy actually looks like.
