Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 19-17 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals in Saturday night in their regular-season finale.
WINNERS
EDGE T.J. Watt
Not many winners tonight. While Watt didn’t have a dominant showing on the box score, his presence was felt. He took advantage of the Bengals’ weakness at right tackle, effectively on their third-string option, and took it to a beat-up Cody Ford. Watt had a sack-fumble that was unfortunately negated by a Cory Trice Jr. holding call.
Still, he was among the Steelers’ best defensive players tonight even if the bar felt low.
DT Cam Heyward
Heyward was arguably the Steelers’ best player on the field Saturday night. He collapsed the pocket and repeatedly pushed ‘ol pal LG Cordell Volson into the pocket. A high-IQ player, he knows situational ball and batted down a pair of passes, including one on fourth down that got the defense off the field.
CB Beanie Bishop Jr.
Bishop made a smooth interception of Joe Burrow that briefly gave Pittsburgh hope near the end of the first half, washing out Calvin Austin III’s costly punt-return fumble. It was his fourth pick of the year, second-most by a Steelers UDFA in franchise history.
Red-Zone Defense
If there was a bright spot to an area ailing the Steelers’ defense, it was this area of the field. In free-fall since the bye week and after allowing the Bengals to go 4-of-5 in the red zone in the first matchup, the Steelers tightened up when they needed big stops the most. Cincinnati finished the day 1-of-4 in the red zone.
LOSERS
CB Cory Trice Jr. + Teryl Austin
Putting these two together. Trice got the nod with Donte Jackson inactive due to a recurring back injury. He drew one of the toughest matchups a young corner, who was probably uncertain if he’d play, could squaring off against Triple Crown winner Ja’Marr Chase. Predictably, Trice struggled to win 1v1 matchups and his holding call negated a T.J. Watt sack.
But the scheme did him no favors. Pittsburgh attempted to copy a New England Patriots model of putting top cornerback Joey Porter Jr. on the Bengals’ second-best receiver, Tee Higgins. The idea being that you double the No. 1 wide receiver and cover your bases that way.
That didn’t work out. Pittsburgh often gave Trice zero help, putting him in an impossible position. On Chase’s touchdown against Trice, the latter had outside leverage and zero inside help, the single-high safety rotated to the trips side. Putting players in these terrible situations is the definition of bad coaching.
Pittsburgh only put Porter on Chase after Higgins left with an injury. Just a really poor game plan that only aided to the defense’s woes.
Defensive Physicality
As a general note, the Steelers’ defense just hasn’t been physical. SS DeShon Elliott might pop from time to time, but the defense just doesn’t win at the point of attack. The Steelers have to blitz to get pressure and even then, allowed Burrow to make plays. They allow piles to fall forward, once letting backup RB Khalil Herbert push through two Steelers and pick up the first down.
There’s no energy, no edge, no life in this defense and their body language throughout this losing streak has been poor. Sure, there hasn’t been a ton to cheer for but even early in games, they just look flat.
Special Teams
Messy across the board. Corliss Waitman dropped a punt. The kick coverage missed tackles and allowed two chunk runbacks. And Austin fumbled the ball away on a return. Pittsburgh did recover a fumble of its own late in the fourth quarter, a critical play but sorta fluky, but there was more bad than good.
The Steelers’ special teams were a hidden advantage for them throughout their 10-3 start. It hasn’t been that way during the losing streak. Chris Boswell isn’t to blame but the other aspects of the unit have been poor.
WR George Pickens
Arthur Smith did a poor job getting Pickens the ball early save for a probable hot/check from Wilson on a screen pass that went nowhere. But Pickens didn’t capitalize on his chances in the second half, dropping a third-down deep ball that the Bengals corner ripped away from him. That forced a punt. Pickens later dropped a slant route though Pittsburgh rebounded with a Pat Freiermuth TD. A third drop came on the first play after Connor Heyward’s punt fumble recovery.
Mike Tomlin
You don’t drop the final four games and escape the loser’s list. That alone gets you on here. But Tomlin didn’t have a great outing with his decision-making tonight either. At the end of the first half, the Steelers bumbled their way into a turnover on downs. A QB sneak Russell Wilson couldn’t convert, hilarious if it wouldn’t have been so sad. And in fairness, how Wilson failed to gain three feet in a vacant A-gap is beyond me.
That was followed up with a failed 4th and 1 as the Steelers continue to be root-canal fun in any and all short-yardage situations.
QB Russell Wilson
By the end of the third quarter, the Steelers had 91 yards of offense while Wilson had five completions. Wilson looked a mess against an improved but still underwhelming Bengals defense. The book seems out that rotating coverages pre-snap freezes Wilson and causes him to drop his eyes and bail on the pocket.
He consistently missed open receivers and resorted to chucking the ball downfield and hoping for a 1v1 catch or a penalty. His regression is real, and the Eagles game seems to be a blueprint everyone else is copying.
Wilson made poor decisions during the two-minute drill, taking a sack, running instead of throwing the football away, and he arguably made a poor throw on a double-move that got Pickens wide open for what could’ve won the game. A fitting collapse to the team’s four-game skid.
