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Positional Grades: Steelers At Bengals

Positional Grades Steelers Bengals

Well, make it 2-10 on the road on Thursday Night Football for the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin, including 0-7 within the AFC North.

Things started out well Thursday night in Cincinnati as the Steelers raced out to a 10-0 lead, but a pair of second-quarter interceptions and a defensive implosion led to a very ugly 33-31 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals in a rather wild shootout game in primetime.

Aaron Rodgers turned back the clock and had his best game as a Steeler, while the run game was dominant, too. The tight end room scored four touchdowns as well. But the highly-compensated defense had no answer for Joe Flacco, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, struggled to stop the run for large stretches, and reverted back to some of the early-season issues in the loss.

It allowed the Bengals some life in the AFC North race, but now the Steelers have some extra time to prepare for the Green Bay Packers.

Let’s get to some grades.

QB — A-

Outside of the bad decision to throw into double coverage deep to DK Metcalf after the Bengals’ first touchdown of the game, I thought Rodgers was outstanding all game long. His ability to move around the pocket and create out of structure was a ton of fun to watch. At times, he looked like he was turning the clock back to 2011.

He extended the play on his touchdown pass to Jonnu Smith, made an unreal play on his 68-yard touchdown to Pat Freiermuth to take a late lead, and largely put the ball wherever he wanted on the night. His interception right after the Bengals’ first touchdown of the game was a bad mistake, but the second one wasn’t on him. It was a flukey play and an unreal catch by the cornerback along the boundary.

Overall, Rodgers attacked down the field more and really was in the zone throughout. It was a very encouraging performance from the 41-year-old quarterback, who finished with 249 yards and four touchdowns on 23-of-34 passing.

RB — A-

Coming into the matchup, the Steelers needed to find a way to run the ball better to provide balance offensively. How does 147 yards and 7.4 yards per carry sound?

Jaylen Warren had an outstanding night running the football. It started right away and never let up. Warren toted the rock 16 times and ripped off 127 rushing yards. He gashed the Bengals over and over again on the night, ripping off multiple explosive runs, including a huge 37-yarder to give the Steelers a spark.

Warren was also great in pass protection, too, landing another devastating blow on a defensive lineman to free up Rodgers for a touchdown pass to Darnell Washington. He’s so special in pass protection.

Kenneth Gainwell had some good moments in relief of Warren, racking up 14 rushing yards on three carries. He was a nice change of pace guy behind Warren on a night in which Warren saw 20 combined touches.

The only real gaffe running backs had was Warren’s mistake on the flea flicker, which was not supposed to be called in that moment. Fortunately, Rodgers was there ready for the pitch and was able to get rid of it.

WR — B

DK Metcalf made some nice plays on the night, including a big 39-yard catch down the right sideline from Rodgers. But he finished with just three catches for 50 yards and was unable to secure a pass from Rodgers that turned into his second interception of the night.

Outside of Metcalf, Roman Wilson had an encouraging night, hauling in two passes for 17 yards, including a nice 13-yard catch-and-run in which he hurled a defender. Scotty Miller also had one catch for nine yards on the night as receivers got a bit more involved without Calvin Austin III healthy.

Still, there’s just a lack of overall production there, and it’s a bit concerning moving forward.

TE — A

What a performance from the TE room. That has to be what Arthur Smith envisioned when the Steelers added Jonnu Smith to the likes of Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington.

Freiermuth had his breakout game of the year, hauling in a team-high five passes for 111 yards. He scored on a 19-yard touchdown to make it a 20-17 game, then raced home 68 yards on a broken play for the go-ahead score at 31-30 late in the fourth quarter. He’s been quiet much of the year and his playing time has decreased, but when called upon in Cincinnati, Freiermuth did what he normally does against the Bengals and delivered.

Jonnu Smith opened the scoring with a nice 10-yard touchdown off a Rodgers scramble drill, working himself open and settling into the soft spot for the score. He finished with three catches for 28 yards in the game and tied with Freiermuth for the most targets with six.

As for Washington, he had just three catches for 2 yards, but he did find the end zone on one, hauling in a jump ball from Rodgers off play-action. He was also an outstanding blocker in the run game, clearing lanes for Warren and Gainwell, thriving as a blocker once again.

OL — A-

Once again, Rodgers wasn’t sacked, and this time around the Steelers ran the ball at will against the Bengals.

Again, the Steelers rolled to 147 yards on the ground, averaging 7.4 yards per carry. The zone running game was dominant as guys were creating a ton of movement, getting to the second level and creating seams. It was impressive to watch.

Even pass protection was very good. Of course, the Bengals didn’t have star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, but the Steelers gave Rodgers plenty of time and clean pockets to operate from. The only real negative was the holding call on Broderick Jones late, even though it was a hilariously bad call.

DL — F

What a disastrous performance up front from the Steelers. They allowed the Bengals to run the ball at a great clip in the first half, and it threw the entire defense off. The Bengals finished with 142 yards on 23 carries in the game. Chase Brown alone carried the ball 11 times for 108 yards.

Coming into the matchup, the Bengals were last in rushing and were historically bad. They just needed a get-right game against the Steelers.

Cameron Heyward was furious about it after the loss, but his performance on the field didn’t exactly help. Heyward had just three tackles. Though he did tip another pass at the line of scrimmage and had half a sack, he wasn’t all that impactful against the run. It starts with him.

Keeanu Benton started the game fast with a beautiful sack of Joe Flacco. But after that, he fizzled out and really started to struggle with his technique against the run. At times he reverted back to his poor play from early in the season as the Bengals gashed the Steelers.

Derrick Harmon wasn’t all that noticeable, either. After being a brick wall against the Browns, Harmon struggled to turn around on a short week and had just two tackles.

LB — D-

Just when it looked like the inside linebackers were starting to take off for the Steelers, they regressed — hard — on a short week.

Patrick Queen wasn’t impactful at all in the loss. He was slow to get off blocks and fill lanes, and he wasn’t all that effective rushing the passer again, though it felt like he wasn’t given many opportunities. On at least one, he drew a holding penalty, but he finished with just four tackles.

Payton Wilson and Cole Holcomb split a lot of time once again, which came as the Bengals were running the football at a prolific clip. Holcomb finished with seven tackles, but he wasn’t making much of an impact around the line of scrimmage against the run. Wilson had six tackles and didn’t really jump out.

Outside, T.J. Watt had half a sack, but the Bengals did a great job of chipping him and getting the ball out quick, which frustrated him. He wasn’t much of a problem for Cincinnati. Opposite him, Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith were mostly invisible.

Highsmith struggled against the run and Herbig had one quarterback hit, a far cry from what he’s done in recent weeks. Even rookie Jack Sawyer saw a ton of playing time and struggled. He was burned on one rollout from Flacco to tight end Noah Fant of a big gain.

DB — F

Outside of two big tackles by Juan Thornhill and Chuck Clark, and a goal line pass breakup by Jalen Ramsey, it’s hard to find anything encouraging from the secondary on the night.

Flacco diced the Steelers up to the tune of 342 yards, doing largely whatever he wanted with the football. Coming into the matchup, there was a lot of talk about the Steelers being built for this matchup after a busy offseason and having the pieces in the secondary to defend Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

That didn’t work out well. Chase and Higgins combined for 22 receptions for 257 yards and two touchdowns. Joey Porter Jr. and Ramsey each had two penalties called against them, and both were burned in big spots. So, too, was Darius Slay, who looks completely cooked at this point.

The Steelers tried to throw a lot at the Bengals in an effort to find an answer, and they simply had none. That’s concerning.

Special Teams — B-

Chris Boswell kicked on a good field this week and drilled his lone field goal attempt, connecting from 41 yards. He was also perfect on four extra points.

Punter Corliss Waitman was largely average. He had just a 39-yard punt at one point when he could have pinned the Bengals back further than the 17-yard line, which was a bit disappointing. But then he dropped one at the 10-yard line that helped the Steelers flip the field late and eventually take the lead.

I liked what I saw from rookie Ke’Shawn Williams in the return game. He had a nice 37-yard kickoff return, showing great burst. He also had a 17-yard punt return in the game, too. He’s making plays and seems to have a job moving forward.

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