Quarterback
Austin- (A) Ben Roethlisberger diced up a defense that was very hot at the time and didn’t turn it over. I thought he was fantastic, he even out performed Drew Brees, so that earns an A.
John- (A) He was a little off target early, but I felt as though Ben Roethlisberger played his best game of the season. Maybe it’s recency bias as well, but I thought it was one of the best games he’s played in recent years. Against that defense in that building, Roethlisberger was terrific. He made good calls at the line of scrimmage, threw the ball with authority and distributed the ball effectively. He certainly played well enough to win on Sunday.
Running Backs
Austin- (C) Between Ridley’s fumble, Jaylen Samuels missing a block that led to a sack for the second straight week and Rosie Nix falling short on the the fake punt. I really couldn’t give this group higher than a C. Still, Jaylen Samuels continued to be a bright spot as averaged 4.4 yards per carry on his 12 carries, so it wasn’t a complete failure of a performance.
John- (C+) Stevan Ridley’s critical fumble really impactful in this grade and it came at a very inopportune time with the offense firing on all cylinders. Jaylen Samuels made the most of the few touches he got, but it was understandable why the Steelers didn’t run the ball a lot in this game. Still, he looks like a solid weapon that will be an important part of the offense next season. Samuels did have another hiccup as a pass blocker though, as whiff led to a sack for the second week in a row.
Wide Receivers
Austin- (B+) The fumble sucks, and it’s really what knocked down what could have been an A+ performance with both AB and Juju over 100 yards. The fumble was costly though, it directly ended the game and that’s gonna knock it down a bunch for me.
John- (B) It’s unfortunate, but you can’t overlook the game-sealing fumble by Juju Smith-Schuster. The Steelers likely try a game-tying field goal at the very least, instead the fumble sealed their fate. Otherwise both he and Antonio Brown were amazing. It hasn’t been often both guys have absolutely gone off at the same time like they did in this game. It didn’t matter what the Saints were doing, both guys torched the secondary. Unfortunately receivers not named Brown or Smith-Schuster caught just five passes (four official) for 20 yards. Eli Rogers did catch a two point conversion that tied the game at 14 that was important.
Tight Ends
Austin- (B) despite them not really being used in the passing game (only 1 target to a tight end, that being Vance McDonald’s 49 yard run) I felt like they had a bounce back blocking game here against a tough defensive front.
John- (B-) For whatever reason, the tight ends targets this season have gone down dramatically over the course of the year (might have something to do with the great receivers). Vance McDonald had a huge 49 yard grab that set up a score for the Steelers. But, that was the only target a tight end caught all day. McDonald and James were solid run blockers against a good defensive front.
Offensive Line
Austin- (B+) I only really count 2 sacks against them, and that’s a solid outing against a tough defensive front, but I still feel like they could have been even better than that, but still really great performance, it’s just a group I have high expectations for.
John- (A-) These guys have been great pass blockers all season and it continued again on Sunday. Roethlisberger was sacked three times, but one of them was fully on Jaylen Samuels and only giving up two sacks on 53 dropbacks is a win against this defensive front. They got a solid push against the Saints defensive line at times. But, there were other times they didn’t get the job done, specifically on Stevan Ridley’s fumble.
Defensive Line
Austin- (A-) I felt like the pressure was there and they were doing really well against the run, despite giving up three rushing touchdowns. Still, as a whole the Saints only averaged three yards a carry and Tuitt got one of the two sacks on the day, so I’ll say it was a solid performance.
John- (B+) They did a good job controlling their gaps in the ground game, but didn’t get enough pressure as a unit early on in the game. They were able to establish consistent control later on in the game though. They were not the reason the defense yielded 31 points.
Linebackers
Austin- (B+) Watt was giving the Saints offensive line so much trouble and as a whole the linebackers got tackles, but there is still room for improvement.
John- (B+) T.J. Watt has really become a special player the past few weeks, with so many question marks at this position, Watt has shown that he is a presence. The other linebackers were quiet.
Defensive Backs
Austin- (B+) Now this is hard, because I really have mixed feelings about this group. Sean Davis had the best game of the year, maybe even the best game of his career, Mike Hilton led the team in tackles and had a tackle for a loss, and Coty Sensabaugh had two pass breaks up. The penalties on this unit killed the defense, but like how do I take away points when the calls were atrocious at times? I am going to give them a (B+), but I feel like it should be lower.
John- (C-) Sean Davis had an interception and Mike Hilton had six tackles. But, at the end of the day these guys got torched again and gave up several bad gains, including one on a third and 20 with the game on the line. You CANNOT give that up and Morgan Burnett bit hard on an underneath route, leaving Ted Ginn wide open. These guys just didn’t make enough plays.
Specialists
Austin- (B) Boswell was perfect on 4 kicks, Berry only punted twice but did okay, Ryan Switzer had 1 bad punt return, LJ Fort had a punt blocked, then Rosie Nix prematurely celebrated on the fake punt after not getting it, so I am going to give them a (B).
John- (B+) Chris Boswell had his best game of the season and Jordan Berry had his usual good punt/bad punt day. L.J. Fort blocked a field goal and they didn’t allow the Saints to have a single return all day long. The fake punt, I am pinning more on the coaching staff for not using the offense in that situation. Furthermore, on that play upback Jordan Dangerfield was motioned out of his spot, essentially playing your hand that you’re running something bizarre before the play starts. Bad design.
Coaching
Austin- (C-) I am still triggered by Mike Tomlin deciding to not challenging the ruling of an incomplete pass to Michael Thomas that Sean Davis broke up. To me that looked like a fumble and when he’s been challenging stupid plays all year, I was annoyed. For Randy Fichtner, I thought the game plan was perfect, the Steelers diced the Saints defense up with ease and were even getting a little ground game going, but Keith Butler remains atrocious having Vince Williams on Michael Thomas on what felt like the 3rd play of defense. Also I question the decision to send Cameron Sutton on multiple cornerback blitzes.
John- (D+) I felt that Randy Fichtner called a good game for the most part, but his decision to have Stevan Ridley run out of a two tight end set on third and two is probably not the best idea. Keith Butler seems intent on getting himself fired. His gameplan was absolutely atrocious, blitzing the quarterback with the quickest release in the NFL is a terrible idea. Doing it actively and with heavy numbers that include your cornerbacks is idiotic beyond belief. Most of the defensive failures in this game, especially early on, can be attributed to another bad coaching gameplan and effort by Butler. Mike Tomlin was alright in this game, however I have a few problems with him. One is that he didn’t throw the challenge flag on a pass play where it looked like Ted Ginn’s first foot dragged out of bounds before his second foot came down. I know he has struggled with challenges greatly this year, but there’s no reason to save them in this game, season was on the line. Finally with the fake punt, I don’t hate the idea of being aggressive there considering Drew Brees was on the other side. However, considering how well the offense had been playing, I would not have left that up to a fake punt.
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