Pittsburgh Steelers Week 11 Winners and Losers

What started to have the look of another typical Steelers game playing down to their level of competition, the Steelers were able to hold it out to beat the Titans on Monday, something they haven’t been able to do the last couple of seasons. Here are your Pittsburgh Steelers week 11 winners and losers.

Winners

Le’Veon Bell

Quietly the best performance by Bell in his young career, rushing for 204 yards and a touchdown! Bell was the only player awake in the first half and was the reason the Steelers were able to hold the ball for almost the last 7 minutes to put the game away. Bell truly is turning into a superstar in this league.

Antonio Brown

While Bell at times looked like the only player awake on offense, Brown looked like the only receiver awake throughout the entire game. Brown finished with 9 receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown, while his fellow receivers combined for 5 receptions for 27 yards. Heath Miller and Le’Veon Bell aren’t considered in that stat, but still finished second and third in receiving yards for the night, Heath with 71 yards.

Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro

I usually grade the offensive line as a unit, but the two players that stood out beyond the rest were Pouncey and DeCastro. I remember specifically the commentator commenting about DeCastro absolutely destroying the Titans linebackers, and as I started to pay more attention to him, he sure was. He was not alone, as his partner in crime was right there with him. Bell ran inside the tackles most of the time last night, and his success was largely based on the play of these two.

Losers

Secondary

The secondary didn’t have a terrible game statistically, but when you look at their competition, it was rough. Yes, William Gay had a pick 6, but it was given to him on a silver plater. He was later beat with an 80 yard touchdown by Nate Washington. It seemed Brice McCain struggled mightily too. They let a 6fh round rookie quarterback throw for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Pass Rush

A big reason the secondary struggled was because of the pass rush. It just wasn’t there like it has been recently. Pittsburgh had zero sacks, which is not a good sign. Albeit, the Steelers were down 2 starting linebackers, their starting NT and still employs Cam Thomas over Stephen Tuitt, but this really shows the lack of depth the Steelers have across the defense.

Going into the bye with a 7-4 record isn’t something to complain about, while the Steelers currently hold the 6th seed in the playoffs but have a tough 4 game stretch coming up. Let me know what you think about the article by leaving a comment.