Few, none of us most likely, could have expected the weight of the season to bounce off of various pegs and land squarely on the shoulders of one DeAngelo Williams. From an afterthought on the Panthers roster Williams made his way to Pittsburgh and is somehow now probably the player whose hands the playoff destiny of the Pittsburgh Steelers most likely is in.
DeAngelo Williams had a great career. He broke records in college and was a first round draft pick by the Panthers. He had a some great seasons in Carolina including a pro bowl season of over 1500 yards and another league leading season of 18 touchdowns.
His production fell once Jonathan Stewart was drafted in the first round and carries were split more thinly. It fell even more when Williams started dealing with injury troubles. The Panthers let him go, their all time leading rusher, with little fanfare. At this point Williams was over 30 and dealing with injury. He just didn’t seem like a viable NFL starter.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh was up in Pittsburgh with their foot in bandages. The reason being that they shot their own foot by not bothering to have a backup for Le’Veon Bell for most of the season. So believe it or not, with no replacement, they lost their playoff game, likely because they just did not bother finding any backup for an essential position in the NFL, an uncharacteristically short sighted move by the organization.
So, they signed DeAngelo Williams in the offseason to remedy this issue. There was little excitement about the signing outside of Steeler nation. He seemed primed for a backup role. This would prevent the injuries, and after all he was old and slow. Right?
Williams signed the contract because he supposedly wanted to win a Super Bowl. Seemed like a smart move, with the top offense in the league and a defense with no where to go but up, it was more than reasonable for Williams to suspect he’d get a couple games in and then watch from the sidelines as he got ever closer to ending his career with a ring.
But things changed. After what can only be described as an annoying amount of injuries Williams is not just off the bench but he will now be the most important factor in the most important game of the Steelers season.
Here’s why that’s true. First, the injuries. Bell got injured, which obviously puts Williams in a more prominent position. But then, maybe just as critical for Williams importance, was Ben’s injury. With Landry Jones at the helm, Williams, along with maybe Antonio Brown, is the most important player on the roster.
Steelers fans have gotten some great news lately finding out that Ben is merely questionable for Sunday’s game. He’s been practicing without a boot. This is all very nice, but he’s not playing against the Browns.
Here’s the other thing, the Steelers need to go 5-2 most likely in order to make the playoffs. The Steelers have a record as good or better than 5 of those opponents, lucky enough. The other two are the Broncos and the Bengals though. So if the Steelers lose to any of the beatable teams they have to beat the Broncos or Bengals to make the playoffs. So the Steelers cannot lose those games.
So there’s the Browns game, then a bye week, at which point Ben will most likely be able to come back. But if the Steelers throw away the Browns game they’ll have to go 5-1 after the bye week, a tall order.
So the game is important, obviously, its the dark time, its the game without Ben, without Bell, without Pouncey and all the rest. Its do or die time for the Steelers playoff hopes and there’s no room for excuses, no room for error.
But Williams is important because of a few factors. The defense is riddled with injury and although improved is still not a great defense. Landry Jones has done pretty well this year, better than expected, but I just can’t see Landry taking the game on his shoulders, admirable as his performances might have been.
Jones has proven to be a capable backup but Williams has proven to be a capable starter. Williams has 480 yards this season and 5 touchdowns. He’s averaging 5.5 yards per carry. He’s only started 3 games and in those games he’s averaging 125 yards per game 1.6 touchdowns per game.
His breakaway speed is a little slower but Williams is as good as he’s ever been in pretty much every facet of his game. He’s even showing more skills in the passing game than we might have expected.
The killer Bs are in a bad spot with two out of three Bs out. Brown let us know at the end of last game that he’s still here. And he’ll be there against the Browns but his impact will be contingent upon Landry Jones performance.
Williams gained 170 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, as well as 55 receiving yards against the 7th ranked rushing defense in the league. The Browns have the worst rushing defense in the league.
All this adding up yet? Mediocre defense + no Bell + no Brown + a bunch of other injuries + Ben’s back after the bye + difficult schedule after the bye + bye week a week away + Browns having the worst rushing defense + needing to go 5-2 = DeAngelo Williams might be the most important player in the most important game of the Steelers season.
Next: Browns at Steelers: Coordinator Comments
Who saw that coming?