Pittsburgh Steelers: Player stock rising/falling after week 3

The Pittsburgh Steelers were desperate for a win headed into Monday night. The team had a few familiar faces both step up and let them down. We take a look at the week three stock report.

The Pittsburgh Steelers needed to get a victory Monday to help silence at least some of the critics. They did get the win but, thanks to their second half performance, those critics are still there.

The win was not pretty or dominant but it does count in the win column. The Steelers need to build on the first half and trash the second half if they want to continue to win.

There were many players who stepped up, at least in the first half, for the Steelers on Monday. However, there were also many who fell short in providing positive impact.

Ben Roethlisberger – Stock: Up

Ben Roethlisberger had his second straight week of tossing near-perfect ball. He ended the game with a 30 completions on 38 attempts for 353 yards, three touchdowns and thee interceptions.

The interception was more of a great jump and play by Bucs safety Justin Evans than it was a poor or forced throw by Ben.

Big Ben went out and dominated the Bucs defense throwing passes to seven different receivers. Ben had some escape artist plays and made some key first down throws to ice the game.

Ben is off to a great start despite his bad game in Cleveland. Ben is currently 92/139 with 1,140 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions with a 66.2 completion percentage.

JuJu Smith-Schuster – Stock: Up

JuJu is having a great start to the season. With Le’Veon Bell still missing in action, teams are really focusing on Antonio Brown leaving JuJu to have all the room to work.

He is now third in the league in receiving yards with 356. He sits only behind Michael Thomas and Mike Evans.

Smith-Schuster has had three straight 100-yard receiving games. He has just one touchdown but I look for him to get more red-zone looks with attention continuing on Brown.

JuJu continuing to chew up yardage will eventually open things back up for Antonio Brown. Teams will not be able to double team Brown and let JuJu run all over them.

Chris Boswell – Stock: Down

Chris Boswell signed a big money extension in the offseason locking him in as the Steelers kicker for the foreseeable future. Three games into the season and many fans are seeming to think giving him all that money ruined him.

Boswell has started the season just 1-for-4 on field goals and 9-for-11 on extra points. He missed two field goals and an extra point Monday which nearly cost the team the game.

Boswell seems to have the yips. You don’t just go from being on of the most accurate kickers in the league to being 25 percent on your attempts overnight.

I do believe Boswell will figure this out as he is the kind of guy that keeps working to fix himself. The fans have to hamper those feelings of wanting him cut, at least for the time being.

Vance McDonald – Stock: Up

Vance McDonald has been an up and down player since being traded for. He seems to always be hurt and missing from the field.

When he has been on the field he provides electric plays. That was evidenced by the stiff arm heard around the world on Monday en route to a 75 yard touchdown.

McDonald finally had a breakout game and put up four catches for 112 yards and the score. In just two games this season he is already just 50 yards short of his entire 2017 total.

Jesse James and Vance McDonald can offer a very good tight end duo. James moves chains and is somewhat of a Mr. Reliable and McDonald provides the splash play ability.

Artie Burns – Stock: Plummeting

Burns found himself benched on Monday night for Coty Sensabaugh. His production and inability to play disciplined coverage has led to Tomlin losing trust in him.

Burns did come in the game and forced a fumble in the first half which lead to a Pittsburgh score. However, his second half saw him bite on a double move, something he has been very susceptible to in his career, and let Mike Evans beat him for a touchdown.

His coverage skills have been tested many times over his first three years and he has failed the test more often than not.

If Burns is to find himself back as the starter opposite Joe Haden, he needs to step up big time or risk suffering a similar fate to Jarvis Jones in the future.

Jonathan Bostic – Stock: Up

Bostic was signed to help fill the void left by Ryan Shazier. These are big shoes to fill and Bostic has helped tremendously in the run game but coverage still lacks.

Bostic had a pretty good game overall on Monday including six tackles, a sack and a pass defensed against Tampa Bay. He covered the tight end and did a good job breaking the pass up on a play over the middle. He also helped cause an interception.

Jon Bostic is no Shazier but he is doing his best to help where he can. He has 21 total tackles on the season with two sacks.

The Steelers defense had a good first half but then completely crashed in the second half. They need to build on that and fill this stock report with defenders trending up, and do it fast.

The offense can only carry the team so far. This defense has to help the team stay in games and pick the offense up when it falls flat.

Baltimore comes to town next week in another prime time fight. The offense faces a tough defense, so Pittsburgh’s defense needs to step up as well.