Steelers winners and losers vs. Bengals in week 4

The Steelers hosted the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. Here are the winners and losers from Pittsburgh’s first win of the season.

Fans have been waiting all season for the Steelers to show any signs of life. They did just that on Monday Night Football against the Bengals.

Despite starting the season with an 0-3 record, Pittsburgh wasn’t lacking energy tonight as they annihilated the Cincinnati in primetime. Here are my winners and losers from the Steelers first win of the season:

Winners:

T.J. Watt

T.J. Watt has been a monster all season, and that trend continued tonight. He was constantly disrupting the Bengals offense and he harassed Andy Dalton all game long. Watt has been one of the best edge defenders through the first four weeks of the season.

Randy Fichtner

After a dreadful offensive gameplan against the 49ers last week, Fichtner showed that he is capable of changing things up in a big way. The second-year offensive coordinator got his quarterback in a grove early. He even threw in a handful of Wildcat plays that were ‘wildly’ successful (I couldn’t help myself).

Mason Rudolph

What a bounceback game for the young quarterback. Mason Rudolph struggled to get anything going through the air in San Francisco last week as he passed for just 174 yards on 27 attempts. However, he flipped the script this week – completing 24 of 28 passes for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Devin Bush

Bush had by far his best game of the season against Cincinnati in week four. He had some rough patches in his first three NFL contests and was exposed at times. However, tonight was an entirely different story. Devin Bush is starting to get fans excited all over again, and looked like a 10th overall pick against the Bengals.

Jaylen Samuels

Who would have thought that Jaylen Samuels would have been one of the best players on offense on Monday Night Football? After not logging a single rush or reception against the 49ers in week three, Pittsburgh went to Samuels early and often against Cincinnati – even running the Wildcat offense at times.

James Conner

James Conner had his best game of the season, and it came as part of an innovative gameplan from offensive coordinator, Randy Fichtner. Conner was a solid contributor in both the run game and the pass. It was a confidence-building performance for the young running back.

Mark Barron

I was very hard on Mark Barron over the first three weeks of the season – and rightfully so. Barron was awful defending the pass against the Patriots, Seahawks, and 49ers. However, he played by far his best game of the season against the Bengals tonight. Let’s hope he keeps up the effort.

Losers:

None

I know this seems cliche in a blowout victory, but there really isn’t a Steeler who stood in a very negative light tonight. This unit played sound football on both sides of the ball – a delightful change to what we were used to seeing early in the year.

The Steelers still have a lot of work to do to stay in the playoff hunt, but a win tonight certainly increases their chances. Next week they have a must-win game against the Ravens at home. Let’s hope they can take care of business again.