Steelers winners and losers in win against Bengals

The Steelers faced the Bengals in Cincinnati in a wild game on Sunday. Here are the winners and losers from Pittsburgh’s 16-10 victory.

It wasn’t a pretty victory by the Steelers on Sunday afternoon, but Mike Tomlin’s team are heading back home with another win under their belt. While the defense was yet again dominant, the offense showed little signs of life in the first half of the game.

After an interception and just 3 first-half points, Mason Rudolph was eventually benched in favor of undrafted rookie, Devlin Hodges. Ultimately, Pittsburgh got the ball rolling enough to close out a 16-10 victory over their division rival.

Here are my winners and losers from the Steelers 6th win of the season:

Winners:

T.J. Watt

This selection needs no explanation. T.J. Watt has been on the winners every single week this season. He earned yet another sack in the first half but had a scary moment where he went down with what looked like an injury to his right leg. Fortunately, Watt would return to action. He continues to be the best player in a Steelers uniform.

Mike Hilton

Mike Hilton was excellent for the Steelers on Sunday. He excelled against both the pass and the run, and he nearly came away with an interception. Hilton finished the game with 4 tackles and a pass deflection.

Cameron Heyward

Cam Heyward is one of the most consistent players on the field during any given week, so it’s not a surprise to see him on this list. The former All-Pro was dominant against both the run and pass and finished with 6 tackles, a tackle for a loss and a quarterback hit.

Losers:

Mason Rudolph

Things could not have gone worse for Mason Rudolph over the past two weeks. After throwing four interceptions against the Browns, Rudolph kicked things off with an interception against the Bengals this week. He managed just 85 yards in the first half of the game and 5.3 yards per pass attempt before being benched for Devlin Hodges.

Joe Haden

The Steelers defense had another strong performance, but Joe Haden didn’t do a lot to assist. Though he had good coverage on a few passes his direction, he also gave up the only Bengals touchdown of the game. Haden was also toasted on a double move from Alex Erickson. Fortunately, the ball was thrown out of bounds.

Offensive line

The offensive line has been caving in recent weeks. They did a better job on the ground against the Bengals than they did last week, but Steelers quarterbacks have still been under too much pressure, and there aren’t consistently running lanes for Benny Snell and company.

Other names could have been mentioned in this game as well, but it wasn’t the most exciting win for the Steelers. At the end of the day, Pittsburgh emerged victoriously. If the playoffs started today, the Steelers would own the final wildcard spot.