3 winners and 3 losers from Steelers 19-14 win vs. Ravens

Losers: McCloud and Johnson

This is a duel loser list here, as both Diontae Johnson and Ray-Ray McCloud had horrible games this week for the Steelers. Starting with McCloud, he had that ugly fumble early in the game on a punt return. Given the fact he had a Raven defender on top of him, he should have called a fair catch instead of trying to return that punt. He never really recovered from that either, as the rest of his returns seemed more cautious which limited his success as a returner.

Johnson may not have had a key fumble, but he struggled after coming in off a hot streak. While his eight receptions tied him for the most on the day, he did little with them, averaging only 5.8 yards per reception. Worse yet, he had some horrible drops consistently throughout the game. As bad as it sounds, most people expect one bad play early and for him to rebound the rest of the game. Not the case this week, as he messed up consistently and never really got going.

Ideally, both players will rebound next week against Washington. McCloud will show some spark as a returner and will ideally not make such a critical mistake. As for Johnson, he needs to get over his drops issue if he wants to become a true star in this league. Until he gets those issues corrected, he can’t be relied on as a clutch player.