2 winners and 4 losers from Steelers 23-17 loss vs Washington

Loser: Drops

Another trend that continued from last week, the Steelers receivers continued to put the ball on the ground in the passing game. This has been a growing trend as of late, which is a big problem when this team wants to throw as often as they have. Diontae Johnson once again showed up in an undesirable way, leading the team in drops. He has gone from having one obvious mistake a game to having three or more.

Eric Ebron joined the list as well, as his hands were suspect all throughout this game. This is a huge disappointment, as he was quickly becoming a security blanket for Ben Roethlisberger. While he made some good plays this week, his drops were the highlight of a bad day from the unit. Even JuJu Smith-Schuster had a key drop in the game. It was a horrible day for this unit in that regard.

While Chase Claypool hanged onto his targets today, even he has dropped some easy passes this year. As a whole, this group really needs to improve here. Drops are a natural part of the game. They are going to happen to any team. The issue is the Steelers really want to throw the ball. While that strategy has caused some issues, the amount of drops certainly hasn’t helped. If the Steelers want to succeed through the air, they need to catch more passes.