Steelers winner: Alex Highsmith
While many will point to his failed interception as a reason to not include him here, Alex Highsmith was easily one of the only bright spots on a miserable day for this defense. He was consistently beating his man off the line of scrimmage and was applying pressure to the quarterback. It wasn’t enough to overcome the rest of the issues on the day, but he was still playing well.
Important to note was that T.J. Watt was effectively shut down this week. More than likely the Bengals focused their offensive game plan around blocking Watt. Add in his pre-existing injury and Watt was a non-factor this week. Highsmith overcame that though and was a force on the line.
Outside of Cameron Heyward, who had a fine day but was nothing special, Highsmith was the only defender that was good this week. He has really turned it on in recent weeks and is deserving of some praise. While Watt is still the best edge defender on the team, Highsmith has really come into his own this season. He had a good performance in an otherwise miserable outing.