The Steelers win came down to the wire, and here are the winners and losers from their 20-19 win over the Ravens.
It was a must-week win for the Steelers this week, and while it wasn’t a pretty game by any means, it was a victory over the best team in the AFC. While the road still isn’t an easy one, the team is still alive despite a recent fall from grace.
The game had plenty of flaws, but a win is a win. Here are the winners and losers from the Steelers win over the Ravens in Week 13.
Steelers winner: Ahkello Witherspoon
A name I never anticipated being on the winner’s list, Ahkello Witherspoon had an extremely solid day overall. After looking extremely mediocre for the few snaps that he had seen on the field, the team turned to him with James Pierre struggling as much as he did last week. He wasn’t anything special, but he was far from a liability. For a team that was getting burned in coverage last week, Witherspoon was a stabilizing force.
This was exemplified when he made a great adjustment in the fourth quarter to track a pass and break it up from a wide-open Mark Andrews. While that play should have been an interception, beggars can’t be choosers when this secondary was torched just a week ago.
Though the team should still be excited to have Joe Haden back next week, getting some solid play out of Witherspoon was refreshing. He is essentially costing the Steelers a pair of fifth-round picks (due to him counting towards the compensatory formula), so getting a good game out of him is a plus.
Steelers loser: Joe Schobert
The other Steelers off-ball linebacker has been under a lot of scrutiny over the past few weeks, and while his play wasn’t anything special this week, his steady running mate was less sure this week. Joe Schobert has been a steady presence in a group of linebackers that have struggled this year. He took a major step back this week in both coverage and in tackling.
While Schobert did record seven total tackles, he seemed to be out of place more often than not in this game. As well, his sure tackling that he had displayed all season wasn’t there as he was taking poor angles and missing pretty sure tackles. His coverage wasn’t particularly strong either, as the running backs and tight ends seemed to do well against this defense.
He did have a nice tipped pass earlier in the game, but that doesn’t make up for the overall mediocre day from the veteran. Ideally, this doesn’t become a trend for Schobert as he has been a good addition to this defense. It was a bad day for Schobert after a relatively strong season. Hopefully, this isn’t a forecast for the rest of the season.
Steelers winner: The pass rush
This group was an absolute unit this week against the Ravens offensive line. Lamar Jackson did his line no favors by holding the ball for ages, but this pass rush was still all over the Ravens this week. The group recorded seven total sacks, but that didn’t tell the full story of this group. Everyone was finding their way into the backfield and applying pressure to Jackson.
T.J. Watt finds himself on the winners’ list once again this week after annihilating the Ravens linemen on each play. He recorded an obscene 3.5 sacks and should once again be the frontrunner for defensive player of the year. Even after a relatively quiet week against the Bengals, Watt was back to his usual dominance.
Even more worthy of praise was Chris Wormley. While the former backup turned starter has had his praises sung by me all year, he wasn’t a regularly mentioned name due to his under-the-radar play. That should change this week as he got to Jackson 2.5 times. Throw in Cameron Heyward’s dominant self and altogether it was a great rebound day for the pass rush.
Steelers loser: Najee Harris
While some will look at Najee Harris and say he had a decent day with over 100 total yards, his play wasn’t anything special. He didn’t find much space running the ball until late in the game and was just ok as a receiver. It wasn’t anything special for the rookie, especially when you consider what the expectations were for Harris.
Being drafted in the first round leads to a lot of expectations for the rookie. While he is a complete back, he hasn’t been dynamic as a player yet. The team can’t consistently count on him to be the guy and have the offense move through him yet. Sure, the line hasn’t been great for him, but if the line was such an issue why wasn’t that the target in the first round instead of Harris.
While his final stat line looks fine, it wasn’t a great game for the rookie. The Steelers clearly wanted their offense to run through the rookie, but they couldn’t rely on him enough to do so. He wasn’t horrible, but expectations should be higher for Harris. Overall, a mediocre day leads to him being on the losers list.
Steelers winner: Diontae Johnson
It looked bad for Diontae Johnson early when he dropped what would have been a sure touchdown in the first half, but he rebounded in a major way in the second half. With Chase Claypool once again being inconsistent, the team had to turn to Johnson once again. He didn’t disappoint, as he recorded a pair of scores and over 100 receiving yards.
He was efficient from all over the field, doing well in the short and deep passing game. His routes were sharp and despite that one ugly drop, his hands were solid. By all accounts, had Johnson not played as well as he did, this team wouldn’t have won this game. He was instrumental in the second half and was the best player on the offense.
In all honestly, there should be talk of Johnson being seen as a top-ten receiver in the league. He is a threat from all over the field and his consistency has gotten so much better. His play is becoming similar to Antonio Browns from before, and it has kept this offense moving even when it had seemingly stalled out. He was a huge winner from this game and should be seen as the reason this team ended up winning.
It was a close game for the Steelers and one that kept everyone on the edge of their seat. It was a huge win for the team to beat the top seed in the AFC this week. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means, but the team got the win. It was needed as well since the Steelers season and playoff hopes were on life support.