Pittsburgh Steelers 19-16 winners and losers take on the Atlanta Falcons Sunday afternoon.
WINNER
Najee Harris – Harris certainly didn’t walk like someone who was rushed to the hospital six days ago. Harris ran furiously with a big stiff arm from the start and scooped up nearly half his yards after contact. He showed good vision and combined getting north/south and finishing his runs. Harris has been looking a lot healthier and better for the first two months of the season and the results are following suit.
Cam Sutton- A solid game for Sutton. The Falcons don’t exactly have the best receivers in the world, but Sutton has been competitive at catch point in the last two games and had solid open-field tackles against the great Drake London on the outside. It is not a high-end or elite corner, but solid, stable and technical. Worth the praise.
Matthew Wright— Kudos to Wright. After a rocky start to his Steelers’ career (part two) against the New Orleans Saints, he’s been solid ever since. Wright had three field goals from 46+ yards and despite getting some kicker-friendly rebounds off the post, hey, power is power and points are points. Wright’s leg saved a Steelers offense that was struggling to finish drives.
He did a great job on the kickoffs too. The Steelers kept the ball away from the dangerous Cordarrelle Patterson, instead opting for pooch kicks against the Up-men. It takes precision and finesse, and Wright was spot on. It sounds like Chris Boswell will return next week, but Wright has held his ground well.
Pat Freiermuth/Connor Heyward: With apologies to Zach Gentry, a good day to be the Steelers’ tight end. Freiermuth was fantastic, a third down machine with a 57-yarder that set up Heyward’s 17-yard touchdown. Freiermuth struggled with pass protection, it’s not his forte or something he’s done a lot this year but he’s gotten a lot better after completing his sophomore year and getting more YAC. Heyward has scored his first goal; nice hands grab a great route to bite security.
Pressley Harvin III/Minkah Fitzpatrick: A few late but important entries to the list. Harvin with a dime of a punt that landed right in front of the goal line while Fitzpatrick called the game up next and picked up Marcus Mariota to seal it. Elite plays everywhere.
LOSER
Steven Sims- Difficult for Sims. A drop on a nice throw in the right seam by Kenny Pickett and another wannabe third down conversion were wiped out because Sims was out of bounds. Just bad consciousness. The second leg was also disappointing, a muff he recovered and a fair catch when he had more than 10 yards ahead. Calvin Austin will be there next year, but this team needs to add a slot receiver next season.
Red Zone Fringe/Offensive Finish – The Steelers’ offense just can’t be stopped. They recognize the problem, Cam Heyward talked about it earlier this week, but they’re approaching 20 and they’re just falling apart. Numbers that don’t always show up in red zone data. But tons of drives with the ball around 30 just faltering. You can’t beat good teams with field goals and you let average teams hang around. In a game where the Falcons could have been thrown out of their run-first approach with a couple of Steelers touchdowns, Pittsburgh’s inability to stick to their game plan allowed them to do so.
Diontae Johnson – Johnson’s chaotic season continues. A drop, a false start and a (almost) fumble in the fourth quarter. Whatever the reversal of Gordie Howe’s hat-trick, Johnson nailed it. He is very lucky that the officials overturned the fumble originally mentioned. To his credit, he caught one of the crucial first downs, though it was an undisputed grave.
It’s fair to say the Steelers haven’t always used him well conceptually, but Johnson’s game doesn’t require the team to find ways to involve him more. A talented receiver, he’s prone to big dips and routinely stacks bad plays. The Pittsburgh receivers offered almost nothing to the offensive today. George Pickens certainly vented his frustrations on the sidelines, holding a catch for two yards on just two goals.
Run defense in the second half: Similar, but worse than Monday’s game against the Colts, the Steelers’ run defense faltered in the second half. They lost the point of attack, didn’t make splash plays on early downs to throw Atlanta off their running game, and the Falcons stayed on schedule by going lane after lane. Doesn’t fall on one person but on the whole group and they hobbled to the finish.