It’s always tough to go on the road and come away with a win on Thursday Night Football and the Pittsburgh Steelers found that out the hard way during tonight’s 24-19 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Even though they won the turnover battle 3-1, it still wasn’t enough to get the job done.
This game was every bit the slugfest that we anticipated but in uncharacteristic fashion, Mike Tomlin’s team couldn’t make enough winning plays down the stretch to keep their winning streak alive. The good news is that they’ll now have a mini-bye to regroup, figure out some things on both sides of the ball and get healthy.
But first, let’s talk through some notable performances from Week 12.
Dude: SS Deshon Elliott
There weren’t a ton of bright spots in this one for the Steelers squad but DeShon Elliott continues to play solid football. To open the second half, he put laid a big hit on Browns wideout Cedric Tillman and knocked the ball loose. The Steelers would recover that fumble. He also had a couple pass breakups in this one, including nice coverage in the end zone on a two-point conversion that would late in the contest.
Dud: EDGE T.J. Watt
Sure, the Browns paid a lot of attention to T.J. Watt whenever they dropped back to pass in this one, often times via a chip from a back or tight end. That combined with a strong performance from right tackle Jack Conklin left the Steelers best player mostly a bystander in this one. According to next gen stats, he registered just one pressure on 24 pass rush attempts and aside from a couple tackles in the run game, he didn’t make much of an impact. To make matters worse for the Steelers, Myles Garrett dominated on the other side and that was the difference in the outcome of this game.
Dud: LT Dan Moore Jr.
I realize that Garrett is one of the best pass rushers of his generation but Dan Moore Jr. offered very little resistance tonight as a pass blocker. The final tally tonight was unbelievably ridiculous: eight pressures, three sacks and a forced fumbles and most of those were at the expense of the Steelers left tackle. His performance this season has been well above the line but this just goes to show that there are some obvious limitations to what he can do versus the cream of the crop. Pittsburgh tried to give him help tonight but it wasn’t enough and it cost them.
Dude: WR Calvin Austin
Once again, the Steelers offense, specifically their passing game, was mostly feast or famine more than anything else. But Austin’s speed helped create a couple of explosive plays tonight when the Browns went into their two-high shell coverages. The 46-yard rip in the first half was the result of a shifty route that got the defender leaning the wrong direction. On the go-ahead touchdown score, Austin made a really tough grab through contact at the catch point. He’s being miscast a bit because of the lack of other options but he’s pretty clearly their second best receiver at the moment and there have been some encouraging flashes this season worth getting excited about.
Dud: Short Yardage/Red Zone Execution and Play Calling
The struggles in short yardage situations and inside the red zone aren’t necessarily anything new because it’s been a talking point for a while now but it finally came back to bite them in the end tonight. Pittsburgh was atrocious in these spots tonight, including turning the ball over on downs twice on failed rushing attempts. It looked like Fields didn’t follow his blockers on the first one and Harris was stopped well before the line of scrimmage on the second instance. They went 1-2 in the red zone in this one but the two point conversion is one that people will be talking about all week. Throwing a fade to your third string running back is certainly a choice but the other side of the route concept didn’t spring anyone open versus man coverage. it was an ugly performance from offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, which makes two in a row now.
Dude: EDGE Nick Herbig
The Steelers pass rush was probably the most disappointing part of the entire outcome just because of how favorable a matchup this was on paper and for the simple fact that this is a team that relies so heavily on this group. But credit to Nick Herbig for being the lone player to really step up big tonight. His strip sack on Winston set up a short field for the go-ahead touchdown score in the fourth quarter and he had at least one more hit on him in this game. You’d like to see a bit more consistency but he made a huge play in a big spot while filling in for Alex Highsmith, who missed his second straight game due to injury.
Dud: FS Minkah Fitzpatrick
There have been some pretty bad narratives shaped regarding Minkah Fitzpatrick’s play this season because of the lack of splash plays. But he didn’t play well tonight whatsoever. He allowed several catches to be completed in his vicinity while in man coverage and just didn’t make much of an impact in this game at all. Similar sentiments above in reference to Watt but it’s going to be tough for this team to win games, regardless of how bad the opponent is, if their best players are playing near their peak. That wasn’t the case tonight and they lost.
Dud: P Corliss Waitman
Granted it occurred in the snow, if you shank a 15-yard punt with the game hanging in the balance, you’re going to find yourself on the wrong side of this list every time. It was his only punt of the game and it was a costly blunder.