The Pittsburgh Steelers playoff run ended on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. The Steelers, who were certainly the underdogs of the game, had a lead over the Broncos up until the fourth quarter. Suddenly, the Broncos were back up on top, and the Steelers were sent packing their bags to head back to Pittsburgh with a defeat under their belt.
However, all is not lost for the Steelers. The team had many key injuries this season and will get back injured players by the likes of Le’Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams, Antonio Brown, Maurkice Pouncey and Kelvin Beachum, to name a few, next season. The Steelers even have two players, Brown and David DeCastro, representing them in the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Either way, the Steelers have a lot to look forward to next season and NFL fans still have the playoffs to watch.
Here are our grades for how the Steelers performed against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional Round game.
Quarterback – Ben Roethlisberger deserves a lot of credit. After barely practicing much this week because of a right shoulder injury, he seemed to silence people questioning him being in the game by throwing a deep ball for his first pass. The pass was incomplete but certainly sent the message. Roethlisberger didn’t throw any touchdowns, or interceptions, but led the team down the field with 339 passing yards on 24/37 completed passes. Roethlisberger was the veteran presence on the offense and had trust in his younger players. He did much more than anyone else expected, and he had his usual leadership qualities. Grade: A
Running Backs – Fitzgerald Toussaint might have fumbled in the fourth quarter but he was also the only Steelers’ player to have a touchdown in the game. Toussaint carried the ball 12 times for 39 yards. Not very impressive numbers, but the young running back did score his first ever NFL touchdown. Roethlisberger said it perfectly after the game in his press conference when asked about the Toussaint fumble: “We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Fitz.” Grade: B
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends – The receivers didn’t have any touchdowns this week, but they did put up some solid numbers. With Brown out, rookie wide receiver Sammie Coats finally got in on the action. Coats had two catches for 61 yards. Martavis Bryant was the leader on the receiving chart with nine catches for 154 yards. Darrius Heyward-Bey also got some action and produced two catches for 64 yards. The receivers would have gotten an A, had it not been for some costly drops by Markus Wheaton and Heath Miller. Grade: B+
Offensive Line – The offensive line couldn’t get much room for Toussaint and Jordan Todman in the run game, but they did much better this week in protecting Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger was sacked three times. Grade: B-
Defensive Line – The last time the Steelers and the Broncos faced each other, Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson were held to zero touchdowns and less than 100 yards. This time, Anderson had a touchdown and both backs had 110 rushing yards. There was only one sack on Peyton Manning, but it did not come from the defensive line. Grade: B
Linebackers – James Harrison was the star of the linebacker corps. Harrison and Ryan Shazier both led the linebackers with six tackles and one assist. Harrison continued to get into the faces of Hillman and Anderson. Harrison also had the only sack on Manning before the two exchanged a friendly hug after the game. Grade: A
Secondary – The secondary had William Gay and Will Allen dominating the Broncos wide receivers. Gay had seven tackles with one assist and Allen had six tackles. Brandon Boykin also stepped up with his four tackles. The secondary did well with not having large penalties called against them. Grade: B+
Special Teams – When it came to the kicking game, Chris Boswell was the only positive takeaway. Boswell had three field goals and converted all of them and converted his extra point attempt. As far as the other kicker, punter Jordan Berry had a day he’d like to forget. On his six punts, he only averaged 29.3 yards. On the return game, Wheaton filled in for Brown on the punt returns. Needless to say, Brown will certainly take that job right back, after Wheaton almost lost the ball twice. Grade: C+
Coaching – The Steelers coaching staff did all they could in a bad situation. With all the injuries they had, head coach Mike Tomlin continued to address the “Next man up” mentality. His players responded to him, and he responded to them by using his timeouts wisely. Now, Tomlin as well as his other coaches will evaluate to see what they need to do better next year. Grade: A+
