The Pittsburgh Steelers got a much needed win Sunday night against a hapless Indianapolis Colts team that keeps their playoff hopes alive.
The Steelers have shown the ability to beat bad football teams and they certainly did that against the Colts, dominating on both sides of the ball.
How did the Steelers grade out in the win?
Let’s take a look in my weekly Steelers Report Card.
Quarterback- Ben Roethlisberger feasted on the Colts once again, completing 24-of-39 pass attempts for 364 yards and four touchdowns. Nothing more to say here as once again Big Ben was simply outstanding. Grade: A+
Running Backs– After not seeing the ball much last week, Todd Haley made it a point to get DeAngelo Williams involved early in the running game. The result was a 134-yard effort on 26 carries. He did fumble twice, losing one, but otherwise it was a great night for Williams. Grade: A-
Wide Receivers-Everyone made plays and when that happens, the Steelers offense can’t be stopped. Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant combined for three touchdowns and 232 yards on 12 receptions. Markus Wheaton added a touchdown and tight end Jesse James added three early catches subbing for the injured Heath Miller. Grade: A+
Offensive Line- Williams averaged 5.2 yards per carry and Roethlisberger was only sacked once, but it was wiped out by a penalty. The offensive line helped put the game away by rushing for 125 yards in the second half. Grade: A+
Defensive Line– The Steelers held Frank Gore to 45 yards on 13 carries and the Colts averaged just three yards per carry. It was a good performance against a team that struggles to run the football. It has been 52 consecutive games since Indianapolis has had a 100-yard rusher so there really wasn’t much to worry about there. Grade: A-
Linebackers- James Harrison showed up for a change and was dominant, with three of the Steelers five sacks. Arthur Moats also added a sack and Jarvis Jones made a huge play early with an interception after the Steelers fumbled away the opening kickoff. All in all a great night for the linebackers. Grade: A
Secondary- Brandon Boykin finally saw the field in the nickel package and came away with a pick. William Gay was solid other than allowing a 28-yard catch by Andre Johnson that set up a Colts touchdown. Other than that everyone had a solid day against an offense that didn’t pack much punch, but that is the type of performance we are supposed to see against an inferior opponent. Grade: B+
Special Teams- The one knock on the Steelers performance was once again the special teams. Yes, Brown did return a punt for a touchdown, but the overall performance was once again terrible. Chris Boswell made three field goals, which was a positive. But throw in a missed field goal, two fumbles by Jacoby Jones and a 60-yard kickoff return allowed and it was once again a long night. Grade: D+
Coaching– There were some positives. The offense was outstanding and a couple coaching moves panned out, most notably adding Boykin to the nickel package and benching Jones at halftime. The special teams are still a mess though and that could be a killer down the stretch. At least Mike Tomlin got out of his own way this week.
It is hard to get overly excited. The Steelers did what they were supposed to do. The beat a bad team at home in primetime. Tomlin’s team has proven they can do that. What they haven’t proven is that they can beat good teams, having gone just 1-4 on the season against teams currently with a winning record. We will find out in the next two weeks what Tomlin’s team is made of. Grade: C+
Photo Credit: Getty Images
