Winners
Ben Roethlisberger In completing 20 of 25 passes (80 percent) Roethlisberger reached the 80 percent completion plateau for the ninth time in his career, but the second time accomplishing it with 25 or more passes (the other was in his rookie season of 2004 in a win over the Dallas Cowboys...Tony Romo did not throw an interception in that game). Roethlisberger's one pick was a poor throw and probably not a wise decision, but he threw a few beauties throughout this game.
Antonio Brown - It's hard to come up with more to say about him, except "Pro Bowl" and "All Pro is not out of the question." Brown impacts the game in a variety of ways, and his 67-yard punt return - outside it being a play the coaches will watch many times over due to the sheer brutality of it on the Steelers' part - was a long time coming.
Kelvin Beachum - Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson terrorized this team in their previous meeting. Johnson made a play or two in this game, but was largely limited due to Beachum, who came off injury to face a tough Bengals defense. The Steelers only allowed one sack in this game, along with two hits on Roethlisberger.
Al Woods - He looked as comfortable as he ever has at nose tackle, and set the tone for a physical defensive game. Helped keep the Bengals to 57 rushing yards - nearly 60 yards below their season average.
Le'Veon Bell - He topped 100 total yards in the game (50 in the air and 57 on the ground), making him the third Steelers rookie running back to collect 1,000 yards from scrimmage in his rooke year - and that was his 11th game.
Emmanuel Sanders - His extra effort on third and long in the fourth quarter moved the chains in a critical point of the game. He had five catches on six targets, including a nice run up the sideline during the Steelers' blitzkrieg first quarter.
Losers
LaMarr Woodley - We fully admit the curve for Losers in this game is slanted quite heavily. Woodley barely played in this game, which is, on first viewing, the only real negative coming from a player in this game. We're sure that's not reality, as the Steelers only gained 290 yards on offense and scored three points in the second half. For now though, let Woodley represent as close to a game in which no individual player appeared terrible enough to merit this consideration.