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Winners and Losers from Steelers' loss to the Giants

The Steelers had several outstanding individual contributions, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, in their 18-13 loss to the Giants in their preseason opener Saturday.

By Neal Coolong
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sport
Winners

LaRod Stephens-Howling

Impossible to dispute his inclusion here, or the perfect fit he is for this running game. He had 40 yards on seven carries to lead all rushers, but his decisiveness followed by his patience shows this is, indeed, a four-back race for carries in 2013.

Al Woods

He played a large amount of snaps, and made his presence known in the vast majority of them. He took a big step forward in the possibility of seeing significant snaps along the defensive line.

Adrian Robinson

In basically destroying the Giants' third squad, Robinson came to life late, scoring the Steelers' only touchdown on a botched snap. He added pressures off the edge through the fourth quarter as well.

Brian Rolle

The lanky-and-athletic linebacker made plays all over the field - including a two-play sequence in which he made a play on a receiver, and sacked the quarterback on the next.

Marshall McFadden

Played great sideline-to-sideline, really made an argument as to why he can not only make this roster (a foregone conclusion now) but can get on the field this season. Get him a new number.

Markus Wheaton

Nearly made a great grab along the sidelines on a long throw by QB Bruce Gradkowski (who may or may not have been trying to thin out the Steelers' WR corps). He also took a low Gradkowski throw and got a nice compression pound to the ground, while hanging onto the ball. His great one-cut run on an end-around netted a first down.

David Paulson

He may not have missed a play on offense or special teams. He earns a nod due to the situation the team is in, and he still went hard enough to nearly spring KR Reggie Dunn on a punt in the fourth quarter.

Vince Williams

Rounding out the slew of Steelers young linebackers who impressed in this game (one sack and one tackle-for-loss), Williams looked more explosive than he was made out to be as a sixth round pick from Florida State. Judging by the performances of the Steelers linebackers, though, it may not have been enough to move his stock upward much.

Jarvis Jones

Along with picking up what had to be the easiest fumble recovery of his career, he made a nice play on a third down screen pass in the third quarter.

Losers

Landry Jones

It didn't take long for him to forget which hole he called on a simple running play to Baron Batch. The result was a fumble and a safety for the Giants.

David Gilreath

After earning Training Camp Darling status in 2012, Gilreath fumbled a punt and elected to receive one at the Steelers' 3-yard line - a penalty on Justin Brown brought the Steelers back to their 1.5 yard line, leading to Jones' gaffe (if Winners and Losers included coaches, Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith's shockingly poor unit tonight would absolutely have earned this spot. A blocked punt, two penalties and the near decapitation of Reggie Dunn on a punt where four tacklers went unblocked).

Jason Worilds

A little too eager to show he can sack the quarterback, he managed two personal foul penalties during one 2-minute drive to end the half. And they weren't aggressive penalties - the ball was clearly out of the passer's hand.

Damon Cromartie-Smith

His assignment - the one he whiffed on - got the blocked punt that led to an early Giants field goal. Add another negative mark to a horrendous Steelers special teams performance.

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