The Pittsburgh Steelers left Week 12 victorious after beating the Cincinnati Bengals 16-10 at Paul Brown Stadium, but anyone who watched the game knew it was far from a perfect effort.
In fact, there might be more questions surrounding the Steelers, especially on offense, now than there were entering this week’s action.
Is Devlin Hodges the quarterback moving forward? Or will Mason Rudolph get another crack at the starting job?
Will the team get injured stars like James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster back for Week 13?
All questions that will be answered in due time, but until then the fine folks at Pro Football Focus (PFF) have put a nice bow on the Steeler’s 6th win of the season. Take a look at some of the positives and negatives they drew out of the victory:
Outside of the long touchdown catch and run by James Washington, the Steelers had to rely on the ground game to move the ball effectively. In the second half, that meant Benny Snell was at the forefront, and he did an excellent job of getting downhill quickly, helping Pittsburgh extend enough drives to maintain their lead.
Mason Rudolph had another rough outing, as he did very little to advance the ball downfield. He struggled to get through his progressions quickly and was inaccurate to all parts of the field.
Mike Hilton had an excellent game today. He was tested several times in coverage, and he held his own. He notched three pass breakups and had several other instances of tight coverage.
Cameron Heyward was a force while rushing the passer. Just like counterpart Geno Atkins, it was the bullrush move that saw Heyward in the backfield all afternoon.
Mason Rudolph’s struggles have been well documented, and were clear as day this past Sunday. But it was nice to see Cameron Heyward, Mike Hilton and James Washington get some good publicity at the same time.
Heyward is slowly having himself a tremendous season, and looks to be on the cusp of another double-digit sack season. It is possible the Steelers could have three players all hit double-digit sack totals in Bud Dupree, T.J. Watt (already done) and Heyward. Talk about a tremendous pass rushing trio.
As for Hilton and Washington, their play has been solid, but far from stellar. Washington seems to be a player improving every step of the way, where Hilton has had his lapses in coverage over the past few weeks. I understand no one is perfect, but at the same time the margin for error for this team moving forward is razor thin for both the offense and the defense.
What do you think of the aforementioned players? Deserving of praise, or just a performance against a team who hasn’t won a game in 2019? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!