Steelers Week 17 Winners and Losers

It's a New Year and this looks like a new Steelers team with Mason Rudolph at the reins! Another 30 point game resulted in a victory and suddenly the Yinzer cries for change appear to be answered. This week several stand-out players deserved their share of recognition and heading into the biggest game against a familiar foe, will need to build on the strengths of this weekend against the Seahawks.

Winners:

The Harris/Warren Dynamic Duo:

Since the beginning of the season, the Steelers’ identity has been to run the football and play good defense. As the season has progressed, the offensive line has started to come together, and now Jaylen and Najee are playing the best they have all season. This week, the dynamic duo combined for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns, and both now have 1,000 yards from scrimmage. The coaching staff has done a good job rotating them in and utilizing them better situationally. I think many Yinzers, me included, may owe Naj an apology. Sorry Naj. 

WR George Pickens

Just two short weeks after his in-game antics were getting him run out of town, George Pickens has completely shown why he demands the ball. In the last two weeks, George and Mason have connected for 11 catches, 326 yards and 2 touchdowns. Many of these catches were tremendous efforts by Pickens and great hands. Rudolph has consistently been able to get the ball downfield to Pickens, and he’s made good on almost all of those attempts. Going against the 4th best defense in the NFL next week, George will need to continue to step up. Yinzers have almost entirely forgotten what they were so upset about. Almost. 

QB Mason Rudolph

The answer has been under our noses the entire time! It was always Mason Rudolph, of course! The offense just looks better with Mason. He completes the routine passes to keep drives alive. He feels pressure, doesn’t panic and throws a great deep ball. He’s been a great spark for this Steelers team just when they needed one most. Since taking over, Rudolph has averaged 282 yards per game and 32 points per game, which is something that we just haven’t seen since Big Ben Roethlisberger. I’m not sure he’s the long-term answer, but Mason continues to impress and looks like the best QB on the roster. The only question is, why was this man buried on the depth chart behind Mitch Trubisky?

OLB Nick Herbig

Tom Brady has a monologue about how “as a backup, you may only get 2 reps in practice, so you have to make them your best two reps.” Nick Herbig this week had 2 snaps in this game versus the Seahawks and took full advantage of them. Herbig made the play of the game by forcing and recovering the ball on a strip sack. He continues to impress, and I can see him being the next great pass rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Another Omar Khan gem. 

Honorable Mentions: HC Mike Tomlin, WR Diontae Johnson, S Patrick Peterson 

Losers:

QB Kenny Pickett 

There is a lot of talk going on in Pittsburgh about Kenny Pickett’s health and whether or not he was able to play on Sunday. I’m not sure what to believe, but what I do know is right now the best place for KP is on the bench. I believe that the Steelers will try to bring in a new Offensive Coordinator and try to roll Kenny back out to the Yinzers next season, so it’s in their best interest to just hide him away for now. The last thing the organization needs is a really ugly game from him, against the Ravens, in a must-win game. 

OLB TJ Watt

I feel the only thing worth rooting for week in and week out has been for TJ Watt to win Defensive Player of the Year and/or break the single-season sack record. With 6 sacks to go heading into the Seahawks game, I’m sure TJ was hungry to get after Geno Smith. Unfortunately, in a game where he needed to state his claim for DPOY, TJ couldn’t register a single sack. Geno did a great job moving up in the pocket and TJ’s presence was noted, however, numbers are all that matter. I'm hoping for an all-time performance in week 18 out of TJ and maybe he can turn the odds back in his favor. 

Not-So Honorable Mentions: CB Joey Porter Jr.