Pittsburgh Steelers: Winners and Losers from Week 5 Win vs. Philadelphia

The Pittsburgh Steelers bounced back from a very disappointing loss to the Oakland Raiders in Week 3 to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 16-14.

Even though the offense struggled to score, for the most part, Ben Roethlisberger was able to lead the team back to a 2-2 record.

The Steelers have a long way to go to get going on all cylinders, and here are winners and losers from their Week 5 win versus the Philadelphia Eagles.

Winner: The Offensive Line

The Steelers' offensive line hasn't been that bad at pass-blocking this season, but they have been horrific in the running game.

The offense has been ranked the third worst in the NFL in rushing through the Steelers' first three games; however, they were able to really open up some holes against the Eagles.

Because of the threat of an actual running game, Ben Roethlisberger did not have to run for his life in the game and if not for some drops, the offense would have scored more.

Loser: Troy Polamalu

Troy Polamalu's big return to the Steelers' defense was cut short when he aggravated his calf injury in the first quarter.

Troy had already missed the last two games with the injury, and he got hurt again with little to no contact from anyone.

Normally, the Steelers' defense goes as far as Troy takes them, so hopefully his injury will not keep him out of the lineup for a long time.

Winner: Rashard Mendenhall

As stated in a previous slide, the Steelers' rushing attack has been one of the worst in the league through the team's first three games.

With Rashard Mendenhall playing in his first game since tearing his ACL last season, the team racked up 136 total rushing yards against the Eagles.

Mendenhall looked as good as the Steelers could have hoped, showing a great burst and running as hard as I've see him run in a while.

Loser: Ryan Mundy

With Troy Polamalu getting hurt in the first quarter, you would think that Ryan Mundy would be a winner because he got more playing time.

Instead, Mundy displayed again that he is really a detriment to the secondary, getting a abused in coverage almost every week.

Mundy has been a solid backup for the Steelers in past years, but this season he has been really picked on by opposing offenses, and it continued against the Eagles.

Winner: Lawrence Timmons

After being pretty much non-existent during the team's first three games, Lawrence Timmons was flying all over the field against the Eagles.

Timmons led the team with eight solo tackles, which included two for a loss and a key forced fumble on Michael Vick.

Sometimes people forget how good Timmons can be when he's healthy, and he really disrupted the Eagles' offense Sunday.

Loser: The Receivers

The Pittsburgh receivers in general had a down day, even with Antonio Brown having seven catches for 86 yards.

Brown also dropped two other passes during the game, one being a touchdown, and Mike Wallace also dropped a couple.

Then, Jerricho Cotchery looked like a sniper took him out on what should have been an easy touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger and the team had to settle for field goals.

Winner: Shaun Suisham

I do not know about anyone else, but I was sweating bullets when the game came down to a Shaun Suisham field goal.

Even though it was a field goal that no kicker should miss (34 yards), Suisham has generally been inconsistent during his career.

Well, Suisham did make the kick, and in fact, he has not missed a field goal all season to this point for the Steelers.

Loser: Late-Game Defense

The Steelers' defense in general played a very good game, holding the Eagles to only 14 points and causing two turnovers, one in the red zone.

After making life rough for Michael Vick through the first three quarters, however, the defense allowed a 17-play, 78-yard touchdown drive to give the Eagles the lead late in the game.

The offense should have scored more points than it did, but so far early in the season, the team has not been able to count on the defense in any type of late-game, clutch situation.