Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Tennessee Titans: Full Report Card Grades for Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers came up with a resume-building, statement win on Monday Night Football.
They beat a two-win team.
The Steelers put to rest all the angst about their inability to handle weak opponents, at least temporarily, by coming back from an 11-point deficit to defeat the Tennessee Titans 27-24 at LP Field in Nashville.
Since starting the season 3-3, the Steelers (7-4) have won four of their last five and enter the bye week with their best record after 11 games since 2011, the last year they made the playoffs.
The Titans, coached by former Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, fell to 2-8.
Of their seven wins this season, this is only the Steelers' second over a team with a losing record. If they've finally found the knack for beating teams below .500, it will come in handy. After their bye, they host the New Orleans Saints (4-6). Two weeks later, they go to Atlanta (4-6).
Their other three games are against the Bengals (twice) and Chiefs, who are likely to be jockeying against Pittsburgh for a playoff berth.
If the season ended after 11 weeks, the Steelers would be the No. 6 seed in the playoffs. They have a half-game lead on the Dolphins, Chargers, Ravens and Browns. All those teams are 6-4.
The Steelers improved to 3-8 all-time at Tennessee since the franchise moved there in 1997.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Ben Roethlisberger threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown with 9:01 remaining. It gave the Steelers a 27-24 lead and proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
This wasn't one of Roethlisberger's better games, however.
He was off on some of his throws, particularly in the red zone, and failed to notice some open receivers in the first half. He also threw his third interception in the last two games.
The Steelers led 13-10 and moved the ball 70 yards on 14 plays, reaching the Titans 17-yard line with less than a minute left in the first half. Jason McCourty picked him off in the end zone, and the Titans took the lead immediately after that on Zach Mettenberger's 80-yard touchdown pass to former Steeler Nate Washington.
For the game, Roethlisberger completed 21 of 32 passes for 207 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His 65.6 completion percentage was his lowest since he completed 50 percent of his passes in Week 6 at Cleveland.
Roethlisberger was sacked five times, and was at fault on at least one of them because he held the ball too long. He did, however, scramble four yards on 3rd-and-3 late in the third quarter to keep a drive going, and Le'Veon Bell eventually scored on a five-yard run to bring the Steelers to within four points.
Grade: C+
Running Back
2 of 10
A book could be written about what Le'Veon Bell did for the Steelers in this game.
He ran for a career-high 204 yards on 33 carries, for an average of 6.2 yards per carry, and scored on a five-yard run that slashed the Titans' lead to 24-20 nine seconds into the fourth quarter.
Ken Laird of TribLive Radio put a different spin on Bell's numbers:
"Le'Veon Bell's 204-yards rushing the most on MNF by any RB since Ricky Williams 2002 (216 v Miami). Most ever Bo Jackson 221 in 1987
— Ken Laird (@Ken_Laird) November 18, 2014 "
Bell became the first Steeler to run for more than 200 yards in a game since Willie Parker ran for 223 against the Cleveland Browns in 2006, according to Pro Football Talk.
Bell also caught two passes for 18 yards, both on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter. The second went for 10 yards on 3rd-and-2 and sustained what turned out to be the game-winning drive.
Most importantly, Bell prevented the Titans from seeing the ball in the game's final seven minutes. He ran the ball eight times for 49 yards to drain the clock on the game's final possession.
It was a performance reminiscent of Jerome Bettis.
"That is the way you close out a football game!!! @L_Bell26 my hats off to you! #oldschoolfootball
— Jerome Bettis (@JeromeBettis36) November 18, 2014"
Grade: A+
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
Antonio Brown gave the Steelers a 27-24 lead on a 12-yard touchdown reception from Ben Roethlisberger with 9:01 left in the game. It turned out to be the game-winner.
Brown caught nine passes for 91 yards and leads the NFL with 88 receptions. Four of his catches gave the Steelers the yardage they needed on third down.
Tracking his streak of games with at least five receptions for 50 yards has become an antiquated exercise. Brown has at least seven catches for at least 70 yards in six straight games. That's one game shy of the record shared by Anquan Boldin, Isaac Bruce and Demaryius Thomas, according to Pro Football Reference. Thomas' streak is still alive.
Heath Miller caught five passes for 71 yards after catching just four in the past two games. He also was instrumental as a run-blocker.
Martavis Bryant went without a touchdown for the first time in his five-game career. He caught two passes for 11 yards and was dominated at times by Titans cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson, whom Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranks 110th out of 112 cornerbacks.
Markus Wheaton caught just one pass, but it was a big one. Leading 27-24 with just over six minutes left in the game, the Steelers faced 3rd-and-4 at their own 25, and Roethlisberger found Wheaton for six yards. From there, Bell ran it seven straight times, and then Roethlisberger took a knee.
Grade: A-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
After working for the organization for more than three decades, the last three years as head coach, Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak was a Titans opponent for the first time.
So the spotlight was on the Steelers offensive line, and the results were mixed.
Roethlisberger was sacked five times, but not all of them were the line's fault. He held the ball too long on at least one of them.
None of the Titans' sacks came on the Steelers' last three drives. Pittsburgh scored on two of those drives and ran out the clock on the other one.
Jurrell Casey led the Titans with four sacks entering the game but was held without a sack or even a quarterback hit. Right tackle Marcus Gilbert had a lot to do with that, according to Jim Wexell of Steel City Insider:
"Kept looking for Jurrell Casey. Found him under Marcus Gilbert all down the stretch.
— James C Wexell (@jimwexell) November 18, 2014"
While the pass protection could have been better, the offensive line paved the way for Bell's career night. He averaged 6.2 yards per carry in the game and ran the ball on eight of the final 10 plays before the Steelers lined up in the victory formation.
Grade: B-
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Steelers held the Titans to 49 rushing yards on 15 carries, for an average of 3.3 yards per carry. It was the sixth time this season the Steelers allowed 63 rushing yards or less.
Rookie Bishop Sankey led Tennessee with 38 rushing yards on 11 carries. He scored a touchdown on a nine-yard run to narrow the Steelers' lead to 10-7 in the first quarter.
Brett Keisel batted down two Mettenberger passes and hit the rookie quarterback once to force a third-down incompletion on the Titans' first drive of the second half. Cameron Heyward also was credited with a quarterback hit.
It helped that the Steelers defense was on the field for only 20 minutes and 11 seconds.
Grade: B+
Linebackers
6 of 10
Vince Williams, who rotates with Sean Spence in place of injured Ryan Shazier at inside linebacker, led the Steelers with seven total tackles. Spence made five total tackles, including a tackle for a five-yard loss that helped force a three-and-out in the second quarter.
The Steelers didn't Zach Mettenberger and went through stretches when they hardly pressured him at all. They're tied for 20th in the league with 20 sacks, according to NFL.com.
Jason Worilds, James Harrison and Arthur Moats all had one quarterback hit.
Grade: C-
Defensive Backs
7 of 10
It looked like it would be a long night for Mettenberger when William Gay intercepted his first pass and took it 28 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 Steelers lead less than five minutes into the game.
Instead, it was a subpar night for Steelers defensive backs.
Former Steeler Nate Washington burned Gay on an 80-yard touchdown pass that gave the Titans a 17-13 lead with 44 seconds left in the first half.
The Titans' lead increased to 24-13 in the third quarter when 6'6" tight end Chase Coffman caught a four-yard touchdown pass over 5'9" Steelers cornerback Antwon Blake. Coffman caught six passes in his five-year career entering the game but hauled in three passes on that scoring drive.
Safety Mike Mitchell missed a tackle on Bishop Sankey's nine-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. But he also forced the Titans to kick a field goal when he and Will Allen stopped Sankey at the Steelers 2-yard line on third down early in the second quarter. The four points the Steelers were spared on that play turned out to be huge.
Brice McCain's facemask penalty helped the Titans get back into the game when they were down 10-0. Three plays later, Sankey put them on the board with his touchdown.
The Steelers secondary allowed Mettenberger to achieve a quarterback rating of 110.2, according to NFL.com, the best of his three career starts.
Grade: B-
Special Teams
8 of 10
Markus Wheaton has commandeered the role of Steelers kickoff returner. He returned five kicks for an average of 24.6 yards and advanced past the 20-yard line on four of his five returns. He reached the 20 on the other one.
Shaun Suisham made both of his field-goal attempts, from 23 and 49 yards. He's tied for eighth in the league with 90 percent of his field goals made, according to NFL.com.
Brad Wing punted twice for an average of 40.5 yards. He's tied for 28th in the league with an average of 43.8 yards per punt, according to NFL.com.
Two of the Steelers' four penalties in the game came on special teams. An illegal block above the waist by Arthur Moats negated Antonio Brown's 30-yard punt return early in the third quarter.
Grade: C+
Coaching
9 of 10
The Steelers finally took care of business against an inferior opponent. They seemed better prepared than they were in last week's loss to the 2-8 Jets. Instead of falling behind 17-0 in the first quarter, they jumped out to a 10-0 lead. It was their biggest first-quarter lead this season.
Roethlisberger was sacked on back-to-back plays to kill a drive in the third quarter, and the Titans subsequently increased their lead to 24-13. It took some composure for the Steelers to overcome that flurry, and Roethlisberger wasn't sacked after the Steelers went back to the ground game to tame the Titans' pass rush.
The Steelers committed four penalties, and they've been flagged just seven times in the last two games.
Grade: A
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| QB | C+ |
| RB | A+ |
| WR/TE | A- |
| OL | B- |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | C- |
| DB | B- |
| Special Teams | C+ |
| Coaching | A |
| Cumulative Grade | B- |
The Steelers won, but their performance in the first 41 minutes of the game dragged down their grade.
James Harrison wasn't afraid to admit it, via Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network:
"Harrison one of waning few open, candid guys. Said "We looked bad for 3 quarters" and even tho #Steelers won, "we gotta get more consistent"
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) November 18, 2014"
Style points aren't awarded in the NFL. Margin of victory matters when assessing the quality of a team, however, and the Steelers struggled to defeat a team that won at Kansas City in Week 1 but has beaten only the 1-9 Jaguars since.
The Titans (2-8) were in control late in the third quarter. They had an 11-point lead and were swarming Roethlisberger on just about every play. But the Steelers made the necessary adjustments. They came back from 11 points down on the road in the fourth quarter for the first time since 1991, according to Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders:
"Steelers' first 11 point 4QC since 11/10/1991 in Cincinnati - http://t.co/A6mDE3FwIy
— Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) November 18, 2014"
That kind of mettle and resiliency bodes well for December when the stakes get higher.
Game statistics are from ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.
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