Pittsburgh Steelers Week 6 Stock Report

Thanks to a last-second touchdown scored by Le'Veon Bell, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the San Diego Chargers, 24-20, on Monday night.

The Steelers now have a 3-2 record, with one win and one loss with quarterback Mike Vick under center in place of the injured Ben Roethlisberger.

But even though the Steelers came away with a Week 5 win, that doesn't mean every player did their job as designed.

Here are the Steelers who are seeing their stocks rise and their stocks fall headed into Week 6's matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.

Stock Down: The Safeties

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Week 5 was a rough one for the Steelers' safeties, and not just because starter Will Allen suffered an ankle injury that knocked him out of the contest and has kept him out of practices this week. Their pass coverage, in particular, left a lot to be desired.

According to Pro Football Focus, Allen allowed five catches on five targets, for 66 yards, 52 yards after the catch and a touchdown, to Chargers tight end Antonio Gates. His replacement, Robert Golden, also gave up a score to Gates, and two catches on three targets for 15 yards. Mike Mitchell gave up one catch—to another Chargers tight end, Ladarius Green—for 24 yards.

All told, the Steelers' safeties allowed eight catches on nine targets for 105 yards and two touchdowns in Week 5. It was not a good showing for the trio.

Stock Up: RB Le'Veon Bell

Donald Miralle/Getty Images

With Mike Vick starting in place of Ben Roethlisberger, it's clear that the star of the Steelers' offense during the weeks Roethlisberger is hurt is running back Le'Veon Bell. 

In Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens, Bell rushed 22 times for 129 yards and a score and caught seven passes for 21 yards and another touchdown.

The 23-year-old reprised his performance against the Chargers in Week 5, with 21 carries for 111 yards and the game-winning touchdown and four receptions for 16 yards and an additional score. 

With the Steelers not exhibiting much trust in Vick's arm, they have chosen to lean on Bell's legs, and it hasn't been a bad decision to make.

Bell is one of the NFL's most talented all-around backs, and he's showing it off while trying to do the most heavy lifting in Pittsburgh's offense right now.

Stock Down: WR Antonio Brown

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

The one Steelers skill position player to see the most negative affects of Mike Vick's brief turn as the starting quarterback is receiver Antonio Brown. No longer is he putting up 100 yards per game—in fact, he hasn't reached even half that in each of the last two weeks.

Against the Ravens, Brown caught five passes on nine targets for 42 yards and against the Chargers, he pulled down three of six passing targets for 45 yards. And he's getting frustrated.

Speaking with reporters, including the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Ken Laird, on Wednesday, Brown said, "Obviously my guy's not at quarterback. Mike Vick's out there and I think he's just playing conservative to make sure we get the win. You know, he's not going to take too many shots."

The 27-year-old continued, "Yeah, [Vick's] gotta take some shots, man! I told him, 'trust me a little bit, let me make some plays, and let’s get a victory! It doesn't have to be that hard."

Brown said he saw much more one-on-one coverage than he's used to against San Diego and, "that's what we've got to try and exploit," going forward.

But until Vick feels confident in his throws to Brown, those opportunities may continue to slip through the Steelers' fingers. It could take until Roethlisberger returns for Brown to return to his typical form.

Stock Up: LB Jarvis Jones

Don Juan Moore/Getty Images

It'd been a quiet season up until Week 5 for Steelers outside linebacker Jarvis Jones. Going into the contest against the Chargers, he had just nine combined tackles and zero sacks despite being considered a starter each and every week.

But against San Diego, Jones had his best game yet. The 26-year-old had five combined tackles on the day, including one for a loss and his first sack of the season. 

Jones is not going to be an every-week force in the Steelers' pass-rush, but it is an encouraging sign that he's getting farther removed from the wrist injury that marred his 2014 season.

If he can perform this way on a weekly basis, Pittsburgh's defense will only get that much better.

Stock Down: KR Dri Archer

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

At this point, it's hard to call Dri Archer anything but the Steelers' kick returner. He's caught no passes this year and has zero rushing attempts, even during the two weeks when Le'Veon Bell was suspended to start the season. 

And he's not even that effective a returner, with four kickoffs taken for 115 total yards, and a long return of 32 yards. The 24-year-old returned two kickoffs against the Chargers, netting him (and the team) a combined 62 yards.

On top of that, national broadcasters cannot pronounce his name right, calling him "Dry" instead of the "Dree."

It's clear that the Steelers are just trying to find something for Archer to do, and given his speed, kick returning makes sense. But for a 2014 Round 3 pick, Archer should have carved out a bigger role for himself by now. Instead, it's shrinking.