Steelers vs. Commanders, winners and losers

Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 28-27 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday afternoon.

WINNER

LB Patrick Queen

In his best game of the season, Queen flew against the run and had two tackles for loss. He showed off his range from sideline to sideline, including defending QB runs with Jayden Daniels. Queen also recorded a pass breakup and brought good energy to the game. This is the type of game you want to see more of from him in the second half of the season.

WR Ben Skowronek

Skowronek was activated in his first week of eligibility and resumed his role as starting scorer. He made an impact by forcing and recovering two botched punt returns, giving the team their second touchdown and a 14-7 lead. Skowronek has a knack for breaking through blocks and putting pressure on the return player.

WR George Pickens

Pickens can still get frustrated because he’s unfocused and appears to hang his head at times, but there’s more good than bad. His touchdown was a spectacular grab that few receivers could pull off to give the Steelers their first points of the game. He followed with a long 34-yard catch-and-run to set up a touchdown in the second half. In the fourth quarter, QB Russell Wilson hit him with a beautiful touch throw that led to another sideline catch.

The clear source of the Steelers passing game on an otherwise easy day.

DL Cam Heyward

Heyward came to play today. He continues to show his power and strength by folding the pocket and helping to contain the mobile Jayden Daniels. Heyward recorded two sacks in the game, giving him five for the season, providing key defensive stops as Pittsburgh struggled against Washington in the second half.

QB Russell Wilson

It wasn’t the best day, an afternoon in which Pittsburgh struggled to get its running game going. Wilson’s completion percentage certainly wasn’t great, as he was below or at 50 percent for much of the game. But Wilson stood firm despite taking big hits in the pocket and made plays when he had to. Nothing was bigger than his moonball to Mike Williams that gave the Steelers a 28-27 lead late in the fourth quarter.

Wilson is calm and balanced and doesn’t let what happened in the previous game bother him the next game. It was a chaotic game, but Wilson’s three passing touchdowns are a unicorn in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era. And he still had 28 points on the board. Sometimes it depends.

And his hard countdown on fourth down that put Washington offside was beautiful and a testament to the effectiveness of his cadence.

WR Mike Williams

Welcome to Pittsburgh, Big Mike. In his Steelers debut, his snap count was predictably lower, but he made them count by chasing down and catching a 32-yard touchdown from Russell Wilson to start the fourth quarter. Exactly what he was traded for. Remember his new team.

LOSER

CB James Pierre

An obvious name on this list. Whether you like the decision/design or not, Pierre had to catch a wide-open fake punt that would have given the Steelers a first down and possibly a lot more. Instead, he dropped it and it took Washington into Pittsburgh’s red zone, where Austin Ekeler eventually scored a touchdown.

The Steelers helped tie the game by recovering a fumbled Commanders punt for their own touchdown later in the game, but Pierre’s play was still the story of the first half. The piece was there. He just didn’t execute it.

To be fair, Pierre kept his cool and made a big third-down breakaway on the Commanders’ final drive of the game after replacing the injured Donte Jackson. This helped set up a fourth-down stop and a turnover on downs. So Pierre can and should feel much better.

CB Joey Porter Jr.

Ugly play for Porter, rejected multiple times, leading to first downs for Washington. There is always a line between taking advantage of his size and length, but he easily crosses a line. He doesn’t need to be as aggressive and was in a good position to knock down those throws without drawing a flag. Really breathed life into Washington, especially in the first half. When he wasn’t sacked, WR Terry McLaurin caught two crucial passes against him. One downfield, the other for lots of YAC.

CB Donte Jackson wasn’t much better, and while FS Minkah Fitzpatrick was clean from a penalty kill standpoint, he and the defense struggled to handle the Commanders’ RPO/play-action game in the middle of the field. Still, like Pierre, Fitzpatrick came up with a big tackle after being separated from James Pierre and made a stop on the fourth down of the game.

RB Jaylen Warren

It’s always difficult to put a guy on this list for a single piece. To his credit, Warren gave it his all during a crucial fourth-quarter drive. But his fumble at the 1-yard line when the Steelers trailed by six was crucial. Yes, it was close to going forward, but with the perimeter trying to force Warren into the end zone, the refs allowed the entire run to proceed quietly. Warren had the ball ripped away at the very end. His biggest weakness was his ball security, which came to the fore in a critical phase of the game. Define plays that you don’t want to be on the wrong side of.

Defend midfield

Defensively, Pittsburgh had problems with shots over the middle. The Commanders’ RPO and play-action game understandably pulled the linebackers up and softened the middle behind him. Pittsburgh allowed a few catches that way and was fortunate not to allow more with a drop from TE Zach Ertz and a couple misses from Jayden Daniels on his target, which would have meant big losses.

It was a difficult situation and the defense held firm when needed. But Washington had an effective game plan, if not always perfect execution.