The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ playoff hopes have been dashed for some time, but they still get a chance to play spoiler down the stretch. The Carolina Panthers had an 11% chance of making the playoffs prior to Week 15, and that’s been chopped after losing 24-16 to Pittsburgh.
Offensive spotlight: Diontae Johnson may have opined for Mason Rudolph earlier this week, but he had quite the rapport with Mitchell Trubisky on Sunday. He caught all 10 of his targets for 98 yards and added three broken tackles on the day. It’s crazy to say that those were season highs in all three categories for Johnson.
Defensive spotlight: The Steelers' defensive line set the tone early and often in this one. Alex Highsmith, Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt all made their presence felt in a big way. Highsmith finished with two pressures, including a sack, while Watt had five pressures, including two sacks. Heyward tallied six pressures, including two sacks.
Rookie spotlight: We had another vintage George Pickens go-ball reception on Sunday. Pickens went over the back of Keith Taylor Jr. for yet another highlight-reel grab.
George Pickens. DAWG. pic.twitter.com/YTDPCpXGMm
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) December 18, 2022
The rookie second-rounder caught two of his four targets for 53 yards on the day.
Offensive line spotlight: That was one of the best performances we’ve seen from the Steelers' offensive line in pass protection this season. On 23 pass-blocking snaps, Pittsburgh's front five combined to allow only one pressure. You can’t do too much better than that.
Box Score
Passing
Pittsburgh Steelers |
||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| Mitch Trubisky | 14.06 | 17 / 22 | 179 | 8.1 | 0 | 0 |
Carolina Panthers |
||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| Sam Darnold | 13.2 | 14 / 23 | 225 | 9.8 | 1 | 0 |
Rushing
Pittsburgh Steelers |
||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long |
| Diontae Johnson | 20 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Najee Harris | 14.6 | 24 | 86 | 3.6 | 1 | 10 |
| Mitch Trubisky | 14.06 | 6 | 9 | 1.5 | 1 | 4 |
| Jaylen Warren | 11.9 | 11 | 38 | 3.5 | 1 | 9 |
| Steven Sims | 3.9 | 2 | 19 | 9.5 | 0 | 22 |
| Derek Watt | 0.2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Carolina Panthers |
||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long |
| Sam Darnold | 13.2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Chuba Hubbard | 9.7 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | 0 | 3 |
| D'Onta Foreman | 1 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
Receiving
Pittsburgh Steelers |
||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD |
| Diontae Johnson | 20 | 10 | 10 | 98 | 9.8 | 0 |
| Jaylen Warren | 11.9 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| George Pickens | 7.3 | 4 | 2 | 53 | 13.2 | 0 |
| Steven Sims | 3.9 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| Zach Gentry | 1.4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Gunner Olszewski | 1.3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Miles Boykin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carolina Panthers |
||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD |
| DJ Moore | 18.3 | 6 | 5 | 73 | 12.2 | 1 |
| Chuba Hubbard | 9.7 | 3 | 3 | 57 | 19 | 0 |
| Terrace Marshall Jr. | 8.1 | 3 | 3 | 51 | 17 | 0 |
| Tommy Tremble | 4 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 6.7 | 0 |
| Shi Smith | 3.4 | 3 | 1 | 24 | 8 | 0 |
| Laviska Shenault Jr. | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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