The Pittsburgh Steelers kicked a field goal as time expired in Heinz Field to defeat the Green Bay Packers 31-28.
QB Ben Roethlisberger threw for 351 yards on 45 attempts, offsetting two interceptions with four touchdown passes. Two of those touchdowns went to WR Antonio Brown, who had a stellar night as he also collected 169 receiving yards. RB Le'Veon Bell kept the offense humming, chipping in 95 yards on 20 carries and 88 yards on 12 receptions.
QB Brett Hundley was game to compete however, throwing for 245 yards and three touchdowns versus no turnovers. RB Jamaal Williams found the endzone twice, also producing 135 total yards to go along with the scores.
However the game was ultimately decided by Roethlisberger and Brown, who collected 56 yards on the final drive of the game, putting in them within range for Chris Boswell to win the game with his kick. With that, we give you our PFF-exclusive takeaways from the contest for each team.
Top 5 Grades:
WR Antonio Brown, 92.0 overall grade
G David DeCastro, 88.5 overall grade
QB Ben Roethlisberger, 84.6 overall grade
DI Stephon Tuitt, 82.8 overall grade
T Chris Hubbard, 81.2 overall grade
Performances of Note:
WR Antonio Brown, 92.0 overall grade
Antonio Brown was electric for the Steelers on their game winning drive, making a beautiful sideline catch and then catching an out route which put them in field goal range. He was targeted 12 times in the game, catching 10 for 169 yards and two touchdowns. QB Ben Roethlisberger had a perfect passer rating when targeting Brown.
QB Ben Roethlisberger, 84.6 overall grade
The Steelers offensive line did a great job throughout the night protecting Roethlisberger in the pocket, he was only under pressure on nine of his 49 drop-backs and he made the Packers defense pay when given time, completing 30-of-40 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns with a clean pocket. Roethlisberger found success in the intermediate passing game, completing 7-of-13 passes for 124 yards.
DI Stephon Tuitt, 82.8 overall grade
Tuitt's big play came on a strip-sack of Hundley in the first quarter, but unfortunately Pittsburgh was unable to recover, and the play ended up being nullified anyways due to a penalty by Artie Burns. Tuitt added two more pressures in the game, and had a couple stops against the run.
CB Mike Hilton, 95.4 run-defense grade
Hilton was excellent against the run. He had three runs stops on the night, two for no gain and one for a loss. However, he did not grade as well in coverage, as his overpersual on Jamaal Williams' screen helped spring it for a touchdown, and allowed a first down on the only pass completed into his coverage.
Top 5 Grades:
CB Damarious Randall, 85.1 overall grade
LB Jake Ryan, 84.2 overall grade
WR Davante Adams, 81.9 overall grade
C Corey Linsley, 81.0 overall grade
DI Mike Daniels, 80.9 overall grade
Performances of Note:
QB Brett Hundley, 68.7 overall grade
While Hundley had a nice bounce-back following last week's disastrous outing, his performance doesn't quite match up with his 245 yard, three touchdown traditional stat line. Hundley did have two nice deep throws for touchdowns, albeit one against a busted coverage and one into a huge window. But those were his only two completions out of six passes targeted 10-plus yards past the line of scrimmage. In fact, all but 62 of his 245 passing yards came after the catch, including his other touchdown, a 54-yard screen pass to Jamaal Williams. It was certainly an improvement by Hundley, but still not the game-changing level of play that the Green Bay offense needs.
WR Davante Adams, 81.9 overall grade
Adams had his third-straight solid outing with five catches for 82 yards, and a nice stop-and-go touchdown on Coty Sensabaugh that also required forcing a missed tackle after the catch. Adams seems like he's on the same page as Hundley, as the pair has hooked up for 18 catches, 298 yards, and two touchdowns in his past three games.
CB Damarious Randall, 85.1 overall grade
On a night where the Packers struggled to contain the Steelers stars, CB Damarious Randall did his job well in the secondary, allowing only two receptions on five targets while recording a pass break up and interception. If they could do it differently, perhaps Green Bay would have matched up Randall on Antonio Brown more often, as the Steelers receiver wasn't targeted against him.
LB Jake Ryan, 84.2 overall grade
The third year linebacker out of Michigan played an all around solid game. He limited Steelers receivers to 16 yards on the three receptions he surrendered in coverage, which led to a coverage grade of 83.6, behind only Damarious Randall for the team lead. Ryan was also respectable in run defense, recording two stops. The entire defensive unit struggled to tackle the elusive Le'veon Bell and other Steeler playmakers as they missed 10 tackles on the night.
PFF Game Ball: Antonio Brown, WR
*Grades are subject to change upon review
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.