Winners and losers from Week 18
Well, I’ve slept on it and I still feel the exact same as I did last night (go read my thoughts if you haven’t already). Anyway, let’s get into it.
Varsity
DT Cam Heyward
Heyward had three batted passes and legitimately has a case for Defensive Player of the Year. The fact that he did that while battling the flu is even more impressive.
DT Keeanu Benton
Benton had a big sack late in the game and continues to look like a very solid piece for the long-term future on the defensive line.
LB Patrick Queen
This was one of the better Patrick Queen games on the season. They sent him as a blitzer multiple times, one of which resulted in a sack that killed the Bengals’ chances of scoring a touchdown close to the end zone. He had five tackles on the night and a tackle for loss, as well.
TE Pat Freiermuth
I know he had the drop on the Steelers’ final play, but he also had eight catches and a touchdown and was the Steelers’ only productive offensive player.
Junior-Varsity
QB Russell Wilson
Wilson has officially turned back into a pumpkin. He went 17-of-31 for 148 yards. Over his last four games, these are Wilson’s averages, per Tommy Jaggi of Still Curtain:
- 174.5 passing yards per game
- 5.6 yards per attempt
- 81.2 passer rating
Compare that to Kenny Pickett’s 2023 averages:
- 172.5 passing yards per game
- 6.4 yards per attempt
- 81.4 passer rating
Start Justin Fields in the wild card round.
Russell Wilson’s average over his last 4 games:
174.5 passing yards
5.6 yards per attempt
81.2 passer ratingKenny Pickett’s average in 2023 season with Steelers:
172.5 passing yards
6.4 yards per attempt
81.4 passer ratingThe #Steelers turned to Mason Rudolph last year.
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) January 5, 2025
WR George Pickens
Three drops, one catch, zero yards.
LT Dan Moore
Trey Hendrickson had 3.5 sacks on Moore. His stock has dropped significantly over the second half of the season after a solid first half.
Run blocking
You’re playing the Bengals, who can’t stop the run, and you put up 74 yards on 23 carries? Okay, man.
OC Arthur Smith
Yeah, we need to have a long conversation about Arthur Smith. Yes, he’s better than Matt Canada, but that shouldn’t be the bar. The Steelers just went four straight games with 17 or fewer points – they never did that under Canada (per Alex Kozora).
Pittsburgh failed to score more than 17 points in their final four games.
They never had such a four-game stretch at any point of the Matt Canada era. #Steelers
— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) January 5, 2025
HC Mike Tomlin
From 10-3 with a two-game lead in the AFC North to 10-7. And for as bad and inconsistent as the offense and defense have been in this stretch, at what point will everyone unanimously agree that the finger needs pointed at the guy who hires the staff and has a big say in who the quarterback was this season? Every other national person is more than willing to critique every head coach in the NFL except Tomlin for whatever reason. The Steelers should trade Tomlin and hit reset on everything. New staff. New quarterback. New head coach. Start over. Because this will keep repeating every year until they do.