Steelers vs Panthers Grades: Offense Earns Highest Grades of the Season
The Pittsburgh Steelers played their most complete game in Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers. The offense and defense clicking in stereo led to a 24-16 win over Carolina as Pittsburgh continues to cling to their slim playoff hopes.
With that in mind, there were several notable performances for the Steelers, so let’s hand out some grades.
Mitch Trubisky
This was easily Trubisky’s best performance as a Steeler. He was decisive, but it seemed that Matt Canada let him do what he does best - move around and be athletic.
When Trubisky is able to extend the play and move, he can be a solid quarterback. He did this more so in the first half on a select number of plays, and by no means was it the complete gameplan in the passing game, but it was nice to see him able to ad-lib at times.
He finished the game 17-of-22 for 179 yards. While the statline may not blow anyone away, he had multiple good throws, including a bomb down the left sideline to George Pickens, which is becoming a weekly occurrence. It was a strong performance from Trubisky, who should get the nod next week regardless of Kenny Pickett’s status.
Final Grade: B+
Najee Harris
Najee Harris’ vision is night and day from what it was in the first half of the season. He’s seeing the holes and immediately penetrates. He doesn’t have happy feet nearly as much as we were becoming accustomed to seeing. He was decisive, and ran with a purpose. His first quarter touchdown set the tone for the Steelers offense, and he continues to improve with every week.
Final Grade: B+
Jaylen Warren
This one-two punch the Steelers have developed at running back has been a great development for the offense. Warren continues to get more touches, and more reps as a whole, out of the backfield. His run style is so similar to that of former Buccaneers running back Doug Martin. He has zero hesitation, is strictly north and south, and is almost guaranteed to gain positive yardage. He capped off his day with his first career touchdown and had the best game of his young career.
Final Grade: A
Diontae Johnson
Johnson not only had his best game of the season, but this may have been the best game of his career. He was constantly creating space on the outside, and Trubisky was constantly finding him. He caught 10 of Trubisky’s 17 completions, and was the heavy focal point of the passing game, constantly beating man-to-man coverage.
Johnson has been given a lot of flack by Steelers fans, but he was remarkable against the Panthers. Hats off to him.
Final Grade: A
Offensive line
This was the best the Steelers offensive line has looked in two years. The run game was clicking, especially when running to the left side. Dan Moore and Kevin Dotson each had fantastic games creating lanes on that side of the line. Trubisky had time to make all the throws needed, and the Steelers offense was in complete control.
The exclamation point on the day was the 21-play drive to start the third quarter that ate up nearly 12 minutes and ended in a Steelers touchdown run by Trubisky. Few units have received as much criticism over the last calendar year as Pittsburgh’s offensive line, but they absolutely owned the spotlight.
Final Grade: A+
Defense
The Panthers were riding a run game that was amongst the league’s best over the last month- the Steelers held them to 21 yards on the ground. On top of that, the Panthers didn’t rush for a first down all game.
There were a few splash plays in the passing game, all of which turned out to be inconsequential. The front seven, especially, deserves a lot of credit. Larry Ogunjobi had a few nice run stuffs, Cam Heyward was credited for 1.5 sacks, as was T. J. Watt. Robert Spillane led the team in tackles while starting for an injured Myles Jack, and the secondary largely held Carolina in check through the air.
An overall dominant performance from the defense led to the Panthers netting just 12 first downs. Carolina also went just 4-of-11 on third down, and found the end zone just once- a really good day from this unit.
Final Grade: A
The Steelers will host the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Eve, where the team will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception. If they can come close to replicating what we saw against the Panthers, Pittsburgh fans will get an early Christmas present in the form of consecutive Steelers wins.
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