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Week 14: Bills Run Over By Steelers
Defense had no answers for Le'Veon Bell's historic game.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Tyrod Taylor has lost all confidence as he struggled mightily until putting up decent numbers in garbage time. He was so hesitant throwing the football but did throw two touchdown passes and one interception. He did nothing with his feet.
Grade D: His time as a starter is running short.
Running Backs:
LeSean McCoy was used as the safety valve receiver all day catching six passes for 81 yards but did little on the ground with just 27 yards on 12 carries.
Mike Gillislee had two carries at the end of the first half for 34 yards but the Steelers weren't playing close since the Bills were deep in their own territory.
Reggie Bush did a nice job pulling in an option pitch from Taylor and gaining four yards out of it.
Grade D: Not much gained by this unit.
Receivers:
Sammy Watkins dropped a pass but made up for it with a touchdown reception and a great sideline grab. He finished with four catches for 54 yards.
Marquise Goodwin had two targets but no catches.
Charles Clay broke a tackle on his way to his 40 yard catch and run for a touchdown. He did drop two passes as well but had three catches for 52 yards in total.
Nick O'Leary had a 12 yard reception.
Grade C-: Couldn't do much if the ball wasn't being thrown enough.
Offensive Line:
Cordy Glenn left the game when is back acted up in the first quarter and didn't return.
John Miller was called for a holding penalty and struggled a bit.
Grade F: Taylor was sacked five times and had no time in the pocket. No holes for the running game as well.
Defensive Line:
Marcell Dareus had a quiet seven tackles but there were huge holes and he was eaten up in the middle.
Adolphus Washington was called for a neutral zone infraction that allowed the Steelers to take a field goal off the board and go for a touchdown. It didn't hurt them as the Bills picked off the pass in the end zone.
Deandre Coleman got some quality snaps at nose tackle with Dareus kicking outside. He had two assists.
Leger Douzable got the start for the injured Kyle Williams. He had two tackles.
Grade F-: Huge holes through this line and the Steelers OL just blew them off the ball.
Linebackers:
Jerry Hughes surprisingly did not start. Lawson and Alexander both started at outside linebacker. He did see plenty of playing time and had five quiet tackles.
Preston Brown led the way with 11 tackles.
Zach Brown had six tackles and an interception in the end zone.
Lorenzo Alexander had his first career interception to stop the Steelers first series short of a score. He knocked down two passes as well and had five tackles and a quarterback hit.
Shaq Lawson was in on two tackles.
Grade F: Were totally out of position on running plays and missed a lot of tackles.
Secondary:
Stephon Gilmore was excellent in coverage and had an interception that setup the Bills first touchdown.
Ronald Darby had good coverage on a bomb to Antonio Brown but a perfect throw and catch setup the Steelers first touchdown. He had 10 tackles which is too many for a cover corner.
Nickell Robey-Coleman had three tackles, one of them for a loss.
Corey Graham had a nice pass breakup in the end zone and four tackles.
James Ihedigbo had five tackles, one for a loss.
Corey White got the surprise start at safety a week after starting at corner. Had good coverage to breakup a pass in the end zone. He had three tackles in all.
Grade B+: They played very well.
Special Teams:
Colton Schmidt struggled with one short punt and one that went too long for a touchback. He had a 37 yard net and 45 yard gross with one punt going inside the 20.
Dan Carpenter missed another extra point and had the worst onside kick I ever saw.
Brandon Tate averaged 16 yards on three kickoff returns.
Coverage Units only allowed a 7 yard average on four punt returns by Antonio Brown and a 23.5 yard average on two kickoff returns.
Grade D: May need a new punter and a new kicker next year.
Coaching:
Rex Ryan had his team let him down. The defense was awful, the communication was bad as players were running on and off the field very late many times.
Anthony Lynn got nothing out of his offense until garbage time.
Dennis Thurman had no answers for Bell.
Grade F: All these coaches will be gone soon enough.
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NFL.com Gamebook
Steelers Game Preview
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