Steelers “Studs and Duds” from Week 9 against the Colts
Studs and Duds takes a look at the winners and losers from each of the Pittsburgh Steelers games during the 2019 season. Check with us after every game each week for our list, and to also see who climbed, or fell, down the rankings.
Studs
Minkah Fitzpatrick
What more can be said?
Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off an errant Brian Hoyer pass as the Colts were in the red zone and looking to go up 14 points. Instead, the Steelers swung into a 10-all lead, all because of the play of their newest safety.
Can anyone complain about this trade anymore? (I think not!)
Bud Dupree
Two sacks, including a strip-sack and a fumble recovery.
Dupree is playing like it’s a contract year as he continues to help pair with T.J. Watt to terrorize opposing quarterbacks.
James Washington
That vertical jump and those big hands: both items that made Washington a second round draft pick in 2018, were on full display Sunday.
Washington had four catches for 69 yards, including a 40-yard gain and a key third-down snag which kept a field goal scoring drive going in the first quarter.
If this is more to come from the Washington to Rudolph connection, the Steelers offense is going to start humming like a finely tuned machine.
Trey Edmunds
From practice squad to roster to big game.
The brother of starting safety Terrell had a huge game in place of starter James Conner, carrying the ball 12 times for 73 yards, including a huge 45-yard scamper.
Steven Nelson
Too bad video didn’t vindicate Nelson’s “pass interference” calls which could’ve seen him listed as a dud instead of a stud in this column. However, I’m sure Steelers Nation will agree with me that Nelson has been fantastic in coverage and despite a difference of opinion with the referees, there’s no way he would’ve been the scapegoat had the Steelers lost.
In fact, Nelson showed how much of a stud he truly is by playing without his shoe.
Too bad the referees spoiled what was nearly a perfect game from the Steelers corner.
Mason Rudolph
Mason’s lone interception came off of a tipped pass by JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Otherwise, Rudolph stood tall in the pocket, taking a few licks but only getting sacked once while completing 74.3% of his passes.
Yes, some of those were short passes, but others continue to show his ability to make big plays: including the aforementioned James Washington catch and the Steelers being on the wrong side of another bad pass inference call on Diontae Johnson when Rudolph found him deep once again this week.
Duds
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Unfortunately JuJu does end up on this list because of the tip that led to Rudolph’s interception in the stat sheet.
After catching Rudolph’s first pass of the game, JuJu went silent for the remainder, catching only three total passes for 16 yards.
Diontae Johnson
Minus the incredibly bad offensive pass interference call that wasn’t, Johnson was also absent from this game with a single catch going for three yards.
I know that call wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t even a flag, but otherwise Johnson didn’t show up at all on Sunday from a receiving standpoint. (And there was no one else to add to this list, so I had to pick someone!)
