Steelers “Studs and Duds” from Week 9 against the Cowboys
Steel City Underground’s “Studs and Duds” takes a look at the winners and losers from each of the Pittsburgh Steelers games during the 2020 season. Check with us after every game each week for our list, and to also see who climbed, or fell, down the rankings.
Studs
Cameron Heyward
One of the biggest question marks coming into the Steelers’ Week 9 matchup against the Cowboys was defensive-end Cameron Heyward’s health and availability. The Steelers were fortunate that he was able to play because they may very well have lost the game without him.
The Steelers’ defensive front had a disappointing game against the Cowboys’ injured offensive line, but Heyward consistently beat left guard Connor Williams all night.
He may have finished with only a half-sack on the game, but it came at a critical moment. With the Steelers hanging on to a 5-point lead late in the 4th quarter, Cam bull-rushed Connor Williams with one hand deep into the pocket and wrapped up the quarterback, albeit with some help from T.J. Watt.
The play forced a turnover on downs and went a long way to helping the Steelers secure their 24-19 victory over the Cowboys.
T.J. Watt
Edge rusher T.J. Watt had another outstanding performance, regularly winning his matchups, swatting passes at the line of scrimmage, and getting to the quarterback.
He didn’t dominate the stat sheet as you would expect, but he brought pressure often and hit the quarterback numerous times.
While he made a costly mistake on one play, leaving his assignment and allowing a long gain from Tony Pollard, it was an up and down game for just about every player on the Steelers’ roster, and Watt more than made up for the mistake.
Minkah Fitzpatrick
Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was arguably the most consistent player on the field against the Cowboys. I don’t think he missed a tackle in this game, and he made several open-field stops on plays that probably would have burned the Steelers for long gains otherwise.
In addition, Minkah came up with two game-changing takeaways.
The first was a fumble recovery near the end of the 1st half that resulted in a Steelers field goal, and the other came on an interception in the end zone early in the 4th quarter, holding the Cowboys’ lead to just 4 points.
Juju Smith-Schuster
Wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster has really come on as of late. He followed up his clutch performance against the Ravens with another big game against the Cowboys. Juju caught 6 of 7 targets for 93 yards and a touchdown, and came through in the 4th quarter again for the Steelers.
When the Cowboys opened up a 10 point lead at the end of the 3rd quarter, Smith-Schuster caught 4 passes for 80 yards on the Steelers’ next possession, converting on a 3rd-and-10 play and scoring on a 31 yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger.
The Cowboys nearly had Juju wrapped up, but the 4th-year receiver fought through the tackle and landed in the end zone.
Alex Highsmith
Rookie linebacker Alex Highsmith has also come on as of late. After catching his first career interception against the Ravens, Highsmith picked up his first career sack against the Cowboys in week 9.
He didn’t have a dominant game by any means, but he played fairly well when he was on the field and the sack was worth highlighting, especially for such a sloppy game by the team as a whole.
Duds
Special Teams
It was a rough evening for Danny Smith’s special teams unit. Outside of a 59 yard field goal made by Chris Boswell that set a Steelers franchise record for the longest field goal in team history, special teams was nothing short of a disaster against the Cowboys.
Boswell missed one extra point early in the game, and the unit allowed the Cowboys to block another extra point later in the game that would have cut the Cowboys lead to 3 points had they made it.
Those in and of themselves would have constituted a bad game for the Steelers on special teams, but they also gave up an 83 yard punt return that resulted in a field goal for the Cowboys, and a 64 yard kick return that would have resulted in a Cowboys touchdown, and a double digit 4th quarter deficit, had Minkah Fitzpatrick not come away with an interception in the end zone.
The Offensive Line
The offensive line struggled against the Cowboys at times. They failed to get any push up front in the running game, and while Ben Roethlisberger never got sacked in the game, the line allowed the Cowboys to hit him too many times.
The Running Backs
The Steelers could not run the ball effectively at all against the Cowboys, who came into the game as one of the worst run defenses in the league. James Conner, Benny Snell, and Anthony McFarland did not receive much help from the offensive line or play calling, but they collectively averaged 2.6 yards per carry, and the longest run of the night was an 8 yard scramble by Ben Roethlisberger.
