Winners and losers from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 24-19 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.

WINNERS

RB Jaylen Warren

Warren ran hard and was the better back between him and Najee Harris. His brand of play and his contact balance remain elite. He crossed the goal line for the team’s first touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, the Steelers’ first TD since the Carter administration (or so it felt). His pass pro also looked solid as usual.

W. Calvin Austin III

Austin repeatedly sparked the Steelers’ offense, a 46-yard catch up the middle in the first half. It would have been a touchdown if the pressure hadn’t caused Wilson to throw the ball short. He followed that up with a third-down touchdown after beating Cover 2, giving Pittsburgh the lead with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter, though it would quickly be blown. A great jumping catch, large for its size and a great fighting catch in adverse conditions.

Austin doesn’t see a lot of volume, but he’s a popcorn player who can hit big when defensive backs guess wrong. His first catch was a nice stem to fake outside and go vertically along the seam.

And his foul catches on punts continually fool the coverage, setting up one touchback tonight.

W. George Pickens

Pickens came up with big plays, especially on third down in the first half. On a 31-yard catch downfield, he used every part of his body to reel it in and hit hard on the ensuing drive. Pickens continues to produce in the Steelers’ more subdued passing game and has been a consistent bright spot throughout.

LB Patrick Queen

Queen had another nice day, although we will have to check the All-22 for a better evaluation. A third-down tackle for WR Elijah Moore and a, at this point, key recovery and breakup of TE David Njoku on a 3rd-and-goal play. It probably wasn’t great performance, and he opted not to finish another third down, freeing up another half yard that gave Cleveland the confidence to go for it on fourth down, but overall a nice day.

EDGE Nick Herbig

For three quarters, snow was the only thing that touched QB Jameis Winston’s jersey. Then Nick Herbig made a play. While dusting third-string LT Germain Ifedi, Herbig dipped the edge to force a sack/fumble on Winston. It was recovered by the Steelers and set up Austin’s go-ahead goal a few plays later. The pass rush was disappointingly quiet all game, and not just before the snow slowed things down, but Herbig has a clutch gene that was on display again Thursday night. Even though it all ended in a bitter loss.

LOSERS

Mike Tomlin/Arthur Smith

Start but not end with a short distance. The Steelers were miserable in those moments with repeated failures. A 3rd and 1 false start. Two failed 4th and short plays. Pittsburgh can’t get a boost, but worse, it can’t get out of the pack. For the second week in a row, the Steelers rushed to break the pack and got to the line late, contributing to the failures. If Pittsburgh wants to execute the “Justin Fields package,” it needs to be more decisive and make calls much sooner. Even Chris Boswell’s miss from 58 yards was rushed.

The Steelers opted to sneak and tried more creative and longer run calls, and it cost them. Given the situation, the red zone and the short yardage, this offense has a lot of work to do during the 10-day layoff period.

The blame lies with Smith and Tomlin. For Tomlin in particular, his clock management was in complete disarray at the end of the half day. He opted not to call a timeout on a Browns third-down run, losing 40 seconds. His calculation was to preserve his final timeout, but he ultimately didn’t use it on the ensuing drive, which ended in a Russell Wilson sack. Just a bad decision.

For Smith, his two-point fade to Cordarrelle Patterson was a weak call in a big situation.

Tomlin then decided to take a third-down penalty to make things 3rd-and-7 instead of 4th-and-2, burning a timeout and leaving the Steelers with just one. The Browns converted, used more clock and then found the end zone to force Pittsburgh to score a touchdown on the other end.

Truly one of the worst games Tomlin has called during his Steelers tenure.

EDGE TJ Watt

Despite the Browns entering the game as the most sacked team in the league, with Winston losing nine times in his last two games, TJ Watt was unable to capitalize.

Nowhere was it more obvious than Winston’s rushing touchdown on 4th and goal. Pittsburgh covered well, but the rush couldn’t get home. Watt was bodyd by RT Jack Conklin, who was singled on the play, and Watt was driven 30 feet down the field.

Watt played a very quiet game. Even knowing how often he gets chipped and spotlighted, he can and has made more plays in other games. Myles Garrett shined while Watt faded, and that could be a deciding factor in voters’ minds when it comes to DPOY.

OT Dan Moore/OG Isaac Seumalo

Two linemen on the roster. Moore’s battle against Myles Garrett continues. Even with chip and help, Moore still struggled. He’s always had issues with Garrett and there’s no shame in that, even if it didn’t always show up in the box score like it did tonight. By the half, Garrett had three sacks (the third came from the other side after a stunt on the A-gap, not on Moore).

Seumalo fell off a block on one of the failed fourth downs as Pittsburgh’s short-yardage struggles continued.

P Corliss Waitman

Kicking and punting in the elements is always difficult. And Waitman, to his credit, nailed a Chris Boswell field goal. But a 16-yard shaft on his first – and only – kick of the game gave the Browns the ball in Steelers territory. That just exhausts you. Even a halfway decent 40-yard punt would have been acceptable at this point. Everything but a shaft.