PITTSBURGH– The Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-2 and in first place in the AFC North heading into their bye week. It’s hard for the team not to feel good about themselves going into the break. However, the team’s victory over the New York Giants was not perfect, but had many positives.

So, who were the winners and losers of the Steelers’ sixth win of the season?

Winner: Calvin Austin III and Van Jefferson

Both players deserve praise for obvious reasons. Jefferson made several plays, including a beautiful back-shoulder catch on 3rd and 11, that put the team in perfect position to hit for more points. He finished with four receptions for 62 yards. Austin needs no introduction. What a play from the Memphis product. He had two touchdowns, including a 73-yard touchdown return. What will fly under the radar is the kick after the touchdown return. He used the Giants’ coverage to give the Steelers a touchback.

Amid so much talk about the Steelers needing another wide receiver, these two guys fought to say the Steelers didn’t need to make that move after all.

Loser: Donte Jackson

Donte Jackson is suffering from his shoulder injury. There’s no doubt about that. Jackson has never been afraid to tackle, but on Monday he seemed hesitant to join the fight and missed too many tackles. The Steelers asked Jackson to pay more attention to men than he had all year, and the results weren’t great. Darius Slayton caught nearly all of his 108 yards against him, including both big plays. All in all, Jackson will want to forget this one and get healthy coming out of the bye.

Winner: The EDGE Duo

TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith were just fantastic. At times they seemed just a little gassed, and that’s where this team is missing Nick Herbig, but Watt and Highsmith combined for 22 pressures and four sacks in the game. That’s a staggering statistic, but it shows their dominance as a duo. Watt and Highsmith completely took over this game for the Steelers. No matter who the Giants had at their offensive tackles, these guys were going to apply pressure, and they did so while pushing outside their comfort zone.

The Steelers started having both players switch sides to mix it up instead of staying static at the line of scrimmage. All of this has allowed the Steelers to apply even more pressure. Highsmith and Watt deserve to be in this group.

Loser: Keeanu Benton

Not all run defense problems are one player’s when Tyrone Tracy does what he did, but the Giants were clearly trying to run right at Keeanu Benton. Benton is a fun player when split into a three-technique spot, but when asked to play from a tilt and two-gap at nose tackle, his run defense diminishes. With Montravius ​​Adams out for the foreseeable future due to a knee injury, Benton will have to take on even more roles in the run defense. This is the biggest problem with him right now and it’s why the Steelers can’t justify playing him more than they already have.

Winner: Najee Harris

Najee Harris has continued to play as a running back. He’s a little leaner this year, and it shows when he goes into space, but he still weighs almost 235 pounds and is an absolute tank in the open field. For the first time in his career, Harris recorded three consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

It’s not hard to see why. The offensive line has finally given Harris some breathing room, and he has come alive in a way he simply couldn’t at the start of the season. The Steelers now have the right schematic for Harris, and he is taking full advantage of it.

Loser: Broderick Jones

Frankly, there isn’t much the Steelers can do about Broderick Jones. Sometimes he doesn’t even use his hands when blocking. It’s strange. I’ve never seen anyone like Jones and how he tries to block opponents. Regardless, a facemask call to nullify a touchdown and numerous other forms of pressure during the game highlighted yet another ugly match for Jones, who continued to struggle.

Things need to turn around if the Steelers want to get better protection for Russell Wilson, but that seems unlikely at this point.

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