The Steelers truthfully didn’t put much to like on tape on Sunday, so this will likely be one of the shorter iterations of Varsity & JV in quite sometime. But, let’s hop into it.

Varsity

EDGE T.J. Watt

Watt had two sacks to get to within one of the league lead. He also forced a fumble early on in the game with a tackle of Jalen Hurts. Plus, with the ankle injury looking more like a scare than anything serious, No. 90 will have a point to prove against the Ravens as the Steelers look to lock up their first division title since 2020.

EDGE Alex Highsmith

Highsmith made multiple plays early on, especially in the run game. He also had a sack and two tackles for loss overall.

K Chris Boswell

I often forget to put Boz on here, which isn’t by design – we’ve just grown so used to his brilliance that it has become routine. Regardless, he should be celebrated more. He went 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 49 yarder.

TE Pat Freiermuth

Freiermuth continues his best season since his rookie campaign with another touchdown. It looks like he’ll set a new career high for scores, as he is just one away from tying his current career high of seven.

LB Mark Robinson

The depth linebacker forced the fumble on the punt return, stripping Cooper DeJean of the ball, which led to a Steelers’ field goal.

Junior-Varsity

LB Patrick Queen

How many times are we going to see missed tackles from No. 6, especially on crucial downs? That has been a consistent issue for Queen all season, and it bit the Steelers too many times on Sunday.

RB Najee Harris

I mean, you can’t drop that pitch, especially after the Steelers’ big chunk play on the flea flicker to get them in scoring position. The Steelers could have tied the game. Instead, the Eagles scored to make it 27-13 and that was all she wrote.

Secondary

A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith did whatever they pleased. Brown had eight catches for 110 yards while Smith added 11 catches for 109 yards and each receiver caught a touchdown. Joey Porter, James Pierre, Donte Jackson – all were at the mercy of the Eagles’ passing game and they were on the losing end of that battle far more often than not.

Run blocking

The Steelers couldn’t do anything in the run game, including when facing lighter boxes in heavy personnel. Broderick Jones had a particularly bad game when it came to creating running lanes. The Steelers are one of the worst teams in the NFL in terms of rush efficiency. Lots of yards doesn’t mean a great running game, and they couldn’t even get the yards part right on Sunday.

Mike Tomlin

Punting inside enemy territory down two possessions with 10:40 left in the fourth quarter, and the offense didn’t touch the ball again. That was the definition of a cowardly move. I didn’t necessarily expect the Steelers to win this game, especially with the injuries, but you can’t tuck your tail in situations like that. If anything, you need to get more aggressive to take advantage of the opportunities you do get, and the Steelers didn’t.

Arthur Smith

Smith called a bad game. The Steelers couldn’t run, couldn’t pass, couldn’t pick up any first downs (3-of-10 on third down) and had five three-and-outs. Overall, the Steelers lost the time of possession battle 40 minutes to 20 – you won’t win any games when the other team has the ball twice as long as you. The Steelers need to rebound in a big way against a Ravens defense far more susceptible to giving up big plays.