Pittsburgh Steelers: Studs and duds vs. Bengals in Week 4

Stud: Cameron Heyward, DT

Through the first three weeks of the season, Cameron Heyward was held sackless. He didn’t even record a quarterback hit during that time. Thankfully, that all changed Monday night against the battered Bengals offensive line.

Heyward put on a dominant performance, sacking Dalton 2.5 times and bringing heavy pressure on several other occasions. It was the perfect performance to reignite Heyward’s 2019 season.

The 2017 First Team All-Pro has 20 sacks over the last two seasons, which is tied with Watt for the most during that span. With the offense struggling to run the ball and the passing game depending on a backup quarterback, Heyward’s leadership on the defense is needed more than ever.

Dud: Mason Rudolph, QB

This might be surprising considering the second-year quarterback completed 24 of his 28 pass attempts (85.71 percent) for 229 yards, two touchdowns, and no turnovers. However, the Steelers ran the wildcat several times on Monday night. The wildcat! As in that offensive fad that died out years ago because it was almost useless for teams who had good quarterbacks.

Pittsburgh’s offensive game plan was designed to protect Rudolph from making bad decisions or having to make tough decisions, to begin with. The team employed antiquated and seldom used plays just to get the ball in the hands of a playmaker. This shows that the Steelers have limited faith in Rudolph throwing the ball down the field and serving as a traditional distributing center for playmakers.

Perhaps the most telling part of Rudolph’s night was his 16 completions to running backs. That’s right, over half of his completions were on dink and dunk plays where James Conner or Jaylen Samuels made him look good. Overall, Rudolph’s stats aren’t an accurate representation of his night.