Pittsburgh Steelers: Studs and duds vs. Browns in Week 11

Dud: Injuries

JuJu Smith-Schuster went into the concussion protocol with just over nine minutes left in the second quarter. James Conner suffered another injury and was ruled out for the game as well. Diontae Johnson took a helmet to helmet hit and left the game while bleeding from his ear. Damarious Randall was ejected for the hit.

The Steelers have enough offensive deficiencies as it is, but injuries only reveal the team’s lack of depth and talent beyond their top starters. Hopefully, Conner, Johnson, and Smith-Schuster are alright and resume practicing within the week.

Dud: Last-minute fight

I thought about trying to make light of the late-game brawl that broke out. All thousands of Pittsburgh fans wanted to do at that point was go to sleep and forget everything they just watched after all, but the fight was a serious incident that Myles Garrett will be heavily fined and suspended for.

For those of you who haven’t seen the video, the Steelers snapped the ball with 15 seconds left in the game and got a short gain. At that point, the score was 21-7 and all that was left was for the clock to hit double zeros. However, Rudolph and Garrett got tangled up on the ground.

In the replay, Rudolph is seen shoving at Garrett’s helmet after the Pro Bowl defensive end tackled him following the pass. There was nothing illegal about Garrett’s hit. However, Garrett responded to Rudolph’s shove by dragging Rudolph to his feet via his face mark, ripping off the quarterback’s helmet, and then hitting Rudolph with his helmet on one solid swing.

The melee that ensued featured Larry Ogunjobi knocking the now helmet-less Rudolph to the ground and Maurkice Pouncey swinging and kicking at Garrett as David DeCastro restrained the defensive end. Garrett, Ogunjobi, and Pouncey were ejected from the game. Jake Trotter and Brooke Pryor wrote a full article on the event for ESPN.

Garrett can expect swift judgment from the NFL. His shot at Rudolph was completely unnecessary and dangerous, especially considering the severe concussion Rudolph suffered against Baltimore earlier this season.

Pouncey may also face discipline for swinging and kicking at Garrett, but his shots hit Garrett’s helmet. Punching a helmet is more likely to hurt the attacker than the one being punched. It’s not surprising Pouncey lunged into the brawl, although he should have shown more restraint. While I don’t condone his behavior, Steelers fans know he’s the enforcer on that offense. If someone is going to stand up for his quarterback, it’s Pouncey.