NFL News & Analysis

NFL Week 15 Game Recap: Pittsburgh Steelers 24, Carolina Panthers 16

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris (22) reacts after scoring a touchdown in the first quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ playoff hopes have been dashed for some time, but they still get a chance to play spoiler down the stretch. The Carolina Panthers had an 11% chance of making the playoffs prior to Week 15, and that’s been chopped after losing 24-16 to Pittsburgh.

Offensive spotlight: Diontae Johnson may have opined for Mason Rudolph earlier this week, but he had quite the rapport with Mitchell Trubisky on Sunday. He caught all 10 of his targets for 98 yards and added three broken tackles on the day. It’s crazy to say that those were season highs in all three categories for Johnson.

Defensive spotlight: The Steelers' defensive line set the tone early and often in this one. Alex Highsmith, Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt all made their presence felt in a big way. Highsmith finished with two pressures, including a sack, while Watt had five pressures, including two sacks. Heyward tallied six pressures, including two sacks.

Rookie spotlight: We had another vintage George Pickens go-ball reception on Sunday. Pickens went over the back of Keith Taylor Jr. for yet another highlight-reel grab.

The rookie second-rounder caught two of his four targets for 53 yards on the day.

Offensive line spotlight: That was one of the best performances we’ve seen from the Steelers' offensive line in pass protection this season. On 23 pass-blocking snaps, Pittsburgh's front five combined to allow only one pressure. You can’t do too much better than that.

Box Score

Passing
Pittsburgh Steelers
Player Fantasy Comp/Att Yds YPA TD Int
Mitch Trubisky 14.06 17 / 22 179 8.1 0 0
Carolina Panthers
Player Fantasy Comp/Att Yds YPA TD Int
Sam Darnold 13.2 14 / 23 225 9.8 1 0
Rushing
Pittsburgh Steelers
Player Fantasy Car Yds YPC TD Long
Diontae Johnson 20 1 2 2 0 2
Najee Harris 14.6 24 86 3.6 1 10
Mitch Trubisky 14.06 6 9 1.5 1 4
Jaylen Warren 11.9 11 38 3.5 1 9
Steven Sims 3.9 2 19 9.5 0 22
Derek Watt 0.2 1 2 2 0 2
Carolina Panthers
Player Fantasy Car Yds YPC TD Long
Sam Darnold 13.2 2 2 1 0 3
Chuba Hubbard 9.7 4 10 2.5 0 3
D'Onta Foreman 1 10 10 1 0 5
Receiving
Pittsburgh Steelers
Player Fantasy Tgt Rec Yds YPT TD
Diontae Johnson 20 10 10 98 9.8 0
Jaylen Warren 11.9 1 1 11 11 0
George Pickens 7.3 4 2 53 13.2 0
Steven Sims 3.9 2 1 10 5 0
Zach Gentry 1.4 1 1 4 4 0
Gunner Olszewski 1.3 1 1 3 3 0
Miles Boykin 1 1 1 0 0 0
Carolina Panthers
Player Fantasy Tgt Rec Yds YPT TD
DJ Moore 18.3 6 5 73 12.2 1
Chuba Hubbard 9.7 3 3 57 19 0
Terrace Marshall Jr. 8.1 3 3 51 17 0
Tommy Tremble 4 3 2 20 6.7 0
Shi Smith 3.4 3 1 24 8 0
Laviska Shenault Jr. 0 1 0 0 0 0

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