The Pittsburgh Steelers jumped out to a 3-0 lead Sunday over the Cleveland Browns, which was nice and all, but then they decided to let the Browns do the work for a while. The Steelers didn't score again until the last three minutes of the game, losing, 31-10.
Steelers fantasy football recap: Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell gain yardage, but scores hard to come by
Despite the embarrassing loss, the big-name Pittsburgh skill players racked up yards Sunday. We break down the fantasy implications.
Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports
After eking out a 30-27 win over the Browns in Week 1, the Steelers were dominated in the teams’ rematch. They kept up in yards -- the Steelers had 359 total yards in the game, the Browns 368 -- but couldn’t find the end zone until long after it no longer mattered.
Let’s take a look at the fantasy performances:
We’re still waiting for one of those occasional huge games Roethlisberger puts up every season. Sunday’s 11-point outing now has him averaging less than 14 fantasy points a game this season, and he needed that late score Sunday to even have that much. Roethlisberger threw for 228 yards Sunday, on 21-of-42 passing, or only a 50 percent completion rate. He threw a touchdown, but also an interception. At this point, Roethlisberger is a fine QB2, but you don’t want to be starting him.
The star Steelers running back had another double-digit fantasy day Sunday. He couldn't find the end zone, but Bell did run for 82 yards on 18 carries, adding 23 receiving yards on four catches. He's not averaging more than 13 fantasy points a game, and hasn't had fewer than nine points in a game all season. He's one of the top handful of running backs in the game. Meanwhile, behind Bell, LeGarrette Blount had 27 rushing yards on eight carries, and rookie Dri Archer had 24 on three carries of his own. Neither is startable, but if Bell were to go down, both could be interesting.
Also continuing his great start to the season Sunday was Brown, who had 118 yards on seven catches. He's now averaging 15.3 fantasy points a game, with the eight-point game a week ago his low-water mark on the season. Brown is one of the game's top receivers. The Steelers' touchdown went to Lance Moore, a 26-yard score on the wideout's only catch of the game.
The tight end continued to show his big Week 4 was a fluke, with two catches for only 19 yards Sunday. Miller now has 13 fantasy points in the five games outside of his 14-pointer in Week 4. He’s not a tight end that needs to be on fantasy rosters.
