Most around the NFL anticipated a highly competitive game between the red-hot Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers on “Thursday Night Football.”
Carolina had won three consecutive games while the Steelers were in the midst of a four-game winning streak. What transpired was anything but competitive.
Cam Newton threw an early pick-six. JuJu Smith-Schuster broke the Panthers’ will with a 75-yard touchdown. Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger had two more touchdowns than incomplete passes.
These are among the winners and losers from Pittsburgh’s blowout 52-21 win over Carolina on Thursday night.
Winner: Vince Williams shows out as playmaker for Pittsburgh
Pressure from T.J. Watt might have forced Cam Newton’s hand. But that doesn’t mean Williams didn’t come away with a game-altering play less than five minutes into the first quarter. With the game tied at seven, he picked off this Newton pass and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown. It was the Steelers’ second score in 13 seconds and set the stage for the remainder of the evening.
Not to be outdone by that one play, Williams also tallied four tackles, one quarterback hit and one sack in the 52-21 Steelers win. He simply played some tremendous football in front of the home crowd at Heinz Field Thursday evening.
Loser: Le’Veon Bell’s value continues to diminish
Pittsburgh’s offense is an absolute juggernaut. It proved this in more ways than one against a good Carolina Panthers defense Thursday night. When all was said and done inside Heinz Field, the Steelers dropped a cool 457 yards and 52 points in one of the biggest blowouts in primetime television that we’ve seen in some time.
Now that Bell’s holdout has continued through nine games, second-year back James Conner continues to show out. He put up 73 total yards on 14 touches, including a touchdown. This led to an official NFL Twitter account trolling Bell big time. The more Conner continues to dominate, the less valuable Bell becomes. Thursday’s blowout win over Carolina was the latest example of this.
Winner: Christian McCaffrey continues recent success
Coming off a brilliant 157-yard performance last week against the Buccaneers, this second-year back came into Thursday’s game on pace for nearly 1,800 total yards this season. Immediately out of the gate, McCaffrey showed why Carolina made him a top-10 pick in the first place. He tallied 60 total yards on six touches, including this 20-yard touchdown catch from Cam Newton, to open the scoring on Carolina’s first drive of the game.
McCaffrey then scored Carolina’s second touchdown in the first half, a 25-yard pass from Newton to pull the game within 24-14. Sure, the Panthers’ defense did nothing to help them win this game. But a star is being born in Carolina right in front of our eyes. All said, McCaffrey gained 138 total yards on 19 touches with all three Panthers touchdowns in the game. That included five catches for 61 yards. He’s in domination mode right now.
