Wilson Simons Blog Posts

Steelers win wild overtime game in Tampa behind rookie wide receivers breakout game      By: Wilson Simons      The Steelers spent three quarters getting outplayed by a 1-4 team with an undrafted rookie quarterback. Then their coach nearly threw the game away in the final two minutes. They won anyway, pulling off their largest fourth-quarter comeback since 1992, per the broadcast.      Ramsey sacked Daniels on the opening drive, and a 28-yard shank of a punt gave the Steelers the ball at the Tampa 45. They went three-and-out, and the first half went downhill from there. Rodgers threw a tipped screen that was intercepted. Kaden Wetjen’s return to the Tampa 40 got wiped out by two special teams penalties. And on fourth-and-3, Bernard caught a ball past the sticks, then backpedaled like Diontae Johnson and was ruled short. That’s the kind of rookie mistake that has Omar Khan calling about every receiver on the trade block.      Da...

Steelers @ Buccaneers Week 6 Preview  By: Wilson Simons The Buccaneers are 1-4 but that one win came last week in an upset win over the Dallas Cowboys.  Pittsburgh (3-2) heads to Tampa Bay at 1 p.m. ET Sunday coming off a 34-22 win over the Colts, but it's taking a receiver room held together with cardboard. Michael Pittman Jr. is on injured reserve. Roman Wilson and Ben Skowronek are both out. And on Friday, DK Metcalf showed up on the injury report with an illness, missed practice, and is now questionable. If Metcalf can't go, rookies Germie Bernard and Kaden Wetjen are the only healthy wide receivers on the 53-man roster. Bernard has been the unofficial WR1 in my eyes based on how many targets he’s had over the last few weeks of the season. But I'd expect Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington to handle most of the receiving work instead, along with Jaylen Warren, who already leads the team in receiving. That's great for my fantasy team. It's not great when your...

Why Rico Dowdle’s return is good for Jaylen Warren, even if it doesn’t feel like it By Wilson Simons      Over the last three games, Steelers running back Jaylen Warren turned 61 touches into 490 yards from scrimmage. Against the Colts on Sunday, he put up a career-best 188 scrimmage yards, scored on an 80-yard catch and a 50-yard run, and became just the sixth player in NFL history with both in the same game. The list includes Jim Brown and Gale Sayers, and nobody had done it since Herschel Walker in 1986. Mike McCarthy called him "the man." Steelers insider Mark Kaboly said the team "can't have any semblance of a run share" once Rico Dowdle comes back.      I get it. When a guy is playing like this, the instinct is to keep feeding him. But with Dowdle expected back this week against Tampa Bay, I'm going to say the unpopular thing: splitting the backfield again is the right call. Not because Warren isn't good enough, but because he's 5-foot-8.  ...

Jaylen Warren's historic performance powers Steelers past Colts 34-22     By Wilson Simons      Jaylen Warren spent the first four weeks of the season being the best player on the Steelers’ offense without a single touchdown to show for it. On Sunday, he made up for lost time.      Warren scored on an 80-yard catch and a 50-yard run, and the Steelers’ defense held Jonathan Taylor in check without Derrick Harmon in a 34-22 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Acrisure Stadium. Pittsburgh moves to 3-2.      It didn’t start pretty. The Steelers went three-and-out on the opening drive, with Aaron Rodgers starting 3-for-3 for minus-5 yards, and the Colts drilled a 58-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. It was the second-longest field goal in Acrisure Stadium history.      Warren answered on the very next play. Rodgers dumped a check-down to him, and Warren went 80 yards for his first ...

2026 Steelers vs. Colts Week 5 preview: Bring on Danny Dimes By Wilson Simons      The Steelers come home Sunday banged up, coming off a loss, and dealing with a locker room that spent the week talking about “disconnects.” Their best chance to fix all of that is a quarterback who can’t stop turning the ball over.      Pittsburgh (2-2) hosts the Indianapolis Colts (2-2) at 1 p.m. ET Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, and the injury report is ugly. Michael Pittman Jr. is out against his former team after aggravating his foot injury, and Mike McCarthy said it’ll be a multiple-week injury. Jamel Dean didn’t practice all week with his ankle injury and is out. DeShon Elliott is still out. Jalen Ramsey is questionable with the wrist he broke against Cincinnati. Rico Dowdle is questionable too.      Also Derrick Harmon is out after being carted off in Cleveland with a foot injury. Of all the absences, that’s the one that scares me most, because his first ga...

Same shit, different coach: Browns beat Steelers 27-24 on a 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left By Wilson Simons     The Steelers spent the whole night watching the Browns try to give this game away, and they still found a way to lose it.      Cleveland kicked a 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to beat Pittsburgh 27-24 on Thursday night, minutes after Aaron Rodgers tied it with a touchdown drive and a two-point tush push. The Browns committed at least 12 penalties, lost their best defensive player in the first quarter and turned the ball over twice. None of it mattered. Pittsburgh is now 0-10 in road divisional Thursday night games in the Super Bowl era. Seventy-six years became 77.      The Steelers fall to 2-2. The Browns are 3-1.      For one quarter, Pittsburgh looked like a team that had figured something out. T.J. Watt came in untouched to help force a three-and-out, and the offense answered with a 17-play, 10-minut...