It’s safe to say the Pittsburgh Steelers used all of that bulletin board material from Jared Verse. They heard Jared Verse running his mouth for the past three to four weeks, ever since Pittsburgh lost to the Cleveland Browns, and they answered by stomping the Browns on Sunday.

The Steelers’ pass rush lived in the Cleveland backfield, Jaylen Warren carried the offense again, and the tight ends had a field day. That doesn’t mean everything is fixed heading into the bye week, though. Let’s get into this week’s winners and losers, starting as always with the winners.

Steelers winners vs. the Browns

Alex Highsmith

Highsmith set the tone with a sack on the first drive and drew multiple holding calls against rookie offensive tackle Spencer Fano. It was not a good day for that rookie. Highsmith showed that when he’s at his best, he is one of the best pass rushers in the league.

Robert Spears Jennings

The rookie forced a fumble on Cleveland’s first drive and was flying around all day. It was a performance that should earn him more trust from the coaching staff down the stretch.

Patrick Queen

Queen has been up and down in his Steelers career. Well, that wasn’t the case on Sunday. He forced a fumble on Deshaun Watson on the second drive and later added a sack as a blitzer. He was phenomenal.

Nick Herbig

Herbig isn’t a starter, but he delivered a big-time sack on his third drive. Pittsburgh pays him a lot of money to spell T.J. Watt and Highsmith and make plays on the football, and that’s exactly what he did.

T.J. Watt

Watt was 100% a winner. He recorded the Steelers’ fourth sack of the first half, a half in which Pittsburgh generated nine pressures on 17 dropbacks. He added another sack in the fourth quarter and now has seven sacks in seven games. Watt heads into the bye week looking every bit like himself.

Jaylen Warren

In another game where the Steelers’ offense rested on his back, Warren carried the load. He ripped off an explosive 50-yard run and served as the bell cow. He had a fumble, but it was overturned. As we saw last week, Pittsburgh runs the ball as well as possible when Warren is in the backfield.

Pat Freiermuth

Freiermuth hauled in a big catch to move the chains and was the straw that stirred the drink in the passing game. The Steelers also punched in a touchdown on a tush push, another sign of how well the short-yardage looks worked on Sunday.

Darnell Washington

Washington had a career day as a receiver. His huge play down the boundary set up a Warren touchdown before halftime. He has become a true weapon for the Steelers.

The offensive line

Give credit to the big guys up front. They were dominant in the ground game and held up in pass protection, even if the passing attack didn’t capitalize. Mason McCormick even went out on special teams and body-slammed Verse. McCormick had a good game, as did the whole unit.

Safe to say Mason McCormick heard Jared Verse and his talking. #Steelers #Browns #NFL

🎥 via @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/xZNrHeH84G

— Rob Gregson (@NFL_Rob) November 1, 2026

Cam Heyward

Heyward was disrupting the backfield all day long, and it was only right he closed the game with a sack to give the Steelers their 8th of the day. He’s still playing at an elite level.

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Steelers losers vs. the Browns

Chris Boswell

Boswell missed a field goal after missing one last week. He hasn’t been nearly as sharp this year, especially coming off an offseason in which he got paid. He has to land here.

DK Metcalf

Metcalf had what should have been a touchdown pass. Not only did he drop it, but the ball turned into an interception. It’s been a first half of the season to forget for Metcalf, and he needs the bye week to reset and get back to what Pittsburgh needs from him down the stretch.

The passing offense

The passing game just wasn’t very good. That’s why we have consistently mocked trades for the Steelers, and we will continue to through the bye week and before the NFL trade deadline.

This team should have won every game this past month. The defense and the run game are good enough to carry Pittsburgh for stretches, but this passing game is not sustainable. If the front office wants to take advantage of what the rest of the roster is doing, the time to address it is now.