RYAN CLARK
Free Safety
In the National Football League, it's not necessarily a good thing when your free safety leads the team in tackles. In many cases, that can indicate a game where the opposing offense was successful in getting the ball down the field on a consistent basis, but that doesn't describe what happened yesterday at Heinz Field.
Ryan Clark led the Steelers in tackles, but since the Jets scored only one touchdown – that coming on their first possession of the game – and only crossed midfield once in the entire second half, it was obviously not a situation where they were having their way with the Steelers defense. One of Clark's tackles was for a loss, he had one pass defensed and got pressure on Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez a couple of times.
On a day when the Steelers defense had to play without a pair of All-Pros – James Harrison and Troy Polamalu – Ryan Clark stepped up and delivered. He is the Steelers Digest Player of the Week.
Also considered were quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who made a strong case for a second straight Player of the Week designation by completing 24-of-31 to 10 different receivers for 275 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 125.1; Antonio Brown, who led the team with seven catches for 79 yards and returned a punt for 10 more; Mike Wallace, who made a Pro Bowl play to get inside Jets CB Antonio Cromartie for a 37-yard touchdown reception; and LaMarr Woodley, who had two tackles, including one for a loss, one sack and two other hits on the quarterback.
