The Washington Redskins were powerless against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ high powered offense as the two teams kicked off ESPN’s Monday Night Football in the National Football League. Washington veteran DB DeAngelo Hall seemed to get in the middle to break things up.
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Pittsburgh’s ground game can still keep Washington honest, but the matchup to watch is Brown vs. All-Pro cornerback Josh Norman.
Yes, on a night when Ben Roethlisberger passed for 300 yards and three touchdowns, and DeAngelo Williams rushed for 126 yards and two more touchdowns; on the night when Antonio Brown’s business was booming against a Redskins secondary primed to shut him down, and the Steelers offense was 11-for-16 on possession downs and a flawless 3-for-3 in the red zone, the credit for setting the stage for this 1-0 start goes to the defense.
“That was the call”, Tomlin explained afterward in matter-of-fact fashion.
On a third-and-3 in the third quarter with the score 17-6, Roethlisberger again hooked up with Brown for a 26-yard score that all but sealed the win. “They gave us a look”.
The Steelers went 2-for-2 on fourth down conversions on the night. “We’re very aggressive”, Mitchell said.
“That’s one where two young guys need to learn exactly what to do on that play”, Roethlisberger said. “The money downs are a big difference in the game, but overall they just out-coached us and out-played us”.
“That’s a huge drive for us because we used time and scored”, Roethlisberger said.
Kirk Cousins and the Redskins claimed their division past year, but the NFC East champs are not the favourites to get the season off to a winning start, as according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, they are the underdogs against the Steelers.
The Steelers offense should have no trouble putting up points, even with running back DeAngelo Williams having to carry the load before Le’Veon Bell returns from suspension. They were extremely stout against the run, and although Cousins threw for over 300 yards, most of it came in garbage time.
With the Redskins trailing 24-9 at the start of the fourth quarter, Cousins completed all five of his throws and led Washington 77 yards in just 2:18.
Pittsburgh came into this game knowing that their defense would not be as strong as they would like and would thus have to try and limit the amount of long throws that the Redskins could get while also looking to their offense to put up big numbers as they had done previous year.
“Get the ball up quick and let him make a play”, the quarterback said. Kerrigan tried to pick it up, lost it and the Steelers retained possession on their 13 and drove down for their first score.
With 6:19 left in the half, Pittsburgh mixed runs by Williams with Roethlisberger throws to Brown and Eli Rogers to get the inside the Washington 10. Included was a 19-yard completion to Eli Rogers on fourth-and-1 from the Washington 34. Under orders, Ben Roethlisberger went deep to standout receiver Antonio Brown, who beat double coverage and caught the ball in stride for the touchdown that gave Pittsburgh the lead for good in a 38-16 victory.
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“I saw it bounce off somebody’s chest or shoulder pads or something and I kind of followed it, I saw it the air and I just grabbed it”, said Rogers, who had six catches for 59 yards. Shazier left the game with a right knee injury and was being evaluated after the game. Washington WR Pierre Garcon started his 100th career game.
