The turnover served as the beginning of the blowout, leading to Brown’s second touchdown catch to pad a 24-6 lead. That wasn’t the only matchup the Redskins lost in, and Kirk Cousins was bad in his first game as a franchise tagged player, but the Norman-Brown spectacle, only due to the trash talking of the cornerback, grabbed the headlines.
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DeAngelo Williams certainly helped propel the Steelers to victory, racking up 143 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. “I know we’re making progress”. “Any time you can get those balls back, it’s huge”. Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey knocked the ball out of Kerrigan’s hands, and Roethlisberger dived on it at his 13-yard line. The 11th and final play was a 29-yard touchdown catch by Antonio Brown, after head coach Mike Tomlin chose to go for it on fourth and one.
“It’s always pretty good to dial his number”, Tomlin said. “He is Antonio Brown”.
The sweet thoughts out in the parking lots when hot dogs sizzled and music played just hours earlier, can devolve into concerns about an out-of-rhythm offense and defense that failed so often when a stop was crucial.
Despite the lone Redskins touchdown coming on a run by RB Chris Thompson, the running game was non-existent the entire game.
Williams became the oldest National Football League running back to rush for 100 yards and two touchdowns in a game since Jerome Bettis, who was also 33, did so in 2005 for the Steelers against the Chicago Bears.
After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.
The Redskins started the night with a football, and drove right down the field into Steelers territory before the drive stalls and Jay Gruden decides to punt on fourth-and-1. That gave birth to a 75-yard drive that ended with Brown catching a 26-yard fade pass from Roethlisberger over his shoulder in the far left side of the end zone. Fort filled in for LB Ryan Shazier (knee) late.
“That’s kind of been our M.O.”, Tomlin said. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half.
DeSean Jackson had six catches for 102 yards for Washington (0-1). Unfortunately, they needed 14 for a first down and punted. Save for a few hiccups, the offense got stronger as the night went on, especially when DeAngelo Williams was called upon to chew up clock in the fourth quarter.
FRESH BLOOD: The Steelers have spent the last four months aggressively trying to patch up a secondary that ranked 30th against the pass. Pittsburgh used its top two draft picks on defensive backs (cornerback Artie Burns and safety Sean Davis) and even acquired 2014 first-round pick Justin Gilbert from Cleveland over the weekend.
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Got to go back to the Shazier injury for a second. After allowing a pair of first-quarter field goal drives (one on a short field following an interception), the Steelers rarely allowed Kirk Cousins to establish a rhythm.
