Look at Week 1: Six games were decided by one or two points, and five more by seven or fewer.
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Antonio Brown, who is widely regarded as the best wide receiver in the National Football League, had a fantastic game on Monday night, hauling in eight catches for 126 yards and two scores. “But we’ve come to expect that from him”. That is why we are completely confident in his ability to deliver in the time that Bell is out. The Steelers lined Brown up on the left side of the field, away from Norman, that’s smart football but why didn’t the Redskins just switch Norman over to cover Brown?
Pittsburgh put the icing on the cake when DeAngelo scored on touchdown runs of 15 and 6 yard runs.
Giving Roethlisberger the latitude to call what he wants when he wants – akin to Peyton Manning’s prime in Indianapolis – is a sign of just how the relationship between quarterback and coordinator has evolved over the past four years. “I was running through a lot of holes tonight”.
Ben Roethlisberger recovered his own fumble at a pivotal moment and didn’t look back, throwing three touchdown passes to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 38-16 victory over the Washington Redskins on Monday night.
But why didn’t Washington make some kind of adjustment to stop Brown?
The Redskins face Dez Bryant and Odell Beckham Jr. the next two weeks, so if I could make a suggestion to head coach Jay Gruden, I would suggest putting Josh Norman (the highest paid cornerback in the NFL) on these highly talented wide receivers, because Breeland is not where you think he is talent wise just yet.
“He’s a good corner and he got beat by a great player today, and some great passes that I don’t know what corner could defend”, Gruden said.
Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Also recording an interception was linebacker James Harrison.
BROWN DELIVERS: Of Brown’s eight catches, his best came with double coverage on him on fourth-and-1 from the 29 and the Steelers down 6-0.
The very reason Roethlisberger is unafraid of making mistakes is also the reason why he had 151 yards and two scores in the first half.
“Great throw by Ben”, Brown said. “Coach (Tomlin’s) mantra is ‘Next man up.’ And that’s a credit to the front office”.
LOSING BALANCE: The Redskins passed 43 times and attempted only 12 runs.
Part of that game plan was ball control once Pittsburgh established a lead.
“When you look back at the tape, even with the hands we were dealt, whether it was injuries, suspensions, whatever it was, to me it would have been a very attainable goal for us past year”, Haley said.
Washington gained only 55 yards on the ground.
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Jones and Thompson averaged 4.3 yards per carry on the night, which was surprising, but it’s not hard to up your YPC when you only have 11 carries for the entire game. Bad teams are given pathways to get better, including easier schedules: Last season the Redskins won the NFC East without beating a team with a winning record. Roethlisberger joins them, and now he has 274 career touchdowns, one more than Joe Montana and good for 13th all time. “We thought we were ready to compete”.
