It’s the second time in just the last six years that Pittsburgh has won the season opener.
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NOTES: LB Ryan Shazier was being evaluated on Tuesday for a knee issue that Shazier tried to downplay after the victory. Shazier recorded an interception and a forced fumble, while fellow linebacker James Harrison also recorded an interception.
Rookie wide receiver Josh Doctson, who played in his first game after he recovered from an Achilles’ injury, participated both during individuals and one-on-one drills. Williams came back with a 6-yard touchdown run four minutes later on the next drive. Mike Tomlin prefers to be aggressive, and sometimes that means taking risks. The Bengals will be looking for revenge after least season’s season ending controversial playoff loss to the Steelers.
Tomlin doesn’t feel it’s required for the Steelers.
“That’s something that, it’s hard to coach – you don’t want to just tell a guy to become that player, because it has to hit his brain naturally, so I’ve got to continue to work on that”. “I don’t anticipate that changing this time around”. “It’s a physical football game and a physical division. We realize to win the game you can’t beat yourself”.
“That was the call”, Tomlin explained afterward in matter-of-fact fashion.
As for how he would rate Cousins’ showing against Pittsburgh, Gruden said, “I don’t grade A, B, C, D, E and F. This isn’t college or high school”. Cousins had time to throw and he needed to let his receivers make plays. But, it wasn’t haphazard by any stretch.
“We lost, so that’s pretty much all you have to say”, he said.
A few Steelers offensive linemen said they noticed the Redskins defenders wearing down in the second half. “That’s just who we are”. All they cared about was getting it rolling and winning on the scoreboard. “We take the attitude of our head coach”.
Jenkins spent the past three seasons with the G-Men, registering nine of his 47.5 career sacks as a member of Big Blue.
“We just gave up some runs that we don’t typically give up”, defensive co-ordinator Paul Guenther said. What are you going to do without Le’Veon, without Heath Miller?’ “He’s good at what he does and played a really good football game”.
“That’s why the guy brought me here, faith in me to do my job and not question one thing in the game plan”, Norman said.
The Steelers, after a slow start on offense, did what most everyone expects them to do this season: They scored often. Kirk Cousins looked rusty and inaccurate as he stalled out drives.
“When anyone’s on [Brown], that’s a matchup we like”, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said.
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But it was Pittsburgh’s offense, missing many of its components, that dictated the pace of the game because Tomlin showed his players he wasn’t going to take his foot off the gas because there were some players missing. It’s uncertain how many more games he’ll miss.
