Being held scoreless through the first 19:50 of Monday night’s season opener, the touchdown gave the Steelers a lead they never relinquished. DeAngelo Williams did nearly all the damage for the Steelers with 5.5 yards per carry on 26 attempts. Ben Rothelisberger threw a 29 yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown. Just to see him come out there on this stage, and do the same things to a higher level or degree, it’s unbelievable. That is why we are completely confident in his ability to deliver in the time that Bell is out. “We’ll continue to ride with him”. 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?
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Running on empty: Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on August 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. “I was running through a lot of holes tonight”.
But Monday night, it apparently was too much to expect the “Skins to use him to try to shut down the Steelers” Antonio Brown, who only happens to be one of the game’s best receivers. Washington matched Breeland up with Brown instead, and that seemed like a mistake.
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 got beat by a great player today and some great passes that I don’t know what corner could defend, really”. Washington failed to stretch the field offensively, with DeSean Jackson’s 33-yard reception the Redskins’ only play of more than 20 yards all evening. Pittsburgh was at its best close to its goal line, including an interception in the final minute by veteran linebacker James Harrison.
“They took us behnd the woodshed”, Norman said.
Roethisberger gets the MVP however, as he completed 27-of-37 passes for 300 yards and three touchdowns.
“Great throw by Ben”, Brown said.
“Oh no, that was the call all the way”, coach Mike Tomlin told Lisa Salters at halftime. “That’s the way to make them right and make a play”.
“They had momentum the early part of the game”, Tomlin sad. Prior to the game, I said that if Brown totaled over 100 yards of receiving, the Steelers would win.
Washington gained only 55 yards on the ground.
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.
The Redskins led 6-0 after one quarter, when the Steelers offense that was supposed to be so dynamic was not at all. 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”.
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Luckily for Washington, they play in a division without a clear leader – Dallas showed its problems in Week 1, the Giants appear to be a prototypical 8-8 team, and the Eagles are starting a rookie quarterback.
