Any hype about the Pittsburgh Steelers before 2016 was fully warranted.
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Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hit some pretty impressive milestones in Monday night’s 38-16 win over the Washington Redskins. But Roethlisberger somehow recovered his own fumble, and nine plays later threw a gorgeous 29-yard touchdown fade pass to Antonio Brown, who beat double coverage on fourth and one.
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.
During the Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers game, there was a glaring hole in the Redskins defense and for $15M you better be able to play more than one side of the field.
“They took us behnd the woodshed”, Norman said.
Washington led 6-0 late in the first quarter when linebacker Ryan Kerrigan sacked and stripped Roethlisberger deep in Pittsburgh territory.
Whenever I write an article about Antonio Brown, I usually have to first take a step back and make sure that I am not taking him for granted, because players who have the ability to consistently perform on the level that he has for the past several years with the Pittsburgh Steelers is a treat that is rare, to say the least. “I don’t feel really good about anybody’s performance including mine when we lose a football game”, the head coach said when asked about Cousins’ play. “That’s why I played it the way I played it”.
Roethlisberger sensed the public questions about his offense after losing Martavis Bryant and Le’Veon Bell to suspension, but Big Ben made clear: He likes his current group.
Pinball Rogers: Rogers’ first career touchdown catch in his National Football League debut was a pinball special. Rogers caught six passes from Roethlisberger, accumulating 59 yards.
Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 30 of 43 passes for 329 yards.
Reed option: Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins’ opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way. However, running back Chris Thompson’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter got it close at 24-16.
In that game, Pittsburgh gained 435 total yards of offense, including 143 rushing yards from running back DeAngelo Williams.
Hopping Hopkins: Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. (Still, Thompson did record Washington’s only touchdown of the night.) Grade: B+.
Then came the opener on Monday night.
Jenkins was with the team last month at the end of training camp and had a sack and a tackle for loss in the final preseason game against Tampa Bay on August 31. “It was a good, old-fashioned butt whooping”. His bounced throw on a simple, short third-down pass at the Steelers’ 5-yard line in the first quarter is the kind of major squander that can’t happen much, if at all, in the modern NFL. Shazier left the game with a right knee injury and was being evaluated after the game.
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“It wasn’t haphazard by any stretch”, Tomlin said Tuesday.
