Antonio Brown hauls in his second touchdown of the evening on the Skins secondary.
Landover, Md. – What seemed like the turning of a new leaf for the Redskins this preseason, quickly reverted to old habits in the Monday night season opener against the Steelers.
Ben Roethlisberger torched the ‘Skins defense for 300 yards and three touchdowns, while DeAngelo Williams led the ground game with 143 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries for the black and yellow. And of course, business was boomin’ for wide receiver Antonio Brown, who hauled in eight catches for 126 yards.
In contrast, the Redskins offense couldn’t get anything going all night. Kirk Cousins completed 30 of 43 passes for 329 yards and two interceptions. The ‘Skins were held to 55 yards rushing on the night, and couldn’t get anything deep going down the field. “One thing they did was play patient and force us to take stuff underneath,” says Cousins. “It just seemed to me that we weren’t in a situation in a game where we could have a ton of run attempts.”
Head coach Jay Gruden said he has to do a better job of implementing the run game early and often. “. I think that’s the one thing we [have] got to really look at. We’ve got to get our running game going to take some pressure off the quarterback. You know, we get a little bit too giddy sometimes with the weapons that we have.” The lone bright spot in Washington’s run game came on a 1-yard Chris Thompson touchdown to cut it to 24-16, but Pittsburgh would answer rapidly on the ensuing drive.
The Redskins are back in practice on Wedensday in preparation for the home contest against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
