Steelers’ defense a bit of a surprise in win over Redskins
PITTSBURGH 鈥� The offense鈥檚 production wasn鈥檛 a surprise in the Steelers鈥� 38-16 win Monday night. Antonio Brown鈥檚 touchdown receptions, Ben Roethlisberger鈥檚 poise in the pocket or the physical dominance of the offensive line weren鈥檛 revelations.
That came on the other side of the ball. The Steelers鈥� defense played better than expected against a solid Redskins鈥� offense in its first game of the season.
As their offense struggled initially, the Steelers limited Washington to two field goals in the first quarter to maintain a one-possession deficit.
The latter came after Redskins cornerback Bashaud Breeland returned an interception to the Steelers 39 yard-line. But the Redskins would go only 14 yards on five plays and were forced to settle for three points.
鈥淭hat kind of defined us a year ago,鈥� Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. 鈥淗opefully it鈥檚 still a strength of ours in terms of being able to stand up when the field is short. That point swing is significant. It was significant for us tonight to hold them to three a couple of times.鈥�
The defense picked off Kirk Cousins twice without giving up any touchdowns. The Redskins were held to 55 rushing yards, and Jordan Reed finished with just four receptions 鈥� three coming on Washington鈥檚 opening drive. Cousins threw for more than 300 yards, but on 42 attempts.
As the Steelers鈥� front seven made the run game a non-factor, it enabled the secondary to sit back and play with cushion to keep the Redskins out of the end zone.
鈥淭hey did a good job of letting the underneath completions happen but pretty much taking away anything from being chunks,鈥� Cousins said. 鈥淎nd I think we saw that, aside from the one play with DeSean (Jackson), we didn鈥檛 have many big chunk plays. That was probably one thing they did: Play patient and force us to take us underneath.鈥�
Cousins wasn鈥檛 at his best, and his two interceptions were easily avoidable. One was on a forced ball intended for Reed that fell right into the hands of Ryan Shazier, and the other was to James Harrison in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Shazier, primarily matched up on Reed throughout the night, played a integral role in limiting the Pro Bowl tight end.
鈥淗e was central to it,鈥� Tomlin said. 鈥淥bviously, like we talked about last week, it was going to take a combination of people. But, he was central to it. He played a really good football game for us.鈥�
Aside from his third-quarter interception and six tackles, Shazier also forced a major pass breakup on Reed during the Redskins鈥� second drive that ended in a field goal.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 matter who I had to cover or what I had to cover,鈥� Shazier said. 鈥淚 just wanted to do my job and whatever I could to stop them from being effective.鈥�
The front seven played well against the run, but the unit failed to apply significant pressure on Cousins. The Redskins鈥� quarterback wasn鈥檛 sacked once.
鈥淚t sucked, the pass rush sucked today,鈥� defensive lineman Cam Heyward said. 鈥淚 have to get to the quarterback and today was not exemplary of that.鈥�