The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins 27-12 Sunday at Heinz Field and are now 4-3 on the season. Below are the players, or group of players, that I thought had winning performances in the game and 3 more players that deserve a little slap on the wrist.
Ben Roethlisberger – Roethlisberger was surgical-like from the very beginning of the game on his way to a 24-of-33 passing day for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns. He finished the day with an old school passer rating of 121.0 and could have had an even better day had a few balls not been dropped by his receivers. The Steelers quarterback opened the game by going 7-of-8 on the opening 76 yard drive and it really set the tone for the rest of the game.
Jonathan Dwyer – Dwyer rushed for 107 yards on just 17 carries and he became the first Steelers running back to have back-to-back 100-yard games since Willie Parker did it on Sept. 7 and Sept. 14, 2008. Dwyer added several of his yards after first contact and has rebounded nicely following his fumble in the Week 3 loss to the Oakland Raiders.
Offensive Line – The Steelers entire offensive line makes the list this week as they did not allow Roethlisberger to be sacked and they gave Dwyer plenty of nice lanes for him to do his job. Willie Colon was once again was a Bronx Bully on Sunday and rookie Mike Adams continues to show that the right side fits him nicely in his second consecutive start.
Keenan Lewis – Lewis registered 3 defensed passes in the game with the biggest one coming in the end zone when he managed to get his right arm inside Redskins wide receiver Aldrick Robinson to force an incomplete pass on what could have easily resulted in a touchdown. Lewis did allow the lone Redskins touchdown to wide receiver Santana Moss, but even that was tightly contested in a short area and very tough to defend.
Will Allen – Allen started once again at strong safety with Troy Polamalu still sidelined and had his best game in a Steelers uniform. The Steelers safety recorded 5 tackles in the game and was credited with 3 defensed passes in the win.
Losers:
Curtis Brown – Curtis was flagged for an illegal block in the back that negated a 78 yard punt return touchdown by Antonio Brown. That penalty forced the Steelers offense to start deep in a hole and opened the door for the Redskins to stay in the game. Penalties on special teams have killed the Steelers the last few weeks and Curtis will certainly be chided all week by the coaches.
Chris Rainey – It is hard to put Rainey on this list for just one play, but his drop of a second quarter pass deep in the Redskins end is one that the rookie has to make. Rainey ran a jerk route to shake the linebacker and the ball bounced right off of his hands. Luckily the Steelers scored two plays later.
Antonio Brown – Once again I am nitpicking here, but do we really need to see Antonio run 20 yards backwards into the end zone? I am fine with the end zone celebrations after a player scores, and think Brown did a hell of a job in the game, but getting flagged for something like that, no matter what the score is, only hurts the team in the long run. Showboat after you score, not before it.
