A strange sequence at the end of the half.
The Washington Football Team take advantage of the rules and give themselves three points in the process. The Steelers robbed of a first half shutout. 14-3 at halftime.
The Washington Football Team will get the ball back to start the second half.
Whether it was intentional or not, I do not know, but Matthew Wright’s kick landed at the 2 yard line and bounced straight up. Washington will start now from their own 18 yard line. A nice start to the half.
The Football Team starting with penalties at the beginning of a drive again. Hands to the face and then false start. They are now backed up to their own 4 yard line. A quick underneath throw to Cam Sims for 4 yards brought down by Vince Williams. Isaiah Wright the next play for 5 yards. He hopped over Mike Hilton, but Robert Spillane was there to bring him down.
On 3rd and 14, Alex Smith his Cam Sims for 31 yards. Some nice perimeter blocking and a broken tackle resulted in the explosive play.
Washington is now trying to establish the run with three straight successful runs to JD McKissick and Peyton Barber. Robert Spillane got up and deflected the pass on 2nd down, but injured his knee upon landing. The Steelers opt to go into dime on 3rd and 6. Steven Sims with a short completion to convert.
Mike Hilton peeled off his blocker and made the tackle on 1st down for a loss of two. The blocker was double Hilton’s size and he shed him with ease. Hilton is the defensive MVP of this game.
Logan Thomas gets the Football Team another explosive play with a 30 yard reception over Cam Sutton as Terrell Edmunds was in the area as well.
On the goal line, TJ Watt came in and stuffed the run from behind. 2nd down was an incomplete pass to Cam Sims. He looked to have initially caught it, but Joe Haden jarred the ball loose.
The Steelers want a 1 yard goal line stuff of their own, and on 3rd down, the pass fell incomplete. Alex Smith rolled out under pressure and had to throw it away. Heyward on the pressure.
4th down. Washington is going for it. The pass fell incomplete, but they call TJ Watt for defensive holding. A fresh set of downs on the 1 yard line.
Peyton Barber went in with no resistance on 1st down. Touchdown Washington. 14-10 Steelers.
The kickoff resulted in a touchback. The Steelers will start from the 25 yard line.
Robert Spillane being evaluated and is questionable to return. Avery Williamson will be in for the time being.
Eric Ebron with another drop on the game. Two now for him. 3rd and 9 for the Steelers.
Juju Smith-Schuster caught the ball on 3rd down, marked a half a yard short, but defense called for holding. Automatic first down.
Juju caught the ball short and was taken down right away. The snap from JC Hassenauer bounced off his own butt and fumbled. Benny Snell picked up the fumble, but still a loss on the play. Diontae Johnson with a drop, but this one wouldn’t have mattered as it was well short. Still could have resulted in an interception.
The Steelers will punt and the 2nd half starts out similar to the 1st half offensively with nothing working.
Vince Williams now has the green dot and will be the quarterback of the defense. Brandon Scherff walking out gingerly. Banged up on the play. A big loss for Washington if he misses time.
TJ Watt on the pressure, and the call on the field is a fumble. It ended up being an incomplete pass. Should have been intentional grounding, but still fourth down.
Ray-Ray McCloud bubbled the punt, but ultimately secured it. He got shoestring tackled, but otherwise could have broken a large return.
Anthony McFarland picked up 9 on the wrap around and Kamren Curl injured on the play for Washington. He got to top speed very fast on that run. If only they could find successful plays with him more often.
On 2nd and 1, Roethlisberger hit Diontae Johnson on a quick hitter for a pickup of 14.
Ben Roethlisberger extended the play on 1st down, but David DeCastro was called for holding. 1st and 20. Eric Ebron makes up six of those yards the next play on a quick hitch.
Incomplete to Ebron on 2nd. Third drop for Ebron tonight. Not what you want to see. One of these drops is going to take a bad bounce and get picked.
Diontae Johnson found the soft spot of the zone just past the sticks and converted the first down on a pickup of 16.
Another drop by Diontae Johnson. Are they in a competition to see how can drop the most between Johnson and Ebron? Not a good look.
Jaylen Samuels made a positive play, causing two defenders to miss, picking up 8 yards. 3rd and 2 and an incomplete pass to Chase Claypool. A penalty was called. Another defensive pass interference in coverage against Chase Claypool. He extends his league lead in this.
1st down on the 25 yard line nearing the red zone. Benny Snell ran to the left side for a pickup of maybe one. 2nd down, an incomplete pass to James Washington who either got tripped up or ran the wrong route.
Ben Roethlisberger nearly got sacked, but flipped the ball out to Eric Ebron who picked up five yards. As the quarter ends, the Steelers have a 4th and 4 well inside field goal range. Keep in mind there is a replacement kicker, who has been hooking left a bit on the point after attempts so far.
Matthew Wright setting up for a 36 yard attempt and the kick is good! 17-10 Steelers.
Wright keeps putting the ball right at the one yard line forcing the return. Worked out the first time, not as well the second time.
TJ Watt ripped the ball out to force the fumble, but couldn’t quite get on the ball. Washington recovers. On third down, Minkah Fitzpatrick broke up the pass intended for Terry McLaurin.
Pittsburgh gets the football at the 10 yard line after a good Washington bounce.
Ben Roethlisberger incomplete to Ray-Ray McCloud on first down.
Another incompletion this time deep to Juju in triple coverage. Juju slow to get up on the play. A negative run play sets up 4th and long, so the Steelers will punt.
Joe Haden down as the Washington Football Team converts a first down. Haden helped off the field, but it didn’t look overly serious. Worth noting that he had issues with the knee just a couple weeks ago. Justin Layne in now.
Alex Smith went deep on 1st down to Cam Sims, but it was underthrown and fell incomplete. JD McKissic went for 16 on an out route on 2nd down for the easy first down conversion.
Alex Smith and McKissic just marched down the field together. Logan Thomas was open in the end zone for the touchdown. 17-17 tie game.
For those keeping count, the defense in now down Steven Nelson, Joe Haden, Robert Spillane. Not to mention Devin Bush and Bud Dupree.
A nice return by Ray-Ray McCloud gets the Steelers to the 39 yard line to start the series.
Juju is back in after getting up slowly. He gets the reception on first down for 7 yards. Jaylen Samuels lined up out wide and ran for the easy first down conversion. Steelers picking up on the Washington defensive backs dropping their corners every play and take advantage.
Ben Roethlisberger spins away from the unblocked pass rusher and passed the ball to Juju for a 5 yard pick up. The offensive seems to be working this drive.
Ben hit as he throws an incompletion on first down. Chase Young on the pressure.
This is one of those classic second half Juju Smith-Schuster drives where he reliably marches the team down the field. Another reception for this this time picking up 9 yards making it 3rd and 1.
Incomplete to Juju with tight coverage. The Steelers would kick the field goal with Chris Boswell here, but he is not. They go for it on 4th and fail. Anthony McFarland Jr with Jon Bostic in coverage. A nice matchup there, but McFarland doesn’t run the route quite good enough.
Joe Haden being evaluated for a concussion is the official word. A short week for the Steelers so that could cause him to miss the Buffalo game on Sunday Night Football.
On 3rd down, Alex Smith to Cam Sims for an excellent one handed catch. It is looking like the Steelers might not see the football again. Washington is now easily within field goal range.
3rd and long for Washington now. The Steelers burned two timeouts. Still a timeout and the two minute warning remaining. Incomplete on 3rd down with Terrell Edmunds in coverage. The field goal is good. Washington takes the lead. 20-17 Washington Football Team.
The Steelers have 2:04 with one timeout to either send the game to overtime or win the ball game.
Ben Roethlisberger tossed the ball on first down intended for Eric Ebron. Montez Sweat batted the ball at the line of scrimmage and Jon Bostic intercepted the ball. That will be the ball game. Undefeated no more, and they didn’t deserve it. 14 drops in two weeks. That will catch up to you eventually.
The Steelers defense really wanted to give the Steelers offense another opportunity. They stuffed the Football team three straight plays, but no more timeouts. 00:20 remaining and Washington’s field goal is good.
00:17 and the Steelers will have about 2 plays to make a miracle.
FINAL 23-17 Washington Football Team
