Washington Football Team come back to hand Steelers first loss

Undefeated no more… The Washington Football Team went into a frigid Heinz Field on Monday evening with plans to shock everybody. Washington, coming off a tremendous win over Dallas on Thanksgiving, in which the team looked more confident on the field than they had been in previous years. The Steelers 11-0 were looking to continue their bid at an undefeated season.

Washington’s defense continued it’s dominant play at the line of scrimmage through the first quarter as they held Pittsburgh scoreless. However, Alex Smith and Washington’s offense struggled early to get anything going as Antonio Gibson left the game with a toe injury 5 minutes into the game. It wasn’t until 10:27 left in the second quarter when Pittsburgh opened the score after Diontae Johnson caught a 3 yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger.

The next possession for Washington left fans scratching their heads after Logan Thomas appeared to reach the line to gain a first down and was not awarded the spot. The play was reviewed and the call was confirmed even though it looked as if there was clear evidence Thomas had picked up the first down. This led to Washington being stuffed on 4th and one, handing Pittsburgh strong field position. A deep pass to Chase Claypool then put the Steelers at first and goal.

Washington stopped them on two consecutive plays until defensive lineman Tim Settle was called for unnecessary roughness which awarded them the ball on the one yard line, also resetting the downs. Washington’s defense was then able to make a miraculous goal-line stand that featured a terrific stop by rookie Chase Young on fourth and goal.

Washington’s offensive struggles continued as they quickly went three and out and were forced to punt it away from their own endzone. On Pittsburgh’s first play, Washington shot themselves in the foot as missed tackles by Kendall Fuller and Deshazor Everett led to a 50-yard touchdown by James Washington to give the Steelers a 14-0 lead late in the second quarter. Fortunately, Washington was able to get into field goal range for Dustin Hopkins after a 30-yard catch and run by Cam Sims. Hopkins hit from 49 yards as time in the first half expired.

A somewhat rough first half for Washington was featured by dropped passes by receivers and overall poor offensive play. The Steelers also dropped many  passes throughout this entire game. It was starting to feel at some point one of those deflected balls was going to haunt them. A positive takeaway that could be seen was that second year defensive end Montez Sweat was wrecking havoc on the Steelers O Line making multiple plays on the run and deflecting passes.

Washington came out of the locker room firing as Smith led a great drive down field thanks to a 31 yard catch and run by Sims and another 30 yard catch by Logan Thomas to set up first and goal. Washington appeared to be stopped on fourth and goal but a defensive holding gave them a fresh set of downs. Peyton Barber took advantage and ran it in for a one yard touchdown making the game 14-10 early in the third quarter. 

Washington’s defense continued to show why they were regarded as one of the best in the NFL as Pittsburgh was being shut down in the run game completely with no James Connor. Anthony Mcfarland only had 4 carries for 15 yards on the night. The defense held strong until the very end of the third quarter when Fuller was called for pass interference which put the Steelers into field goal range. This led to a 37 yard field goal for replacement kicker Matthew Wright to make the lead 17-10 at the start of the 4th quarter.

Two drives later Thomas caught a 15 yard touchdown from Smith to tie the game up at 17 a piece with 9 minutes to go. Thomas also recovered a fumble earlier on that drive that kept it alive as Mckissic coughed the ball up in Washington territory. Thomas finished the day with 9 receptions for 98 yards and the score.

An important takeaway from this game is that Logan Thomas has really improved his play at Tight End in the second half of the season and had a tremendous game today. The Steelers were able to mount a decent drive until on Washington’s 28 yard line they were once again shut down on fourth and one as Roelisthberger’s pass was dropped by Anthony Mcfarland.

Washington caught a huge break as they weren’t set up properly and were left with John Bostic sprinting over from his linebacker position to defend Mcfarland. With 4:30 to go in regulation Washington took over possession with a chance to push the Steelers on the brink of their first loss. 

Smith remained poised as he found Mckissic multiple times in the flat for big gains to help push Washington down field. Cam Sims once again made another huge play for Washington as he hauled in a ridiculous one handed catch on third down and 4 in their own territory. This put Washington into field goal range with 3 minutes remaining. 4 plays later, Washington capitalized as Hopkins drilled a 45 yard field goal to give Washington the 20-17 lead with 2:04 remaining. 

Pittsburgh then needed at least a field goal with only one timeout left and the two minute warning. On the first play of the drive, the Washington defense finally got the break they were looking for all game as Sweat made his third pass deflection of the game which was tipped high into the air and intercepted by Jon Bostic on Pittsburgh’s 25.

Sweat’s terrific play all game was finally rewarded. Sweat finished with 4 tackles and 3 deflections on the night. On a night where Washington recorded no sacks, they still found a way to dominate with their elite defensive line. 

Washington continued to run the clock down to 20 seconds remaining where Hopkins once again hit from 45 yards to give Washington a 6 point lead and ultimately seal the game. The Steelers received the ball on their own 25 down by 6 with 20 seconds remaining. Roelisthberger found Eric Ebron down the field but was kept in bounds as time expired and Pittsburgh’s undefeated season was over.

On a night where Washington lost their star offensive player in Gibson, this Washington team was still able to fight and make the plays they needed to grind out an important victory. Alex Smith continued his strong play in his miraculous comeback season completing 31 of 46 passes for 296 yards, throwing a touchdown, and most importantly not turning the ball over one time. Even after going down early Washington’s defense was able to keep them in the game allowing Washington to finish the game on a 23-3 run after being down 14-0.

Washington completes one of the biggest upsets in their recent history moving them to 5-7 on the year and riding their first three-game winning streak since 2018. Pittsburg falls to 11-1 as they look to rebound against a tough Buffalo team Sunday.

Washington takes on the San Francisco 49ers looking to extend their winning streak and continue the push towards an NFC East title. New York currently holds the tiebreaker after their upset win in Seattle. Washington’s winning streak has also put them one game back of a wild card playoff spot with four weeks left in the season. Ron Rivera may be leading these boys to a special future. Stay tuned.