Game 28: Steelers 12, Redskins 10

Redskins will sit Clinton Portis AND Rock Cartwright? Who do they have left to play RB besides Ladell Betts? John Riggins? Timmy Smith?

Oh crap, it's ESPN Sunday Night reunion night. Mike Patrick and...... no...... Joe Theismann.

Redskins start from their 20. Jason Campbell gets plenty of time on 3rd-and-long and hits Chris Cooley for a 1st. Stephon Heyer got a block on BOTH DEs on that play. Santana Moss drop creates a 3rd-and-long. Redskins get a 1st on William Gay's holding penalty. 10 to Moss on the sideline.

Nice edit, NFL Network. Redskins ball, 3rd down, before the commercial, Steelers ball at the 10 after the commercial. They left out Lamarr Woodley sacking Campbell and the ensuing punt. After Big Ben finds Hines Ward for 10, the 'Skins shut down Willie Parker trying to sweep, and Laron Landry and Carlos Rogers cover a bomb to Santonio Holmes nicely. Good open-field tackle by Shawn Springs to tackle Heath Miller on 3rd down. Punt on the way.

Beautiful throw/catch from Campbell to double-covered Cooley for 29, but on the play, Brett Keisel
strikes Campbell right on the knee, drawing a 15-yard penalty. Looks ugly. Campbell's out and
Todd Collins is in. Keisel classily apologizes to Campbell while he's on his way off the field.
Theismann idiotically says that kind of play should be more than a 15-yard penalty, even while
acknowledging Keisel did it by accident. More? You want it to be 25, moron? So, free shot any time
the QB's on your half of the field, since half the distance to the goal would always be shorter?
Collins beats a CB blitz and hits Cooley at the 10. Keisel knocks down a pass on 1st-goal, but
Collins, with tons of time because Pittsburgh appears to have rushed 3, makes a nice throw to Brandon Lloyd at the back of the endzone to open the scoring. 7-0 Washington. Too cute on defense, Steelers. Unexpectedly good throw by Collins. Skins definitely rely on Cooley when they get in trouble. He has 4 catches in the 1st.

Steelers three-and-out as the 1st quarter ends. They had just 1 first down in the quarter. Rocky McIntosh blows up a 3rd-down screen to Ward for a loss.

Kelli Johnson, giving Sam Ryan some competition for cutest sideline reporter, reports Campbell
got away with just a sprained knee. Steelers continue to blitz their asses off. Skins beat it for one first down, but DeShea Townshend goes nuts after that, dragging down Derrick Blaylock for a loss on 1st down and sacking Collins for a big loss on 3rd. If your QB's not real mobile, you've got no business going empty backfield against the Steelers, like the 'Skins did there.

Steelers offense playing lousy tonight. LT Trai Essex falls down and gives Andre Carter a free run on Big Ben, who takes a loss out of bounds. Carter and Landry force another loss on a Parker run. 3rd-and-14 deep in their end, Steelers dump to Najeh Davenport, nothing doing. Punting again.

Skins start from their 30. Cooley converts ANOTHER 3rd down, and the Skins get to midfield, but
on the next 3rd down, Collins holds the ball for an hour and a half and the Steelers' 3-man rush
gets him this time. Punt.

Terrific sideline grab by Holmes for 22. Steelers go no-huddle. 5:15 left in half. Poor low shotgun snap gets Big Ben swamped for a big loss, but on third down, Holmes takes a short pass and eludes some trouble for a 29-yard gain. 2:00 warning. Steelers get 8 tries from inside the Redskin 12 and have to settle for a FG. Rocky McIntosh knocks down one pass and jars another one loose with a hit. 3d-and-goal from the 3, center Sean Mahan doesn't know the snap count and Ben gets called
for a false start. But Pitt gets a fresh set of downs due to illegal contact on - McIntosh.
Then Verron Haynes is stuffed for a 4-yard loss on a blitz by - McIntosh. Big Ben scrambles back
to the 3, has to try a last pass with the clock running inside 0:10, and Carlos Rogers knocks it
away. Completely legally, too, I don't understand why there was any DPI confusion among the refs.
7-3 Skins at halftime.

Charlie Batch takes over for Pittsburgh for the 2nd half. Nate Washington loses the 1st down
coming back for the pass on 3rd down and Pitt has to punt.

This has been a good defensive game. Both Ds are really swarming to the ball. Redskin secondary
looks good, along with McIntosh, of course.

Skins drive appears dead in the water until Brian McFadden bails them out with an illegal contact
penalty away from the ball on a 3rd-and-long incompletion. Skins continue to excel on 3rd down,
beating a blitz with a short pass to Mason on 3rd-and-4. Collins finds Todd Yoder open at midfield
on a crossing route for 32. However, Mason gets nothing on 2nd down and the Steelers flush Collins
for a no-gain "scramble" (more like a lope) to force a Sean Suisham FG from 48 that might have
been good from 68. 10-3 Skins.

Steelers move methodically to midfield and Batch finds Nate Washington behind the zone for 33
down to the Wash. 11 as the third quarter runs out. Batch gets into a lot of trouble the next play,
though, and one of the guards commits a hold to move the ball back. Steelers barely even get the
10 yards back and settle for a FG to make it 10-6.

12 minutes left in the game before Mark Brunell comes in. On 3rd down, Jake Nordin loses the ball
off a Steeler helmet going for the extra yard and Ricardo Colclough recovers. Good effort but
terrible ball protection.

Brian St. Pierre in for Pittsburgh. Steelers get inside the 10 before Washington shuts down the run,
and Dallas Baker mistakenly breaks off his fade route for an incompletion on 3rd down. Steelers
settle for a FG to make it 10-9.

Skins 3-and-out as receiver falls on 3rd down and Gay can't corral the long sideline pass for
the potential INT. Skins punt.

Gary Russell pounds out 22 yards on 4 rushes to start the next drive, which began almost at
midfield. St. Pierre has a 9-yard scramble and hits Willie Reid on a quick slant on 3rd-and-1.
Reid cuts inside the poor play by Bryant Westbrook and gains 17 down to the Wash 3 as the 2:00 warning arrives. Fine goal line stand by Washington, stopping Russell twice from the one to force a FG. Steelers take the lead 12-10, but Washington had all three timeouts to use on the goal line stand so they get the ball back with plenty of time, nearly 1:30.

Skins drive back across midfield, but Toler muffs a pass from Brunell and Gay catches the muffed ball at the 20 for the game-sealing INT. Pittsburgh 12, Washington 10.

Defense was the name of this game, and though the score was lower, I thought it a much better-played game than the Giants-Ravens crapfest. Both defenses really swarmed to the ball. Pittsburgh got big games from Townshend and Woodley, who should be on the defensive ROY radar. McIntosh was HUGE for the Redskins, who also got a fine game throughout their secondary. Could be a breakout year for TE Chris Cooley, too; it looks like they've really expanded his role.

28 down, 37 to go. Up next: Cowboys-Broncos.