LANDOVER — DeAngelo Williams bounced toward the left sideline and easily made his way into the end zone, delivering the final blow in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 38-16 win against the Washington Redskins on Monday night at FedEx Field.
Then he walked past the corner of the end zone, faced the crowd and took a bow. He did it after his 15-yard touchdown, too, the one when he sliced through Bashaud Breeland and David Bruton to extend the Steelers’ 24-16 lead with just over five minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The entire Steelers offense should have taken a bow seemingly after every series, even the ones that didn’t end with points, just for good measure.
Washington’s defense struggled to get off the field on third down, allowing Pittsburgh to convert 9 of its 14 chances. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger picked his way through the soft spots in the Redskins’ zone defense and when they switched to man coverage, he attacked those matchups, too.
The dissection of the Redskins defense was completed on the ground, when Williams carried the ball 26 times for 143 yards, an average of 5.5 yards per carry, and his two touchdowns.
“We [stunk] today,” inside linebacker Will Compton said. “All areas. All phases. We really did. We didn’t play good. But mainly on defense.”
Perhaps the most troubling was the Redskins’ inability to stop the rush, something that they struggled with mightily last season after allowing 122.6 yards per game — the seventh-worst mark in the league.
In the second half, the Steelers attacked the most glaring weakness in the Redskins defense. On the first drive of the third quarter, Williams rushed for seven yards on his first carry and 17 more two plays later.
Later in the fourth quarter, after Chris Thompson’s 1-yard touchdown run cut the Redskins deficit to 24-16, Williams began the Steelers’ next drive by rushing three times for 18 yards. He carried the ball four more times before capping the 13-play drive with his 15-yard touchdown run.
“I think we missed some tackles here and there,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. ’We had some good blocking schemes in there. You know, I’ll have to look at the film. I’m not going to point the blame on anybody – defensive line, linebackers – or anything. Let’s look at the film, see what happened. DeAngelo [Williams] ran the ball extremely well, he really did. He broke through some tackles and made some big time runs and we missed some tackles that we normally make.”
Defensive end Ricky Jean Francois was less diplomatic, acknowledging that the problems began up front with the defensive linemen not getting enough push against the Steelers.
There is little time to render those shortcomings with the Dallas Cowboys visiting on Sunday for the Redskins’ first NFC East matchup of the season. It’s a short turnaround after playing on Monday night.
Jean Francois and the rest of the defensive front will have their hands full against the Cowboys’ crushing offensive line, which will be clearing the way for fourth-overall pick Ezekiel Elliott and former Redskins running back Alfred Morris.
“We must get off the blockers and make plays,” Jean Francois said. “One thing everyone points at is the d-line when it comes to the running game and it is always on us, it’s going to start with us first. We should never leave it to the corners, the safeties, the outside [linebackers].
“They didn’t overpower us and they didn’t out-physical us. We didn’t counter on the fundamentals of football, getting off blocks, executing.”
Jean Francois is one of three holdovers on the defensive line from last season, along with Chris Baker and nose tackle Kedric Golston.
The question is a familiar one for Jean Francois, who heard it all last season: How can the Redskins stop the rush? The reality is that question will keep coming until the Redskins can provide an answer.
“Each and every week you need to ask that until we change something,” Jean Francois said. “If we don’t change nothing, you don’t have to worry about January football. Until we get that run game figured out, we’re going to have a problem each and every week. We need to turn offenses one-dimensional.”
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.