LANDOVER, MD – It’s always good to win, but the Steelers primary concern in their first preseason game against the Washington Redskins was not a win or a loss.
Head Coach Mike Tomin wanted to focus on evaluating their team in a 16-7 loss to the Redskins at FedEx Field, but was vocally unhappy with his team’s performance.
“That’s not the kind of performance that we were looking for tonight,” said Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin. “Quite frankly, we got outplayed in just about all areas.”
Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward and Rashard Mendenhall played just five snaps which came on the Steelers first possession of the game.
Roethlisberger completed two of three passes for 22 yards, Mendenhall rushed once for four yards and Ward didn’t touch the ball.
“I felt good, I moved well and the line seemed like they did a good job,” said running back Rashard Mendenhall.
One of the main concerns will be the stability of the offensive line, which allowed two sacks in the first two Steelers’ drives.
The starters on the offensive line consisted of:
Left Tackle – Jonathan Scott
Left Guard – Doug Legursky on the first possession and Ramon Roster on the second possession
Center – Maurkice Pouncey
Right Guard – Chris Scott
Right Tackle – Willie Colon
“Anytime we hit the field we expect to win and get it done and we didn’t do that as a unit,” said offensive tackle Willie Colon. “It’s a wakeup call. We can look ourselves in the mirror, watch the tape and kind of really dig in and get it done.”
Troy Polamalu didn’t play in the game with Ryan Mundy starting at safety, James Harrison sat with Jason Worilds as the starter and William Gay played in place of Bryant McFadden.
“Those guys coming off of off-season injury, hadn’t practiced enough to send them out there, but hopefully they’ll be ready to go next week,” said Tomlin about Polamalu and Harrison.
Scoring
Redskins 7, Steelers 0 – 2nd Quarter (5:54) – Rex Grossman 8 yard TD pass to Santana Moss
Redskins 7, Steelers 7 – 2nd Quarter (4:13) – Isaac Redman 22 yard TD run
Redskins 10, Steelers 7 – 3rd Quarter (4:50) – Graham Gano 32 yard field goal
Redskins 13, Steelers 7 – 4th Quarter (9:53) – Graham Gano 34 yard field goal
Redskins 16, Steelers 7 – 4th Quarter (2:23) – Graham Gano 45 yard field goal
Who looked good?
• Safety Ryan Mundy put a huge hit on Redskins TE Fred Davis to break up a 3rd down pass over the middle. Mundy also registered seven tackles in the game.
• Antonio Brown was crisp running routes and caught four balls for 64 yards.
• Keenan Lewis made five tackles out of the secondary.
Who was disappointing?
• Starting right guard Chris Scott gave DE Stephen Bowen an open lane to sack quarterback Byron Leftwich in the first quarter.
• Former 6’8” Mountaineer wide receiver Wes Lyons dropped a high pass over the middle in the 3rd quarter, leaving the field injured on the play.
• Tight end Wesley Saunders missed multiple blocks in the backfield, one resulting in a 15 yard sack of quarterback Dennis Dixon.
Notes: Cornerback Ike Taylor broke his thumb in the first quarter and cornerback Keenan Lewis left with a left calf injury… The Steelers finished two for 11 on third down conversions… The PA announcer in the pressbox at FedEx Field mistakenly announced Ike Taylor as Ike Turner, soon after embarrassingly correcting himself… The Redskins recorded their 359th straight sellout
Image Source – (Photo by Larry French/Getty Images)
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