PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers showed why they acquired wide receiver Mike Williams from the New York Jets at the trade deadline. The veteran caught the game winning touchdown with just over two minutes to go.
The Pittsburgh Steelers overcame several uncharacteristic mistakes in a 28-27 win at the Washington Commanders. Quarterback Russell Wilson passed for 195 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on 50% passing. Wide receiver George Pickens led the Steelers in receiving with five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.
Steelers running back Jaylen Warren received the opening kickoff but couldn’t manage more than a three-and-out. Running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who was injured the previous few weeks, got a power run to the outside, but was stopped just short of the line-to-gain on third down.
The punt gave Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels a chance to capitalize. Daniels and the Commanders’ offense is one of the most efficient in the NFL regarding success rate. But Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, one of the best against rookie quarterbacks with a 25-6 record going into today, knows how to make rookie’s lives difficult. On third-and-three, the Steelers sent edge rusher Alex Highsmith on a clear path to Daniels, and Highsmith forced an incompletion.
The Steelers’ next drive was kicked off by tight end Pat Freiermuth, who drew a pass interference call for 14 yards. Commanders safety Jeremy Chinn blitzed and hit Wilson in the head, getting flagged for roughing the passer. At Washington’s 16-yard line, Wilson saw Pickens one-on-one and gave him a chance.
Wilson fired toward Pickens on a corner route, who dove backward and contorted his body to make the diving touchdown grab. Steelers led 7-0.
The Commanders had to respond in an almost neutral environment due to the number of Terrible Towels. But the home team again couldn’t get a first down. Steelers Linebacker Patrick Queen blew up a run for a tackle-for-loss and defensive tackle Cam Heyward sacked Daniels on third-and-three to force another punt.
A completely uncharacteristic call by the Steelers gave Washington free points. After Wilson was sacked for a loss of eight yards on first down, the Steelers did their best to get extra yards to punt. On their 15-yard line, the Steelers executed a fake punt where Miles Killebrew tossed to a wide-open James Pierre for a first down. The pass hit Pierre in both hands at his chest, but Pierre dropped it, giving Washington almost guaranteed points.
Commanders running back Austin Ekeler punched in from one-yard out to even the score 7-7 with 3:44 left in the first quarter.
The Steelers couldn’t even get a first down on their answering drive. But the defense played an incredible first quarter, pressuring Daniels heavily on almost every snap. Daniels, who had the third-highest completion percentage in the league (71.5%), threw two incompletions en route to another punt. Barring the defensive stand after the fake punt, the Steelers didn’t give up a single first down through the first quarter.
Another three-and-out for the Steelers meant they were going to actually punt. Rather than making their special teams players catch the ball, the punt made Commanders wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus catch the ball. Zaccheaus muffed his second punt of the game, but this time, didn’t recover the fumble, and Steelers Ben Skowronek did.
With the short field and a breath of life, Wilson targeted Freiermuth three-yards out for another passing touchdown. Steelers led 14-7.
The first accepted penalty against the Steelers was a 23-yard pass-interference call on cornerback Joey Porter Jr. But safety DeShon Elliot and Queen each made incredible tackles for loss, and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick forced an incompletion on third down. The Commanders knocked in a 48-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-10.
On third down, Wilson earned a first down with a rare six-yard scramble, but two incompletions and a Warren rush for no gain meant the Steelers couldn’t extend their lead. Steelers punter Corliss Waitman punted 47-yards and pinned Washington at their six-yard line.
The Steelers defense continued to pressure Daniels. Highsmith sacked Daniels but two penalties in the secondary negated the play. The Commanders saw third-and-one twice in a row and ran up the middle for easy conversions each time. With 1:20 in the half and third-and-four, Daniels found wide receiver Luke McCaffery 23 yards over the middle. Ekeler eventually reached the end zone for the second time capping off a 15-play, 94-yard drive, ending the half.
Washington won the first half 17-14.
Out of the break, Daniels found wide receiver Terry McLaurin on a short slant McLaurin took 54 yards. In the red zone, McLaurin crossed the line to gain on third-and-nine. That set up running back Jeremy McNichols for a one-yard touchdown, the first points the Steelers have allowed in the third quarter all season. Washington led 24-14.
On third-and-eight, the Commanders sent six rushers. Wilson handled the pressure great and found Warren, who carried the short pass 26 yards. Wilson didn’t handle the pressure nearly as well on the next play when he was sacked for a loss of 10 yards.
Then, Wilson hit Pickens, who broke several tackles, on the move for 34 yards to get Pittsburgh 10 yards out from the end zone. Harris, who also broke several tackles, capped off the nine-play, 75-yard drive by jumping in the end zone from one yard out. Steelers trailed 21-24.
After applying more pressure on Daniels and a great defensive play from cornerback Cam Sutton, T.J. Watt deflected a third-and-10 pass and ended the Commanders’ drive. The Steelers answered with a three-and-out of their own. With little room to punt, Waitman could only drive the ball to Pittsburgh’s 42-yard line.
With the good field position, the Commanders didn’t need many yards to kick a comfortable 41-yard field goal. The Commanders led 27-21 with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
Wilson threw 179 passes without an interception, but that all changed when Wilson, on the move, targeted Pickens 50 yards down the field but Chinn came over and picked off the pass. Pickens tagged Chinn down, though, so there was no gain on the return.
The Commanders got that yardage anyway when Daniels found McLaurin in single coverage 28 yards down the sideline. Heyward sacked Daniels two plays and newly acquired linebacker Preston Smith made a huge tackle for loss on third down.
Wilson found Pickens on another slant, but Pickens couldn’t break this for more than 12 yards. Harris was tackled short of the first down on third-and-one and looked to suffer a leg injury. Unfortunately, that injury meant the Steelers’ power-back wasn’t available for fourth-and-one. But Warren followed right behind a pulling blocker and got the first down.
After the gutsy call, Wilson delivered a perfect pass to Pickens 24 yards down the sideline. On third-and-two, Warren got the carry again and made a nice jump cut for 10 yards further into the red zone.
Then, disaster struck. Warren rushed to the one-yard line but kept his feet moving. Wrapped up by four defenders, the ball slipped free and Chinn recovered the fumble. Washington took over at their one-yard line with 7:05 left in the game.
The closer, T.J. Watt, fought through an uncalled hold and pressured Daniels into consecutive incompletions. The Steelers got the ball back on Washington’s 46-yard line, but the turnover at the one-yard line still didn’t help.
With the clock running down, Wilson extended a play to find wide receiver Calvin Austin III, who went to the blue tent after the catch, setting up third-and-three. Wilson found Freiermuth for the third down conversion to keep the drive alive. Then, magic happened.
On third-and-nine, Wilson saw the Steelers’ newest acquisition, wide receiver Mike Williams, run past his defender. Williams catches the drop-in-the-bucket pass for a 32-yard touchdown, giving the Steelers a 28-27 lead. The pass was Williams’s first catch as a Steeler.
With still 2:22 to go and only needing a field goal to win, the Steelers defense needed to make a play. Daniels threw two incompletions with nine yards to the line to gain. Daniels targeted tight end Zach Ertz, who tried to spin and get the first down, but Fitzpatrick made the tackle a hair short.
Needing to get the clock down and through all of Washington’s timeouts, the Steelers needed a single first down to win the game. On fourth-and-one, the offense went back out to see if the Commanders would commit a penalty. And they did. A neutral zone infraction by the Commanders ended it.
The Pittsburgh Steelers move to 7-2 on the season and maintain first place in the AFC North. The Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens in their first division game of the season Nov. 17 at 1:00 p.m.
