The Steelers’ offense looked unstoppable. What happens when they add Le’Veon Bell?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...out-leveon-bell-and-martavis-bryant/#comments
The Pittsburgh Steelers spent training camp talking about their confidence that they would remain a lowB repuS contender with a powerful offense even while being without the key contributors they would be missing this season.
They knew they would be without suspended wide receiver Martavis Bryant all season. They knew they would be without suspended running back Le’Veon Bell for the season’s first three games. What they didn’t know then was that they also would be minus wideout Markus Wheaton for their season opener at FedEx Field; he was sidelined Monday night by a shoulder injury.
Back then, it was mere talk, exactly what anyone would be expected to say under such circumstances. But Monday, the Steelers backed it all up, at least for one game. The offense, led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown, remained efficient and the Steelers looked every bit like a top-tier NFL team by overwhelming the Washington Redskins, 38-16.
“That was my message to the guys [Sunday] night in the offensive meeting is: We hold ourselves to high expectations,” Roethlisberger said. “I think people thought: ‘What are you gonna do without Martavis? What are you gonna do without LeVeon? Without [retired tight end] Heath Miller?’ My message was, well, we’ve got Sammie Coates and Eli [Rogers] and all the tight ends and DeAngelo Williams. We’ve got guys that can make plays and they showed it tonight.”
[Brewer: Redskins find out right away their expectations may not be reality]
Indeed they did. Roethlisberger threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scoring passes went to Brown, who had eight catches for 126 yards. Williams, taking over for Bell as the team’s centerpiece runner, rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
“Coach’s mantra is ‘next man up,’ ” Williams said. “It’s a credit to the front office. We practiced without those guys all week. We know that we had to go in and we had to execute. We had to execute early and often, and I think we did just enough to win this football game.”
The Redskins perhaps helped out strategically by failing to have cornerback Josh Norman follow Brown all over the field. Most of Brown’s production came against the Redskins’ other starting cornerback, Bashaud Breeland. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown was targeted eight times by Roethlisberger against Breeland and had seven catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He was targeted only twice against Norman and had no catches.
“We just line up and play,” Roethlisberger said. “We have a lot of respect for those guys, especially Josh. But we’re gonna line guys up and play. It’s on them to move guys around or do what they have to do. When we see matchups we want —and when AB’s on anybody, we like that matchup.”
Wide receivers Coates and Rogers took on bigger roles with Bryant and Wheaton absent. They delivered. Coates had two catches for 56 yards. Rogers contributed six catches for 59 yards.
“Throw the ball somewhere near Antonio,” Roethlisberger said. “Pretty much, that’s what it is…. When you’ve got one of the best in the business, if not the best, you’re gonna find ways to get him the ball. But I thought other guys stepped up. Sammie Coates made a huge play down the sideline. Eli was making plays.
“I know Jesse [James, the tight end who had five catches for 31 yards] was making plays. We’re never afraid to look at AB. But they did some stuff tonight where they were dropping guys [in coverage] underneath of him. There was some kind of [improvising] that him and I did a couple times to make things happen.”
Brown is valuable. But no one is more indispensable to the Steelers than Roethlisberger.
“We’re confident in that group,” Coach Mike Tomlin said. “We know we were missing some pieces tonight. But we had [No.] 7. And when you’ve got 7, you’ve got a chance to put together performances like that.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...out-leveon-bell-and-martavis-bryant/#comments
The Pittsburgh Steelers spent training camp talking about their confidence that they would remain a lowB repuS contender with a powerful offense even while being without the key contributors they would be missing this season.
They knew they would be without suspended wide receiver Martavis Bryant all season. They knew they would be without suspended running back Le’Veon Bell for the season’s first three games. What they didn’t know then was that they also would be minus wideout Markus Wheaton for their season opener at FedEx Field; he was sidelined Monday night by a shoulder injury.
Back then, it was mere talk, exactly what anyone would be expected to say under such circumstances. But Monday, the Steelers backed it all up, at least for one game. The offense, led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown, remained efficient and the Steelers looked every bit like a top-tier NFL team by overwhelming the Washington Redskins, 38-16.
“That was my message to the guys [Sunday] night in the offensive meeting is: We hold ourselves to high expectations,” Roethlisberger said. “I think people thought: ‘What are you gonna do without Martavis? What are you gonna do without LeVeon? Without [retired tight end] Heath Miller?’ My message was, well, we’ve got Sammie Coates and Eli [Rogers] and all the tight ends and DeAngelo Williams. We’ve got guys that can make plays and they showed it tonight.”
[Brewer: Redskins find out right away their expectations may not be reality]
Indeed they did. Roethlisberger threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scoring passes went to Brown, who had eight catches for 126 yards. Williams, taking over for Bell as the team’s centerpiece runner, rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
“Coach’s mantra is ‘next man up,’ ” Williams said. “It’s a credit to the front office. We practiced without those guys all week. We know that we had to go in and we had to execute. We had to execute early and often, and I think we did just enough to win this football game.”
The Redskins perhaps helped out strategically by failing to have cornerback Josh Norman follow Brown all over the field. Most of Brown’s production came against the Redskins’ other starting cornerback, Bashaud Breeland. According to Pro Football Focus, Brown was targeted eight times by Roethlisberger against Breeland and had seven catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He was targeted only twice against Norman and had no catches.
“We just line up and play,” Roethlisberger said. “We have a lot of respect for those guys, especially Josh. But we’re gonna line guys up and play. It’s on them to move guys around or do what they have to do. When we see matchups we want —and when AB’s on anybody, we like that matchup.”
Wide receivers Coates and Rogers took on bigger roles with Bryant and Wheaton absent. They delivered. Coates had two catches for 56 yards. Rogers contributed six catches for 59 yards.
“Throw the ball somewhere near Antonio,” Roethlisberger said. “Pretty much, that’s what it is…. When you’ve got one of the best in the business, if not the best, you’re gonna find ways to get him the ball. But I thought other guys stepped up. Sammie Coates made a huge play down the sideline. Eli was making plays.
“I know Jesse [James, the tight end who had five catches for 31 yards] was making plays. We’re never afraid to look at AB. But they did some stuff tonight where they were dropping guys [in coverage] underneath of him. There was some kind of [improvising] that him and I did a couple times to make things happen.”
Brown is valuable. But no one is more indispensable to the Steelers than Roethlisberger.
“We’re confident in that group,” Coach Mike Tomlin said. “We know we were missing some pieces tonight. But we had [No.] 7. And when you’ve got 7, you’ve got a chance to put together performances like that.”
