Mike Williams made sure his Steelers debut is a memorable one.
The veteran wideout arrived to Pittsburgh in a trade with the Jets earlier this week and he made his first catch in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game in Washington. It was a 32-yard strike from quarterback Russell Wilson and it put the Steelers up 28-27 after they trailed for the entire second half.
There were more than two minutes left to play at that point and the Commanders’ bid to move back in front ended when tight end Zach Ertz was stopped just short on a fourth-and-9 near midfield with 1:18 left to play. The Commanders still had all three timeouts at that point and they used them to set up a fourth-and-1 on the Washington 49-yard-line, but defensive tackle Johnny Newton jumped offside after the Steelers lined up to try to get a Commanders player to do just that.
Williams’s touchdown was the third of the day for the Steelers and it might not have been necessary if not for a great play by Commanders safety Quan Martin in the fourth quarter. Martin yanked the ball out of Steelers running back Jaylen Warren’s hands on the 1-yard-line to force a turnover that allowed Washington to maintain their lead. They couldn’t move the ball, however, and the Steelers had a short field to use for their go-ahead score.
Wilson was 14-of-28 for 195 yards with the other two touchdowns going to Pat Freiermuth and George Pickens, who finished with five catches for 91 yards. They had 140 yards on the ground, but needed 43 carries to get there on a day when the offense had to grind their way to a win. They are now 7-2 with a big home game against the Ravens on deck for next weekend.
The Commanders can feel good about how their defense fared for most of Sunday, but their offense was also out of sorts for much of the afternoon. Jayden Daniels was 17-of-34 for 202 yards, but there weren’t enough explosive plays and the lack of Brian Robinson in the backfield hurt them in the ground game.
Daniels and company won’t have much time to lick their wounds. They’ll play the Eagles in Philly on Thursday in a game that will weigh heavily on the NFC East race.
