Roethlisberger & Co. roll past Redskins
QB drives team 87 yards after recovering own fumble
LANDOVER, MD.— Ben Roethlisberger recovered his own fumble at a pivotal moment and didn’t look back, throwing three touchdown passes to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 3816 victory over the Washington Redskins on Monday night.
Roethlisberger completed 27 of 37 passes for 300 yards, including two touchdowns to All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown and another to Eli Rogers. Often playing on the oppo- site side from Josh Norman and tormenting cornerback Bashaud Breeland, Brown made eight catches for 126 yards.
Starting in place of the suspended Le’Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.
Washington led 6-0 and appeared to have another scoring opportunity late in the first quarter when linebacker Ryan Kerrigan sacked and stripped Roethlisberger deep in Pittsburgh territory. Steelers centre Maurkice Pouncey knocked the ball out of Kerrigan’s hands, and Roethlisberger dived on it at his own 13yard line.
Roethlisberger then guided Pittsburgh 87 yards down the field, finishing the drive with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Brown on a gutsy fourth-and-1 call from the Washington 29.
The next time he got the ball, Big Ben took the Steelers 67 yards on 14 plays to make it 14-6.
Pittsburgh’s passing attack got clicking, but Kirk Cousins and the Redskins couldn’t keep up. With Matt Jones and the running game grounded and tight end Jordan Reed taken out of the picture, Cousins finished 30 of 43 for 329 yards and two interceptions.
Washington got as close as 24-16 on
Chris Thompson’s fourth-quarter touchdown.
Then Roethlisberger was at it again, taking the Steelers 77 yards as Williams put the game away with a 15yard touchdown run to break the 30-point mark.
PRIME TIME READY: Steelers coach Mike Tomlin improved to 11-2 on Monday night, including 6-2 on the road and 2-0 at Washington. Pittsburgh is 4-1when opening the season on Monday night, and the Steelers’ 44-24 record on MNF is third-best in the NFL behind Seattle (23-6) and San Francisco (47-25).
The Redskins have lost 15 of their past 16 Monday Night home games.