STEELERS 101

The Pittsburgh Steelers will return home for another big game and a chance to jump over the .500 mark for season when the face the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

For the Steelers, the return of center Maurkice Pouncey may be a huge boost for the teams defense. Last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, while playing without him, running back Jonathan Dwyer emerged to lead a stout rushing attack. With the team set to take on dynamic quarterback Robert Griffin III, the idea of ball control may be in line and they may be poised to pull it off.

Sure, we detailed this week how the Steelers have what appears to be a tremendous advantage in the match-up between their receiving corps in comparison to the Redskins secondary. Yet, the idea of keeping Griffin on the sideline has to come to mind when the team was building a game plan for the game.

With all but one starter back in the fold along the offensive line, the idea of setting up play action early with some runs at the point of attack, may be a two-fold benefit, allowing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to hit play action as the game moves forward. With Mike Wallace looking to bounce back, and Antonio Brown and Heath Miller, this should be a Steelers advantage.

Defensively, the team is still without Troy Polamalu (calf) and that loss could show up more with this match-up than any others could this season. Polamalu’s abilities to disguise coverage and his dynamic athleticism would be a bonus in attempting to corral the explosive rookie quarterback. With Polamalu out, outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley will have to be conscious of Griffins positioning and attempt to keep him in the pocket on passing situations.

However, that is not the only challenge the defense will face, as the Redskins offense will battle you in multiple ways and has shown a solid running game behind rookie running back Alfred Morris. This hybrid rushing attack will force the entire front seven to play disciplined and maintain their gap assignments against the spread read-option type attack.

The Steelers could also receive a boost this week if their special teams can show up and not commit multiple penalties and allow the team to potentially start drives with solid field position. Against the Bengals, the return units killed field position with penalties which wiped out tremendous returns and kept the offense with a long field.

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Tags: Alfred Morris, Antonio Brown, Ben Roethlisberger, Football, Heath Miller, Jonathan Dwyer, Mike Wallace, NFL, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Steelers, Robert Griffin III, Troy Polamalu, Washington Redskins

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