Steelers vs. Commanders: 5 questions with the enemy ahead of Week 10

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Featuring Hogs Haven’s Andrew York

After taking the bye week to refresh and get healthy, the Pittsburgh Steelers will face off against the Washington Commanders (7-2) this week while trying to remain atop the AFC North standings. I spoke with Andrew York of Hogs Haven to get a better idea of what to expect in this week’s matchup.

You can read my questions and his answers below:

The Commanders are one of the biggest surprises in the league halfway through the season. What’s the experience been like for fans so far? What have been the most surprising elements of this team besides their rookie quarterback?

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It’s been amazing for fans. In some ways, it compares to RG3’s rookie year, where we shocked the NFL with how well we played and how bright the future looked. However, the fundamentals behind this turnaround seem much better, so I think this improvement is more sustainable. The biggest difference is that we have new ownership (new owner Josh Harris has been good, former owner Dan Snyder was the worst in the NFL). In addition though, we have a professional GM in Adam Peters, we didn’t trade away a bunch of future draft capital to get our QB, and Jayden Daniels seems like a legitimate pocket passer who can win entirely from the pocket (unlike RG3).

The most surprising thing other than generally how good we’ve been is how well coached we’ve looked in all phases of the game. The coaching staff was probably the biggest question mark for fans heading into the season, but they have a rebuilt team with (on paper) what should be a humble roster playing way better as a whole than the sum of their parts. Since Week 2, the players have seemed very prepared and in sync in each game and the vibes coming out of the locker room are great too.

Speaking of that young quarterback, Jayden Daniels is the early frontrunner for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Tell us a bit about his game. What has made him so special so far?

He’s a cerebral QB with pinpoint accuracy on most throws, excellent throwing technique, and an advanced ability to recognize the defensive alignment, call protections, and process quickly what is happening around him on the field. In addition to that, he has an excellent sense for pressure and the athleticism to scramble with his legs and evade pressure to either buy more time to throw or simply make a big gain himself with his legs. I think the biggest thing that makes him stand out from other rookie QBs is his maturity though. In many ways, he acts like an NFL veteran. He’s one of the first players to the facility every day, studies film and practices constantly, stays calm under pressure in games, and quietly commands the locker room.

The Commanders were another team that went shopping at the deadline. How will Marshon Lattimore impact this defense and are we likely to see him this week?

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The team’s biggest need was a boundary CB who can shut down top WRs 1-on-1 and we got that with Marshon Lattimore. This weakness was exposed in our game with the Ravens, where we had to load the box to stop Derrick Henry, but that left our CBs 1-on-1 with Zay Flowers on the boundary and allowed Flowers to have a monster game against us. Having a CB like Lattimore who can shut down most WRs 1-on-1 gives the defense a lot more flexibility in how to use our safeties. Lattimore is listed with a hamstring injury, which could affect his availability this week, but there are also some reports that (similar to the hamstring injury of Davante Adams) his injury will magically clear up after a trade, so I’d say just watch the practice reports and if he practices on Friday, he will probably play.

This week will be an interesting stylistic matchup. The Steelers walk away winners this week if they exploit what matchups on offense and defense? Who are some under-the-radar Commanders we should be aware of?

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Schematically, the Commanders offense and defense have done a good job adapting to our opponent each week, so I wouldn’t say there are schematic things to attack so much as weaker personnel to attack. Although we are probably weaker at OT than IOL, our OTs have still been playing pretty well and our coaches have been helping them out with lots of chips on the outside of the line, so we haven’t given up many pressures. I think defensively, the best thing is to simply rush 4 and drop more players back in coverage rather than blitzing, as defenses that do that seem to do more to limit our offense than teams that blitz. On offense, I’d say focus on passes to boundary WRs not covered by Lattimore. In particular, short to intermediate passes should be the focus, as our pass rush has actually been pretty good at getting pressure and getting the ball out quickly is a good way to negate it.

In terms of under-the-radar players, I’d say rookie DT Jer’Zhan (Johnny) Newton is a player on defense to watch. He was a 2nd round pick in this year’s draft and didn’t get much playing time early in the season due to our depth at DT, but a season-ending injury to Jonathan Allen has forced Newton to step up. He’s particularly good at rushing the passer and has an explosive first step, so I’d watch for him to get some pressure up the middle. Free agent addition and DE Dante Fowler is also having a career year with 6.5 sacks so far this season, though he can be a bit of a liability in run defense.

On offense, it’s tough because outside of Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin (who most people know), we’ve got a lot of guys playing well, but not necessarily one that stands out over the others. I guess I’ll go with rookie LT Brandon Coleman, who the Commanders took in the 3rd round. He’s got an athletic profile similar to Trent Williams, but fell in the draft due to concerns about his height and lack of playing time at LT in college. He’s been developing and playing really well though, contributing to the surprisingly good play of our OL.

Fan Duel has the Commanders as favorites (-3) in this one. What’s your final score prediction?

I hate giving score predictions because they can be so variable and so many factors go into them. If I had to give a score prediction, I’d go with the implied Vegas score of 24-21 in favor of the Commanders. I think it will be decided by the battle in the trenches as well as Jayden’s improvisational ability. If our underrated OL can match up to Pittsburgh’s elite DL and open up holes in the run game and buy Jayden time in the pocket, I believe in our offense to score points. Jayden’s ability to escape pressure and scramble for gains will also be an important part of keeping drives alive. If our DL can overmatch Pittsburgh’s battered OL to close holes in the run game and get pressure on Russell Wilson, it will make the job of the rest of the defense considerably easier. My impression is that Wilson has lost a bit of his scrambling, improvisational ability with age and still relies heavily on deep passes, so getting pressure and limiting his time to throw will be key.