Time of possession key in stopping RG3
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers beat Robert Griffin III by keeping him on the sidelines for most of Sunday’s 27-12 Pittsburgh win.
The Steelers lead the league in time of possession and increased that lead Sunday by having possession for 33:13 of the game’s 60 minutes. That might not sound very impressive, when you consider the Redskins held the ball for almost nine minutes of the fourth quarter, you get the point.
In the first quarter,the Steelers kept it for 10:04 in establishing a 10-0 lead and limiting Washington to nine plays. They rolled from there to stretch the lead to 20-6 at halftime and tucked it away by holding the Redskins to a field goal before scoring a third-quarter touchdown to make it 27-9 through three quarters.
“We look to possess the ball,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “If we convert third downs, we feel like we’ve got a chance to do that. I think we did that today.”
Actually, the Steelers converted only four of 11 third downs, but quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was not sacked and the Steelers had no turnovers.
“Of course, if you don’t turn it over and can convert some third downs, that’s a recipe for success for us. I think it was today.”
Time of possession, according to the coach, was only one of many contributing factors in this win, which he termed on several occasions as a team win.
“Obviously, contributions from all parties involved,” he said. “I liked the overall energy. The team worked together.”
Asked specifically about the offensive line, Tomlin said, “I think we have improved as a team and that’s what this journey is all about.”
Roethlisberger, who completed 24 of 33 passes for 222 yards with three touchdowns and a 121.0 passer rating, couldn’t stop heaping praise on the offensive line that also paved the way for 140 rushing yards.
“They played great,” Roethlisberger said of the O-line. “Everybody wants to jump on them when they are not playing good, but not when they are playing great. They are doing such a good job of playing together, opening holes in the run game and protecting in the pass game.
By possessing the ball as much as they are, the Steelers are developing the sort of balance on offense that coordinators only dream of.
“When you can mix it up and be balanced … that’s what we’ve always said we wanted to be, a balanced offense. I feel like we are that right now.”
What they also are is 4-3, but Roethlisberger’s point is valid. Through seven games, the first seven of Todd Haley’s reign as offensive coordinator, the Steelers have run the ball 182 times and Roethlisberger has completed 179 of his 268 pass attempts.
While the Steelers were happy to end the game with possession of the ball, Roethlisberger was a bit disappointed that it took so long for them to do so.
“I was more disappointed in the two drives before that last one because we had the ball and didn’t get to close it out sooner than we did.”
Next Up: The Steelers travel to New Jersey to take on the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants next Sunday.
Positives: Roethlisberger completed 7-of-8 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown on Pittsburgh’s first possession. His touchdown pass to Leonard Pope came on fourth down. … The defense held Alfred Morris to minus 3 yards in his fist two carries to end the Redskins first possession. … Jonathan Dwyer ripped off a 34-yard gain to open the Steelers second possession. … Ziggy Hood blocked an extra point attempt by Kai Forbath. … Curtis Brown downed Drew Butler’s first punt at the Redskins’ 1-yard line. … Chris Rainey’s 19-yard run on third-and-4 capped Pittsburgh’s 80-yard, 11-play drive that ended with Will Johnson catching a 1-yard TD pass from Roethlisberger. … Larry Foote had Pittsburgh’s only sack, getting Robert Griffin III just before a Forbath field goal cut Pittsburgh’ss lead to 27-12 with 12:06 remaining.
Negatives: Emmanuel Sanders lose 7 yards on an end around. … The Steelers defense gave up back-to-back pass plays covering 12 and 31 yards to move the Redskins into scoring range on Washington’s second possession and were bailed out when Leonard Hankerson and Dezmon Briscoe dropped touchdown passes. Still, the Redskins capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive with a 2-yard TD pass to Santana Moss on fourth down. … Curtis Brown’s illegal block penalty negated a78-yard Antonio Brown punt return and the Steelers offense went 3-and-out on that possession. … Sanders dropped a third-down pass that would have extended a Steelers drive midway through the fourth quarter.
Milestones: TE Heath Miller caught his 37th touchdown pass 6:17 before halftime to tie Elbie Nickel for the most TD catches by a tight end in team history. … The Steelers other two touchdowns represented the first of Will Johnson’s career and the first as a Steeler for TE Leonard Pope.
Injuries: FS Ryan Clark suffered a concussion early in the third quarter and did not return. … Tomlin said post-game that LB LaMarr Woodley suffered a sprained right hamstring and that Dwyer suffered a strained quad muscle.
Worth Repeating: Tomlin was asked his team’s ability to contain Washington rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, who completed 16-of-34 passes for 177 yards and one touchdown and ran for 8 yards on 6 carries.
“I thought we did a nice job,” he said. “We weren’t perfect, but they test you, really. Dive, quarterback pitch, some of those things. They got some plays on us. What we talked about all week is, regardless of what happened, we needed to run to the ball with energy, run and hit and get multiple guys to the football. We thought that was the only way we could contain that outfit, largely, and I thought we did the job.”