CINCINNATI -- It was difficult to keep track of the wide receivers who kept venturing into Dewayne Washington’s neighborhood. Part of the time, it was Peter Warrick, who had 10 catches for 109 yards. Occasionally, it was Darnay Scott, who had 49 of his 113 receiving yards on the third play from scrimmage. Even rookie T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who had nine catches, spent a considerable amount of time running slants in Washington’s direction.
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Dewayne Washington defends a pass intended for Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
Washington is the Steelers’ right cornerback, a player known for his superb coverage skills and a member of a secondary that ranked second in the American Football Conference in pass defense.
Yesterday, the Cincinnati Bengals kept sending so many people at him he must have felt like a Friday-night greeter at Wal-Mart.
It started with Scott’s big play in the first quarter and it didn’t stop until Danny Farmer, a former Steelers draft pick, forced overtime with an 18-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Jon Kitna with 37 seconds remaining. The Bengals won in overtime, 26-23, to end the Steelers’ seven-game winning streak.
“That’s really what happens in this league,” Washington said. “I’ve gone through it before, Chad [Scott] went through it earlier this season. When teams think they got something going, they keep coming at you.”
Make no mistake, the Bengals had something going against a Steelers defense that was ranked No. 1 in the National Football League, allowing an average of 244.3 yards per game. And they did it by running 99 offensive plays -- 44 more plays than the Steelers have been surrendering per game -- and piling up 544 yards. That is 139 more yards than any team has accumulated against the Steelers this season.
What’s more, Kitna attempted 68 passes -- tied for third most in NFL history -- and completed 35 for a career-high 411 yards, which is the sixth most allowed by the Steelers in club history.
A lot of those passes were directed at Washington. Not surprising, he led the team with 17 tackles (13 unassisted), a staggering number for a cornerback.
“That’s where they were going with the football,” Coach Bill Cowher said.
Curiously, the Steelers thought they had corrected the problems in their secondary after Tennessee and Minnesota combined for 664 passing yards in back-to-back games. After being burned for three pass plays longer than 62 yards in those games, defensive coordinator Tim Lewis had his cornerbacks play a little softer coverage and warned them about taking chances in the secondary.
Primarily, he reminded them about keeping the ball in front of them and not letting receivers get behind them in coverage. The result: The Steelers had not allowed a pass play longer than 19 yards in their past three games.
That all changed against the Bengals, a team so woefully inept offensively they had managed just 44 points in their previous six games.
“We’ve been playing very, very good football, pass defensewise,” Washington said. “We can’t let this seem like this is our season, this is the kind of secondary we have. We know we have a great secondary. They just outplayed us today. Their wide receivers definitely outplayed us.”
Washington was having such a bad day that he even missed a tackle on Corey Dillon’s 30-yard run in the first quarter quarter, allowing Dillon to get around him and down the sideline.
The most damaging play came with 37 seconds remaining when Farmer beat him to the back left corner of the end zone and ran underneath a Kitna pass for an 18-yard touchdown. Kitna had to hurry the throw to avoid a blitz by safety Mike Logan.
“It was a tremendous catch,” Bengals Coach Dick LeBeau said. “Football is about people making plays and Danny made a very good one. Jon gave him a good chance on the ball and he just finished the play.”
“He gave Danny a chance to run under it,” Washington said. “It was over Danny’s opposite shoulder and it was tough for me to get my hand in there. I saw the ball. I knew I had a chance to get back to it.”
Several players, including Washington and safety Brent Alexander, said Kitna was able to complete passes because the Bengals kept extra players in to pass block and used just two receivers to run routes. But offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski, a former Steelers wide receiver coach, also used multiple sets of receivers to confuse the Steelers. The secondary never adjusted.
“They had a great game plan,” Washington said. “There’s really no excuse. Kitna threw the ball on time, which he knows he has to do against us.”
Kitna, Bengals singe Steelers' secondary 
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