Steelers vs. Redskins: Score and Twitter Reaction for Monday Night Football

The Pittsburgh Steelers utilized a balanced offense to pull away from Washington and earn a 38-16 victory to open their season Monday.

Antonio Brown was as good as ever, finishing with eight catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Roethlisberger was able to drop the ball wherever he wanted, totaling 300 passing yards and three touchdowns in the Week 1 win.

Matt Williamson of The Score noted a major difference in the game:

DeAngelo Williams—starting at running back in place of the suspended Le'Veon Bell—was a major force, especially in the second half. He came through with 143 rushing yards and two touchdowns to go with 28 receiving yards on six catches. Matt Jones led Washington with 24 rushing yards.

Kirk Cousins struggled with his consistency, finishing 30-of-43 for 329 passing yards but also missing a lot of targets while throwing two interceptions.

Perhaps most importantly, the Steelers came through on the game's biggest plays, finishing 9-of-14 on third down and 2-of-2 on fourth. Washington ended the night just 3-of-10 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth.

That added up to a one-sided game in the first Monday Night Football contest of the year.

Some strong defense, including an interception by Bashaud Breeland, helped Washington take an early lead. Chris Wesseling of NFL.com has high expectations for the 24-year-old cornerback:

Breeland had a hard time covering Brown in one-on-one situations throughout the contest, although it's hard to blame him for that. Washington couldn't take advantage of good field position early and had to settle for two field goals, earning just a 6-0 lead.

Pittsburgh made the home team pay by quickly seizing the lead on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Brown on 4th-and-1:

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com also noted that particular play call will help all year long:

Interestingly, the Steelers had another opportunity on 4th-and-1 later in the first half and ran the same play. This time, Roethlisberger found Eli Rogers for the first down.

Four plays later, Rogers scored his first career touchdown on a fortunate bounce off teammate Sammie Coates:

This helped the Steelers go into halftime with a 14-6 lead.

Cousins' poor night continued when he threw an interception to linebacker Ryan Shazier in the second half. Trey Wingo of ESPN noted the quarterback's struggles:

Pittsburgh responded with another touchdown on a deep throw to Brown against one-on-one coverage, taking a 24-6 lead in the third quarter.

ESPN's Matt Bowen described the elite receiver's talent:

Washington finally got going in the second half with another field goal. After forcing a three-and-out, it followed with a 77-yard drive that Chris Thompson capped off with a one-yard touchdown to help his team cut the deficit to 24-16.

However, Pittsburgh came back with a 13-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that lasted more than seven minutes in the fourth quarter. Williams was the key on the drive, finishing it off with a 15-yard run into the end zone to help the Steelers increase their lead to 31-16.

Pro Football Talk mocked the poor tackling by the defense:

After Washington turned the ball over on downs, Pittsburgh added to its lead with another Williams touchdown. A second Cousins interception sealed the win for the Steelers.

There was a lot of talk about the possible Brown vs. Josh Norman matchup coming into the game, although the receiver didn't seem to be concerned.

"However they want to line up, I'm ready for the challenge," Brown said before the game, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com.

Washington chose to utilize a lot of single coverage with Breeland, and Pittsburgh made the team pay.

The Steelers will follow Monday's win with one of their most important matchups of the season: a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Pittsburgh's division rival beat the New York Jets in Week 1 and will likely battle the Steelers for the AFC North title.

Washington will also have a home game against a divisional opponent when the Dallas Cowboys come to town in Week 2. Washington will hope its defense will fare better against rookie quarterback Dak Prescott. 

Postgame Reaction

Pro Bowl cornerback Norman gave his honest assessment after the game, per Aaron Oster of ESPN980:

"We will meet again," said Breeland, via Chris Russell of 106.7 The Fan. "I'm looking forward to it. He got this one. Next one is mine."

Meanwhile, Roethlisberger's comments on the first touchdown pass pretty much summed up the game, per Todd Dybas of the Washington Times:

This was a one-sided affair that showed just how good the Steelers offense can be as well as some major issues for Washington.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter.