Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Washington Redskins
Free NFL Pick: Washington Redskins -3 (August 22nd 2009)
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Washington was embarrassed in its preseason opener at Baltimore as it was shutout while tallying just 196 total yards of offense. Facing Pittsburgh may not seem like the way to bounce back but playing their first home game with some extra motivation is a big benefit. Washington head coach Jim Zorn’s noted that a lot of the Redskins played “soft” and you know that the effort will be better this week. The intensity level was noticeably higher at the first two practices after that game and carrying that over into Saturday is the goal. The Ravens didn’t allow Washington inside the 30-yard line and they stopped the Redskins on 10 of 11 third down attempts. However, Washington players admitted it wasn’t the Ravens who held the Redskins scoreless as much as it was the Redskins committing too many mistakes. The big concern heading into the preseason was the offensive line as that was considered the main cause for the second-half meltdown last season. Against Baltimore, the coaching staff was pleased about the line’s performance in pass protection. The first-team unit struggled throughout camp but fared well in its two series against the Ravens. The play of veteran quarterback Todd Collins was especially positive as he completed 8 of 11 passes for 70 yards. He looked very smooth running the offense which was much better than at this point last season when he was frustrated playing behind bad protection and with subpar receivers. The Steelers won their preseason opener against the Cardinals in a Super Bowl rematch but the 20-10 score was a little deceiving. The Cardinals ended up outgaining Pittsburgh, 329-259 and that should be favorable this weekend. Pittsburgh had trouble running the ball, gaining just 90 yards on 32 carries (2.8 ypc) and it allowed Cardinals quarterbacks to complete over 53 percent of their passes. Those are two areas that Washington will work on. We catch a solid number here as well as last week’s results have pushed Pittsburgh into the role of road favorite and at this point of the preseason that should not be the case. 3* Washington Redskins