Commanders key numbers, Week 10: Washington loses game of inches to Steelers

It truly was a game of inches in the Washington Commanders' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The home team came out on the wrong end this time.

After newly-acquired Steelers wide receiver Mike Williams caught a 32-yard touchdown to put Pittsburgh up by one, Washington had just over two minutes to respond.

The sure-handed Noah Brown dropped a pass on 3rd-and-9, one of many drops by Washington's receivers on the day. On 4th-and-9, Jayden Daniels found Zach Ertz right at the first-down marker, but he was judged short. The play was reviewed and ultimately went in the Steelers' favor.

The defense came up with three big stops. They held Cordarrelle Patterson just short of the first down marker, potentially giving the Commanders a chance with around one minute remaining. It was all for naught, as the Steelers came out on 4th-and-1 hoping to draw Washington offsides. Johnny Newton answered the call and the game was over.

In a match-up that almost felt like a road game with the amount of Steelers fans in the stands, Washington lost by one. Hopefully, they won't lose the lessons this game provided.

Despite the penalties and the dropped passes, the Commanders went toe-to-toe with a premier team in the NFL while missing key pieces across the offensive line and at running back. That's progress.

With a short week before the Thursday Night Football matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington will need to regroup quickly and work on solving the issues that plagued them in Week 10. Let's review key numbers from the loss that sent the Commanders to 7-3.

Commanders key numbers from Week 10 loss vs. Pittsburgh

6: Tress Way was busy today, punting the ball six times, the most punts he has had since Christmas Eve last year.

2017: The last time Washington had a defender get multiple sacks in back-to-back games was in 2017. Ryan Kerrigan accomplished the feat in the last two games of the season. Dante Fowler Jr. matched him with two more sacks against the Steelers after having two against the New York Giants last week.

It was also the first time in his career that Fowler has reached this milestone. Fowler Jr. already has 8.5 sacks, which is the second-highest in his career. With seven games remaining, he only needs three more to tie his career-high.

1,064: It has been 1,064 days since Zane Gonzalez has kicked in an NFL game. But he was up to the task when called upon. The veteran stepped in for an injured Austin Seibert, and the Commanders had no fall-off in the kicking game. He hit both his field goals from 41 and 48 yards and made all of his extra points.

26-6: Head coach Mike Tomlin's record against rookie quarterbacks improved to 26-6 after beating the Commanders. The Steelers have now won eight games in a row coming off of a bye week and are having their best start since 2020 when the team started 11-0 before losing to Washington.

113: Terry McLaurin finished with 113 receiving yards. He has gone over 100+ receiving yards four times so far this season. He only had five games above 100+ receiving yards in his five other seasons. What a difference having a franchise quarterback can make.

18: Out of the six drives that ended with a punt, the Commanders gained a total of 18 yards of offense, an average of three yards per drive. Five of those six drives that ended with a punt were three-and-outs.

144: Noah Brown drew his fifth pass interference call of the season against the Steelers for a 23-yard gain. On the season, the wideout has accumulated 144 yards on defensive pass interference calls, leading the NFL.

21.5: Daniels came into the game on a historic pace, with a 71.5 completion percentage. He came back down to earth a bit on Sunday, completing just 17 of his 34 attempts.

Daniels' completion percentage was 14% lower than expected and 21.5% lower than his season average. Not only was he plagued by multiple drops, but he was off target on some passes that could have changed the trajectory of the game, including a long pass to Luke McCaffrey.

5: The Steelers came into the game allowing the fourth-lowest rushing yards per game, 90.5, and held Washington to 60 rushing yards. Despite Austin Ekeler and Jeremy McNichols combining for three rushing touchdowns, they missed Brian Robinson Jr. in the backfield. Pittsburgh also only allowed 15 yards on scrambles coming into the game. They held the usually elusive Daniels to only 5 rushing yards, 46+ yards below his season average.

56: After going up 24-14 after their first drive of the second half, the Commanders' offense only managed 56 yards of total offense for the remainder of the game (five drives). The defense meanwhile allowed the Steelers to gain 216 yards of offense after that point.

179: Jeremy Chinn picked off Russell Wilson late in the third quarter, which was the quarterback's first interception in his last 179 pass attempts. Washington's offense was unable to capitalize, punting it away just three plays after a 28-yard completion to McLaurin.

With just four days until their division matchup against the Eagles, the Commanders are hoping that they can have Robinson, Andrew Wylie, Cornelius Lucas, Tyler Biadasz, and Marshon Lattimore healthy and ready to go. The defensive backfield needs all the reinforcements it can get.

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