Throughout the first eight games of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 schedule, the looming knowledge was that a brutal stretch awaited after Week 9. By winning six of those games, Pittsburgh goes into the second half of the season with earned confidence, but that doesn’t lessen the upcoming challenges. The Week 10 road test against the Washington Commanders on Sunday kicks off the daunting series of games.
Pittsburgh Steelers Match Up Evenly
While the Pittsburgh Steelers consider the road game in Week 10 to be a litmus test for the team’s growth thus far, the Commanders see things the same way. There are more than a few similarities between the two teams, besides each one only having two losses in 2024 (Steelers 6-2, Commanders 7-2). Washington Head Coach Dan Quinn has built one of the league’s better defensive units, giving rookie Quarterback Jayden Daniels consistent, reliable support on the other side of the ball. With the fifth-best pass defense and 14th in total defense, the Commanders will be a tough test for Pittsburgh’s offense.
Both teams are excellent at protecting the ball, each having a positive turnover differential (Steelers +10, Commanders +5). With a mere eight turnovers between the two teams and a whopping 23 combined takeaways, both offenses must avoid making a back-breaking mistake. With TJ Watt giving Washington Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury nightmares ahead of the game, the game will come down to the team that protects the quarterback. Each team has plenty to prove ahead of Sunday’s game, but it all starts by beating the better squads in the league, and in 2024, the Steelers and Commanders are on that level.
Finding the Mismatches
For all the ways Pittsburgh and Washington match up, there are areas where one team could get the better of the other. The Commanders are excellent at defending the pass, but when it comes to the run defense, the unit ranks near the bottom of the league (28th, 142.3 yards/game). Considering Najee Harris is having the best season of his career, including three consecutive 100-yard performances, a leaky rushing defense should concern Quinn. A dangerous running game is key to an Arthur Smith offense, which means if Harris gets going, the Commanders could be fighting an uphill battle early on.
The Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Mike Williams, adding to the wide receiver room, but the move was hardly game-changing. Pittsburgh’s receivers have been a glaring weak spot throughout 2024, with George Pickens being the exception. Washington’s top-ranked passing defense might not excel at interceptions (three in 2024), but it is a stingy group that only allows 184 passing yards on average. The blueprint is there: when the Commanders win, the defense only allows 166.7 passing yards on average, but in the two losses, Washington has been carved up for an average of over 300 yards through the air.
Brutal Injury Limits Commanders
Harris is running like one of the best backs in the NFL, especially over the last three games (322 yards, two touchdowns). On the other side, however, Washington’s Brian Robinson Jr. has been ruled out ahead of Sunday’s 1 pm start. That is 461 rushing yards and six touchdowns that won’t be on the field for the Commanders, as Austin Ekeler (289 yards, two touchdowns) prepares to start in his place. Pittsburgh allows 90.5 yards on the ground per game (fourth in the NFL), so the pressure will be on the rookie Daniels to keep the Commanders’ offense from becoming one-dimensional.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a healthy trio in the backfield, with Cordarrelle Patterson returning for the first time since Week 4 and Jaylen Warren running healthy after a rocky start to the season. If this game becomes a classic blue-collar football matchup, Washington’s unreliable run defense could be the crack in the armor that the Steelers could exploit. Even with Nick Herbig set to miss Week 10 with a hamstring injury, newly acquired veteran defender Preston Smith is ready to make his debut. Ekeler and Washington’s rushing offense will need to overachieve if they don’t want to be shut down from kickoff to the final whistle.
Washington’s Victory
Daniels has hit the ground running and is quickly becoming a household name by helping the Commanders navigate to a 7-2 record. However, Pittsburgh is a different beast because one knock against Washington in 2024 is the teams that Daniels has beaten. Losses to Baker Mayfield’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Baltimore Ravens, and Lamar Jackson stand out more when you look at the victories.
Beating the 2-7 New York Giants twice, the Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns, the flailing Carolina Panthers, and the Chicago Bears manned by rookie Caleb Williams. The 5-4 Cardinals are the only team with a winning record on that list. Facing the healthy 6-2 Pittsburgh Steelers coming off a bye week is when the NFL learns whether Washington is for real or whether slim victories against lower-end teams led to the 7-2 record. Daniels has been incredibly impressive; he protects the ball but hasn’t faced anything like what he will see against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Pittsburgh Looks To Keep Streak Going
Many in Pittsburgh believed the Pittsburgh Steelers could become immediate Super Bowl contenders with a big splash move for a top-tier receiver at the trade deadline. However, Omar Khan and the front office didn’t feel the same and showed confidence in the assembled roster by making two practical trades on Tuesday. The growth of Smith’s offense with Russell Wilson under center has been promising, but the concern remains that as persistent and determined as the receivers are, it won’t be enough. A big showing against a shutdown pass defense like Washington would be a big step toward proving otherwise.
Nothing gets easier after the Commanders, so the Pittsburgh Steelers have to treat every single week like a playoff game because the urge to look at the upcoming onslaught will be tempting. Every single division game the Pittsburgh Steelers play is packed in the final eight games, beginning in Week 11. To add to the challenging circumstances, HBO’s Hard Knocks is following all four AFC North teams. That means as Pittsburgh battles through this gauntlet of games, it will also be recapped with dramatic narration. If any coach can keep the train on the tracks, it is Mike Tomlin, but even this seems excessive for the closing half of a campaign.
Conclusion and Prediction
With two weeks since a strange victory over the Giants, the Pittsburgh Steelers should be prepared in every single sense of the word. Wilson and Watt are ready to command their respective side of the ball because starting this buzzsaw of a second-half schedule with a big victory would provide much-needed momentum heading into the first AFC North game of the year.
This isn’t Matt Canada overseeing Pittsburgh’s offense, which means the mismatches will be recognized and planned for. With Williams giving the passing game a new weapon, Sunday should be a low-scoring game where defense determines the victor. Prediction: Pittsburgh Steelers 20 – Commanders 14
