Late in the second quarter of Pittsburgh’s victory over Cincinnati on Sunday, Steelers tight end Darnell Washington made his way down the field for a 31-yard gain to help set up a field goal to end the half.
Washington broke multiple tackles on the play, finishing off the catch-and-rumble by trucking a defender into the sideline.
Washington has made a few plays like that over the course of the season, which is part of why he’s already reached a new season-high with 209 receiving yards in just 10 games. While the big Washington has been used more as a blocker throughout his career, his display on Sunday was emblematic of how he can be a weapon in the pass game.
But on Tuesday, head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t necessarily classify things that way.
“You know, I don’t know that he’s physically gotten better,” Tomlin said, via transcript from the team. “We might just be discovering him. Some of the freakish things that you see him do in stadium I saw him do on Georgia tape. Some of the freakish things that I’ve seen him do this year I saw him do last year. He had a unique run after, certainly, the other day that kind of ignited our collective offensively and defensively. He had a similar play, I remember, in Indianapolis last year when we were kind of, you know, running in place offensively and he made a play and it kind of ignited us.
“He’s a special athlete. He has unique talents. He’s certainly a tough guy to deal with in one-on-one tackle circumstances, and it makes him a force to be reckoned with.”
Washington had season highs in catches and yards on Sunday in the win over the Bengals. We’ll see how he continues to affect the offense for the rest of the season.
