Redskins Show More Life Against Steelers

Daniel, Orakpo impress

Well that was more like it.

The Redskins' first-team offense still hasn't scored a touchdown this preseason, but the squad showed some improvement against the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers defense Saturday night at FedEx Field.  The backups and rookies continued to show promise (and were able to put the pigskin in the end zone) and the Skins held on for a 17-13 win on a rainy night in Landover.

The Skins opened the game with a 15-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a field goal.  That's the good news.  The bad news was that Jason Campbell finished the drive by completing just one pass, and the offense almost went three-and-out after Campbell failed to complete his first three attempts. 

A fake punt led to a large gain by Rock Cartwright, which kept the drive alive and let the Redskins work on establishing the running game against the stout Steelers D.  That part of the offense worked, as the Redskins' offensive line took control.

For the game, Campbell was just 1 of 7 for 10 yards. 

Meanwhile, the FedEx crowd got its first look at Albert Haynesworth and Brian Orakpo in home Redskins jerseys.  Orakpo got plenty of action in the first half and made two tackles.  Haynesworth was quiet in limited action.

Marko Mitchell scored the Redskins' first touchdown of the preseason when he pulled down a jump ball from Chase Daniel in the left corner of the end zone in the third quarter.  Fred Davis, the second-year tight end who had a case of fumbleitis against Baltimore, redeemed himself by forcing one fumble and catching a touchdown pass from Daniel in the fourth quarter.

Daniel made a case to be the team's third-string QB with those two TD passes.  He finished the game 6 of 8 for 58 yards.  Colt Brennan was 3 of 5 for 42 yards, but threw an interception late in the fourth quarter to end a drive deep in Steelers territory.

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