Byron Leftwich led two touchdown drives after Ben Roethlisberger reinjured his throwing shoulder as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins 23-6 on Monday.
The Steelers’ top-rated defense had seven sacks, allowed only 221 yards and became the first team this season to intercept Jason Campbell.
Leftwich went 7-of-10 for 129 yards and a touchdown as the Steelers (6-2) beat an NFC East team for the first time in three attempts this season.
PHOTO: AP
Roethlisberger was 5-of-17 for 50 yards and an interception before leaving the game at halftime, again hindered by the slightly separated shoulder that has bothered him since the second week of the season.
Leftwich’s 50-yard completion to Nate Washington set up a 1-yard TD run by Willie Parker, who was back from a four-week layoff with a knee injury. He also had a 5-yard scoring pass to Santonio Holmes. Roethlisberger celebrated that touchdown on the sideline by high-fiving his teammates — with his left hand.
The Steelers held Clinton Portis to 51 yards rushing, ending his streak of five straight games with at least 120 yards. Washington (6-3) came close to scoring a touchdown only once — when Campbell threw incomplete to eligible lineman Lorenzo Alexander on fourth-and-goal at the 1 in the fourth quarter.
Campbell, who finished 24-of-43 for 206 yards, thought he had scored on a scramble on the previous play, but a replay challenge showed he was down just before the goal line.
While the Steelers remain atop the AFC North, the Redskins lost ground in the NFC East to the New York Giants. Washington enters its bye week needing to tweak an offense that has put together promising drives all season but has often struggled to find the end zone.
The game was the first hosted by Washington on the eve of a presidential election since 1984, and there was no mistaking the combination of football and election fever. One fan alternately waved a white towel with Barack Obama’s image in the left hand and an all-burgundy Redskins towel in the right hand.
The Redskins also used the special occasion to wear burgundy jerseys and pants together for the first time in franchise history.
A more noticeable color, however, was the yellow from the sea of Terrible Towels waved by Steelers fans who managed to secure tickets by the boatload for the lower bowl of the stadium. In a bizarre sight, visiting Pittsburgh players were waving to the fans all around them to make noise during defensive stands.
Neither team managed 100 yards in a first half that included seven sacks and a combined 13-of-32 performance by Roethlisberger and Campbell.
The Redskins didn’t convert on third down until Campbell hit tight end Chris Cooley for a 12-yard gain late in the third quarter.
Campbell’s streak without an interception reached 271 attempts before cornerback Deshea Townsend grabbed a pass tipped by Portis late in the third quarter.
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