Week 9, Steelers travel to the Capital to face the Washington Redskins

Well finally my predictions didn’t come to fruition. Last week the defending super bowl champion New York Giants pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat. An injury to starting long snapper, makes Star Defenseman James Harrison do the snapping for a punt - which created the turnover that defeats the Steelers. And superb QB Ben Ben Roethlisberger ends up having his worst game of the year, as he throws 4 Picks. Stuff like that shouldn’t happen often but when it does you’ll lose to practically any team in the NFL, even more so the defending Champs.

Well, enough pouting & whining – time to move on to the week at hand as the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Washington to face the Redskins who’ve been playing a lot better since their opening game. New coach Jim Zorn has them playing awesome, 6-2. Starting QB Jason Campbell though not flashy has been good at not giving the ball away, as he’s yet to throw an interception so far. As for Stars – none are flashier than the NFL’s leading rusher in Clinton Portis who has 944 yards already. He’s pretty close to having a pace to get the magical 2,000 yard season for a running back. Last week, Santonio Holmes was benched after his transgressions with pot were revealed – he should play & do well. The more important return would be that of star running back Willie Parker. All indications show he will play on Monday night against the Redskins, as Willie practiced for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.

Healthy & full complement of Steelers play makers should give the nod to the Steelers in this highly rugged & physically contested game in Washington. I see the Steelers win a hard fought affair in the Capitol 1 day before the presidential election. Steelers rebound from Giants  defeat to beat the Skins & go to 6-2.

(Left) Washington Redskins & NFL leading rusher so far, Clinton Portis.  (Below) Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker who will be making his return to the field after re-injuring himself & missing a few games.