Commanders expect tough challenge from Wilson, Steelers

Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn welcomes an old friend to Northwest Stadium on Sunday — the Pittsburgh Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin.

The two coaches have known each other for 30 years. Quinn was a first-year coach when Tomlin was a senior wide receiver at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. The pair then coached together for a season at the Virginia Military Institute in 1995.

The respect and friendship never faded. But, after exchanging compliments this week, it’ll be all business on Sunday.

After all, Quinn will want to avoid a repeat of his last head coaching performance against Tomlin’s Steelers: a 41-17 loss when he was the coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2018.

“He’s just somebody I admire a lot,” Quinn said, highlighting Tomlin’s hard-nosed identity. “His team stands for that. So, not many people [I] regard higher as a coach and as a man than Mike. I feel the toughness of him through their team.”

A visit from Tomlin’s 6-2 Steelers, who are coming off a bye week, provides a tough test for the Commanders. After picking on the lowly Carolina Panthers, New York Giants and Cleveland Browns, the 7-2 Commanders sit atop the NFC East.

Both teams were active ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Commanders sent a bevy of draft picks to the New Orleans Saints for four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore, while the Steelers acquired wide receiver Mike Williams from the New York Jets and pass rusher Preston Smith from the Green Bay Packers.

Quinn said his players are responsible for analyzing Pittsburgh’s new players while the coaches stay locked on the big picture.

“It’s more practical for a player to study [opposing players] than the coach,” he said. “The coach has to stay onto the scheme and that’s kind of the back and forth when the guys study at home and they’re watching stuff on iPads.”

Tomlin has yet to confirm whether Williams and Smith would be ready to play on Sunday, while Lattimore could miss the game with a hamstring injury.

Whether Smith plays or not, Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels faces a tall task against a perenially stout Pittsburgh defense.

In the secondary, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is a rangy ball hawk known for floating in centerfield and breaking on deep balls. Linebacker Patrick Queen, a former Baltimore Raven, uses freakish speed to work sideline-to-sideline.

But edge rusher T.J. Watt is the one who gives quarterbacks nightmares. The Wisconsin product has recorded six and a half sacks and a league-leading four forced fumbles this season.

“They play hard. They know their scheme. They have some really good players, obviously,” Daniels said, singling out Queen, Fitzpatrick and Watt. “But overall, the whole defense they play together. They have a good continuity, and it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”

Daniels will square off against Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, 35. The two aren’t exact mirrors, but Daniels has shades of Wilson in his play.

Both quarterbacks entered the league with concerns about their size. The 5-foot-11 Wilson was considered too short to see over his lineman, while critics estimated that the slender Daniels couldn’t withstand the punishment delivered by NFL defenders.

But, with game-changing scrambling abilities and beautiful deep passes, both quarterbacks found immediate success as professionals.

For Daniels, that success has included seven Rookie of the Week awards as he leads Washington to its best start since 1996. For Wilson, it included a Super Bowl victory in his second season.

Years removed from his Super Bowl appearances in Seattle, Pittsburgh’s elder statesman has revived his career after a disastrous stint with the Denver Broncos. Though he started the season on the bench behind Justin Fields, Wilson took over the starting role in Week 7 and hit the ground running.

In two starts, the former Seattle Seahawk has thrown for 542 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner, who played with Wilson for ten seasons in Seattle, warned against underestimating the nine-time Pro Bowler.

“He can still [scramble]. I’ve got to take care of us vets. Y’all trying to age us faster than we are,” the 34-year-old Wagner told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s still doing amazing things. He’s just getting in a good rhythm. I think he’s really helped his team, from a veteran standpoint.”

Though expectations were low for both franchises and their new quarterbacks heading into the season, Sunday’s game is expected to have a playoff-like atmosphere.

Pittsburgh’s fan base, renowned throughout the league for invading opposing stadiums, will likely bring an onslaught of yellow Terrible Towels to Northwest Stadium.

The Commanders’ marketing staff is prepared. They announced this week that the team would hand out thousands of burgundy towels on Sunday to keep the stands filled with the Commanders’ colors.

“To play against a coach like Tomlin and things of that nature, it’s more like, ‘Okay, this is going to be fun,’” Wagner said. “When you play the Steelers, the Green Bays, the Ravens, the people you’ve watched over the course of your career and growing up, it’s more fun.”