Pittsburgh will be looking to remain undefeated when it hosts Washington on Monday night. The Steelers were barely able to sneak past a COVID-19 riddled Baltimore team in a rare Wednesday NFL game. Washington blew out Dallas on the road in a Thanksgiving Day matchup.

Washington finds itself contending for NFC East crown

Washington was not expected to be a contender in the NFC East this season, opening the year with 100/1 odds to win the division. A mixture of poor play and injuries among the other teams have led to Washington being right in the mix as the latter stages of the season begins. The Football Team has picked up consecutive blowout wins against Cincinnati and Dallas to improve to 4-7. They opened the season with a 1-5 record, but they have bounced back with three wins in their last five games. Washington is now tied with New York at the top of the NFC East standings.

Veteran Alex Smith has returned from a brutal injury and has taken over for Dwayne Haskins Jr. as the starter. Smith has completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,067 yards. He does not have a great touchdown-to-interception ratio at 3-to-5, but he has provided a boost in morale to the team. Running back Antonio Gibson leads the team with 139 carries for 645 yards and 11 touchdowns. Terry McLaurin has been the best wide receiver by far, catching 69 passes for 963 yards and three scores. Running back J.D. McKissic has 223 rushing yards is the second-leading receiver with 338 yards.

Steelers remain unbeaten

Pittsburgh will not have much time to enjoy its 11-0 record, only getting four days of rest heading into this game. The Steelers were originally scheduled to play on Thanksgiving night, but the game got moved all the way to the following Wednesday due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Ravens organization. Pittsburgh went from a 4-point favorite to a 10.5-point favorite due to missing Baltimore starters, but the Ravens were able to hang in there and make it a game. Pittsburgh’s offense is below-average in yards per game, but it has managed to score 28.8 per contest.

Veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has completed 67.5 percent of his passes for 2,800 yards. He has one of the best touchdown-to-interception ratios in the league at 25-to-6. Running back James Connor leads the team with 145 carries for 645 yards and five touchdowns. The trio of Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson and Juju Smith-Schuster has been excellent at wide receiver. Claypool, a rookie, leads the team with 611 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on 45 receptions. Johnson has 57 catches for 583 yards and Smith-Schuster has added 66 receptions for 572 yards. Tight end Eric Ebron has caught 42 passes for 413 yards. Pittsburgh linebacker Bud Dupree is out for the season with a torn ACL.