The Washington Football Team is still uncertain about the future of the offense, but the future on defense is pretty simple: It is Chase Young’s team.
Young, who Washington drafted with the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, has proved to be a difference-maker.
During Washington’s 23-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Young managed just two tackles, but he is quickly becoming the key player for Jack Del Rio’s defense. However, he won’t likely take all the credit.
“The key, I feel like, was just playing as a team,” Young told NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala after the game.
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“Our motto is to just keep going and never stop. And I feel like, these past few weeks that’s what we’ve been doing. Our defense, we come together real good and I feel like we’re the best D in the league right now.”
“We was the better defense tonight,” Young said when asked to compare Washington’s unit to Pittsburgh’s.
“We just played with more passion,” he said. “We was flying around. You could feel our energy if you was watching the game. We just love each other and we’re gonna keep going. We know that a lot of people try and talk down on us and stuff, but that’s cool. Cause we just gonna keep going.”
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The Washington defense held Ben Roethlisberger to his second-lowest completion percentage (62.3 percent) and first down completion percentage (24.5%), and third-lowest passer rating (82.7) of the season.
Young’s arrival has led to the emergence of 2019 first-round pick Montez Sweat as a force on the defensive line. Sweat made the big play when his third deflected pass of the game was intercepted by Jon Bostic with under two minutes left and Washington up 20-17.
“I feel like that last game they played (against Baltimore) they were exposed a little bit,” Young said of Pittsburgh. “Our coach did a good job of putting us in position to make plays.”
"We didn't get a sack today, but our defensive line dominated. I don't know how many rushing yards they had but it couldn't have been much,” Young said.
The rushing totals: 21 yards on 14 carries for Pittsburgh. That was the Steelers’ lowest single-game rushing total in 14 years.
And that was never more crucial than when the Steelers had several cracks at the end zone from inside the Washington five-yard line in the first half.
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On 4th down, it was Young who knifed in to make the stop. Adding to the many times he has made a huge play on the goal line.
Young finished the game with three pressures and two defensive stops including the goal-line stand.
“I’ve been watching Ben since like elementary school,” Young said about the Steelers’ QB, but when asked about hitting him three times: “It felt pretty good.”
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