“Game Of His Life” tells the story of Pittsburgh athletes who may not have had the most illustrious, Hall of Fame level careers, but had one absolutely amazing game. In today’s edition, James Washington.

With James Washington back in the news after his release from the New Orleans Saints yesterday, let’s look back on some better times for Washington. 

A member of the Steelers for four years, Washington’s best year came in 2019, when he caught for 735 yards during the rocky 2019 season. 

While once thought of to be the next great one in a line of star Steelers receivers, he never fully panned out to that. 

Despite his shortcomings, his 2019 season wasn’t half bad, including one spectacular game in his sophomore season. 

The Backstory

We find ourselves just two weeks removed from the infamous Steelers-Browns brawl in 2019. The one where Myles Garrett slammed Mason Rudolph in the head with Rudolph’s own helmet. 

Despite the magnitude of that brawl, the rematch just two weeks later would be much calmer, probably because neither Garrett nor Rudolph would be playing in this game, the former due to suspension and the latter due to the rise of a third string quarterback. 

At the helm for things for the Steelers is cult hero Devlin “Duck” Hodges, making just his second career NFL start. 

Meanwhile, wide receiver James Washington, was about to put up the best game of his NFL career in a game the Steelers desperately needed to win. 

The Game

Duck Hodges had a very rough start to this game. After Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield led the Browns to an opening drive field goal, Hodges would get thrown to the ground for a 13 yard sack to seal a 3-and-out for Pittsburgh. 

After forcing a punt, the Steelers still struggled, obtaining just one first down before Pittsburgh had to punt again.

The Browns respond with a touchdown, giving them an early 10-0, unsettling the home crowd at Heinz Field. 

Now needing to kickstart the offense, Washington helps bail Hodges out of a harsh start to the game. On a 3rd and 9, Hodges throws a beautiful back shoulder pass to Washington, who catches it and just barely keeps both his feet in bounds to complete the catch. 

“Finally something for these fans to cheer about,” Ian Eagle, who was calling the game, said. 

The drive would soon stall, but the 31 yard pass to Washington helped the Steelers get into field goal range, with Chris Boswell kicking a 39 yarder to get Pittsburgh on the board at 10-3.

After forcing a Cleveland 3-and-out, the Steelers entered their two minute drill. Washington caught a small 6 yard pass start off the drive, which Hodges was able to lead down the field relatively well. 

Hodges hit Tevin Jones for a pretty 28 yard pass before throwing another deep shot to Washington in the end zone, resulting in a touchdown. 

The catch was a thing of beauty; with a defender twisting his shoulder, Washington drew a pass interference penalty as he was falling to the ground, but still managed to catch the ball for the touchdown. 

The game went to halftime tied at 10 a piece. 

The Duck offense had found its rhythm, which continued to the second half when the Steelers had the ball first. 

Washington had one more golden moment in this game, coming on a 44 yard contested catch to put the Steelers deep in Cleveland territory. 

It was another gorgeous catch, which was his last on the brilliant day. 

From there, Benny Snell did the rest and ran it in for a touchdown, giving the Steelers a 17-10 lead. 

On their next drive, Boswell kicked a chip shot field goal to give Pittsburgh a 20-10 lead. 

Mayfield and the Browns would attempt the comeback, leading a field goal drive to make it a one score game, but that would be the final score of the afternoon. 

After Hodges fell victim to the announcer’s curse, he threw an interception which gave the Browns the ball back. The Steelers defense bails him out, forcing a punt, but Hodges and company can’t successfully kill off enough clock, giving the Browns the ball back with under two minutes to go. 

The biggest gain the Browns would see on that drive was a roughing the passer penalty, and in just four plays, the game would be over when former Brown Joe Haden picked off Mayfield to seal the game. 

It was Washington’s finest hour.

Every catch he made was crucial. Every yard he gained helped keep the Steelers alive.

The game was Washington’s only career 100+ receiving yard game (to this point, anyways), and was just one of two games where he had a 100% catch rate when he was targeted four or more times. 

The Aftermath

The game had put the Steelers to a 7-5 record, and kept them in the playoff race. 

However, the Duck magic would run out, and the Steelers would stumble in the standings, going 1-3 in their final four contests to finish the year 8-8. 

A once very impressive season that looked poised to end in a playoff spot despite the Steelers missing Ben Roethlisberger since Week 3, had suffered a late December collapse. 

The Steelers would end the year as the seventh seed in the AFC. In today’s NFL, they would have made the postseason. However, in 2019’s NFL, they were on the outside looking in. 

As for James Washington, he would play two more years in Pittsburgh, however none of them would be nearly as good as 2019. 

Washington would not amount over 400 yards in either of his last two seasons as a Steeler (although he did have 5 touchdowns in 2020). 

Dissatisfied with his playing time, Washington requested a trade during the preseason in 2021, but he did not get his wish. 

A free agent after 2021, Washington signed a one year deal with the Dallas Cowboys, hoping to rejuvenate his NFL career. 

Unfortunately for Washington, he would never get that chance; he suffered a fractured foot in practice in August and missed the majority of the season as a result. He appeared in just two games for Dallas, with one target. 

After Dallas, he signed a deal with the New Orleans Saints, but he fell behind others in training camp battles, and as of yesterday, was released by the Saints.

(Photo by Brian Cook/Golden Sky Media)