‘Why Can You Do That?’: Analyst Baffled By Darnell Washington’s Hurdle Over Defender

Sunday’s game at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Indianapolis Colts certainly didn’t go the way the Pittsburgh Steelers were hoping, especially on the defensive side of the football. The Colts went up and down the field on a vaunted defense, scoring 27 points and largely doing whatever they wanted. 

There are some positives to take away for the Steelers, at least on the offensive side of the football. One would be the play of quarterback Justin Fields, who threw for over 300 yards and rushed for more than 50 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback in Steelers history to accomplish that.

There was also the highlight-reel play from tight end Darnell Washington that had plenty of people talking. That includes The Athletic Football Show’s Derrik Klassen.

During the Week 4 recap show Sunday night, Klassen was baffled by the fact that Washington, listed at 6-foot-7, 265 pounds, was able to hurdle a defender the way he did on his 20-yard catch and run in the second quarter of the Steelers’ 27-24 loss to the Colts.

“He jumped over another person and before he jumped over someone, he put somebody else in the dirt. Like he just threw ’em off and then he runs and goes and jumps over the other guy,” Klassen said of Washington’s catch and run, according to video via The Athletic on YouTube. “And that’s just it. The hurdle didn’t even really gain him that much extra yardage, but it was just one of those things that it’s like, why can you do that?

“Why are you as a person capable of doing a thing like that? It was just incredible to watch.”

Here’s that play from Washington from the sideline and end zone All-22 views.

The Steelers are starting to utilize Washington more in the passing game, and rightfully so. He has sure hands and is a load for defenders to try and tackle in space, particularly in the flat where there are smaller cornerbacks and safeties. Granted, most defenders are smaller than Washington, but it’s a good design from the Steelers to get him into the flat.

While the hurdle will draw much of the attention, the stiff-arm from Washington is also impressive. He bounces Colts linebacker E.J. Speed off the Lucas Oil Stadium turfin an impressive display of strength. The play could have ended right after that and would have been a highlight-reel one.

But Washington took it to another level, then hurdling Colts safety Nick Cross along the sideline, capping the 20-yard catch and run.

The athletic display from Washington shouldn’t be all that surprising. He ran a 4.64 4o-yard dash coming out of Georgia with a 31-inch vertical jump and a 10’1″ broad jump at his size. He had a 9.78 Relative Athletic Score, too. He’s a freak athlete, and on Sunday he got a chance to display some of that after the catch.

Hopefully there’s more of that moving forward from the second-year tight end.