Steelers tight end Darnell Washington isn't your average NFL big guy and has the skills to prove it

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Darnell Washington wants to be clear about something. Nothing the Pittsburgh Steelers tight end does on the football field is premeditated.

Not the hurdling. Not the stiff arm. None of it.

It’s all instinct, like just about everyone else out there on the field. Even if there’s no one else out there — and maybe no one else in sports — quite like Washington.

He laid the proof bare in the second quarter of Pittsburgh’s 34-12 win over Cincinnati on Sunday, when the 6-foot-7, 311-pound Washington put his unique physical skills on display for the entire football world to see.

Washington, 24, headed upfield at the snap and turned to his left. Aaron Rodgers’ eyes scanned the field and settled on the massive target a few yards in front of him. Washington caught the short p