There weren’t enough plays like this one from the defensive line, as Chris Baker and linebacker Mason Foster combine to tackle DeAngelo Williams on Monday. Pittsburgh rushed for 147 yards, while Dallas was over 100 in Week 1, too. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

It took less than 24 hours after the Washington Redskins’ season opener for the front office to seek alternative options along their defensive line. Veteran defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins was in bed when he received a call Tuesday morning to make the trek back to Ashburn.

“My phone rang, and my agent was on it, so I had a pretty good feeling that it was a chance that they might bring me back,” Jenkins said.

He quickly packed, drove to school to say farewell to his children again and drove down in his truck from Northern New Jersey to try to help the Redskins’ defensive line after a rough outing Monday night. It was evident following the 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that Washington needed more help at the position.

Much of the discussion has been about defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s usage of cornerback Josh Norman, but Barry was more disappointed in the run defense allowing 147 rushing yards. The Steelers gained 70 of those during their final two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to seal the victory after the Redskins had been trailing by only eight points.

“I think that’s the thing that I was most upset about the other night,” Barry said. “. . . You give up 50 yards rushing in the last five minutes of the game. That sickened me a little bit.”

Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott dives across the goal line last week against the New York Giants. He and ex-Redskin Alfred Morris form a formidable 1-2 punch in the Dallas backfield. (Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press)

Barry said the defensive game plan would force the Redskins to have fewer players in the box given Pittsburgh’s potent pass offense, and he felt Washington did a decent job for three quarters given the circumstances. The defensive line held Pittsburgh to just 40 yards in the first half, but it struggled to stop the run thereafter.

Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams rushed for 143 yards on 26 carries, scoring both of his touchdowns on those fourth-quarter drives to put the game out of reach. The gaping holes along the front allowed Williams to run right by Washington’s defensive line and was a part of the reason inside linebackers Mason Foster and Will Compton combined for 27 tackles.

“Sometimes we were thinking we were putting ourselves in the right position, and it’s just that they hit us on plays that could really hurt us,” defensive end Ziggy Hood said. “When you don’t have the right people in the right place, things are going to happen. We just have to do what we do in practice and get better at that. If that means running the same exact plays and making sure that we correct those mistakes because a lot of people are going to look at this tape and say, ‘You know what? That’s the blueprint. That’s how we can attack them.’ ”

Defending the run was one of the biggest weaknesses defensively last year, when the Redskins ranked 26th in that category, and that remains the case after the first game despite some new faces like Hood, who started Sunday. Washington dressed five defensive linemen on a unit that’s versatile but didn’t provide enough up front to make the Steelers one-dimensional.

Now insert Jenkins, who signed with the Redskins on Aug. 29 before their preseason finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was among the final cuts Sept. 3.

Less than two weeks later, the 35-year-old is back with Washington for this 13th NFL season.

“It’s never fun to get cut, but at the same time, it’s nice to get brought right back,” Jenkins said. “That means you made at least some type of impression. It’s good to be back. It’s good to be back playing. It wasn’t too bad, just a little bit of miles on the truck driving back and forth.”

Cullen Jenkins played one preseason game with the Redskins, then was re-signed earlier this week. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press)

Regardless of what Jenkins can provide, it won’t get any easier Sunday. The Redskins hope that their defensive line can reverse course against the Dallas Cowboys, who have a talented offensive line and two solid options in the backfield with rookie Ezekiel Elliott, the fourth pick of the 2016 draft, and former Redskins running back Alfred Morris. The Cowboys rushed for 101 yards on 30 carries last week in their 20-19 loss to the New York Giants.

[The Redskins showed Alfred Morris the door. He might make them pay.]

Hood felt the effort was there from the defensive line, but the unit will need to stick to its assignments against a Cowboys offense that likely will try to test the trenches on the ground, with rookie quarterback Dak Prescott under center.

“[You’ve] got to stop them before they get going,” Hood said. “You’ve got two backs that can take it up the field on you if you’re not paying attention. We’ve got to play poised and make sure everybody does their job and secure their own gaps and spots. If we can keep the tackles [against the run] in the [defensive line], that means our secondary and linebackers can rest assured that when the ball do come to them on a pass, they can make plays on the back end while we take care up front.”