Perspective Of An Average Steelers Fan: Pittsburgh Slays Seattle

Game Prelude

The Steelers traveled to Seattle needing a win to remain in viable playoff contention. Coming off the win against Cincinnati, the door was still ajar with Mason Rudolph tagged to start another game. The defense remained a patchwork unit with Minkah Fitzpatrick still out and Damontae Kazee suspended for remainder of regular season.

Could they overcome Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks along with their infamous 12th man? I was pleased to see a lot of Terrible Towels waving in the stands. Thanks to all the Steelers fans who attended the game to support their team.

Steelers Offense

The Steelers scored on six of 10 possessions and could have scored on their final possession except Najee Harris opted to end the game with a slide and the victory formation that followed instead of scoring a third touchdown. Harris put the team in front of himself. Kudos.

Steelers Offense Responds

Mike Tomlin gambled on the opening drive. He opted to go for it on 4th and 5 from the Seattle 41-yard line. Mason Rudolph threw deep to George Pickens down the sideline, but a defender knocked the ball away. But the defense held, and Pittsburgh got the ball back at the 20-yard line following a touchback punt.

Pittsburgh avoided disaster on the next play. Diontae Johnson appeared to fumble after catching a deep pass. But replays showed he had stepped out of bounds after gaining 16 yards. Rudolph tried two successive sneaks on 3rd and 4th and 1, the second time successfully. Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for eight runs, including a final Warren 18-yard touchdown run to give the Steelers an early lead.

Seattle tied it up, but Pittsburgh responded with a field goal. Pickens fumbled out of bounds after a 37-yard completion. The bounces going Pittsburgh’s way.

Seattle went ahead again, 14-10. Again, the Steelers’ offense responded. Freiermuth caught a 25-yard pass. I could hear “Muth” being chanted on the television broadcast. Good show Pittsburgh fans. Harris ran for 23, the Steelers creating chunk plays. Then Johnson caught a first-down pass to keep drive alive to the 15. Harris scored from nine yards out with huge effort just getting the ball to cross the goal line. The Steelers led 17-14 at halftime.

Pittsburgh Scores More Then Eats Clock

Seattle tied the game to start the second half, but the Steelers roared back again. Rudolph completed a short pass to Johnson, who went 42 yards to the 4-yard line. Harris ran again, this time with a pack of Steelers pushing him forward like a rugby maul for the score.

The Steelers added two fourth-quarter field goals to reach 30 points. Harris lost some yards on several runs, but the plays ate up valuable minutes. After the Steelers recovered an onsides kick at the two-minute warning, Rudolph connected with Pickens for 24 yards. Harris broke out and could have scored but opted to slide with just 23 seconds to play. The Steelers took one more snap in the victory formation.

Steelers Defense

The defense gave up two first-half touchdowns but held Seattle to three field goals in the second half. Plus, it had a key fourth-quarter takeaway.

Steelers Defense Holds On

The Steelers forced Seattle to punt away its first possession after starting at its own 41-yard line. But then the Seahawks scored touchdowns on consecutive drives. Pittsburgh applied pressure, but Geno Smith got ball to his receivers. Taking advantage of the aggressive defense, he found open receivers underneath the coverage. Eluding a near T.J. Watt sack, Smith connected with D. Metcalf for 33 yards. Kenneth Walker III finished the drive with two runs for 24 yards and tied the game at 7-7.

Walker ran for 31 yards on four carries on Seattle’s next drive. Plus, Noah Fant and Metcalf had 21-yard receptions apiece. On 3rd and 11, Smith found Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the back of the end zone for a second touchdown. On the final Seattle drive of the first half, Watt tracked down a scrambling Smith to prevent a first down. And the Seahawks punted away their final possession of the first half.

Steelers Allow Nine Second-Half Points

The defense allowed three Seattle scoring drives in the second half but limited the Seahawks to nine points. Seattle reached the Steelers’ 33-yard line without a third down on its opening drive of the second half. But consecutive tackles behind the sticks set up a 3rd-and-4 play. Under pressure, Smith missed Tyler Lockett and Seattle settled for a field goal to tie the game at 17.

The Steelers held a 24-17 lead late in the third quarter. They were helped by an aborted direct snap to Walker that lost seven yards. But on the next drive, Seattle made two big plays following an incompletion that we thought was a fumble. First, Smith hit Metcalf for a 24-yard pass. Then, Smith scrambled for 25 yards to go deep into Pittsburgh territory on the next play. But the defense stiffened, and Seattle kicked a field goal to make it 24-20 early in the fourth quarter.

Pittsburgh extended the lead to 27-20, and Nick Herbig recovered his own strip-sack fumble at the Seahawks’ 16-yard line. That enabled another Pittsburgh field goal to make it a two-score lead with 4:31 to play.

Seattle moved the ball down the field, but on the critical play on 3rd and goal from the 5-yard line, Smith threw incomplete to Metcalf with Joey Porter Jr. covering him. Needing two scores, Seattle kicked the field goal. But it failed to recover the onside kick to lose, 30-23.

Special Teams

Special teams are an underappreciated facet of the game. One big play can shift momentum or even decide the game.

I break special teams into three phases: Kickoffs, punting, and scoring (field goals and extra points.) Here is an overview of the special teams play during the game:

KICKOFFS

Chris Boswell kicked off seven times. All three first-half kickoffs were touchbacks. But Boswell kicked a short 54-yarder to open the second half, which DeeJay Dallas returned 24 yards to the 35-yard line. Boswell kicked another one short of the goal line that Dallas returned 32 yards to the 36. Boswell reached the goal line on his final two kickoffs. The first was a touchback, the second returned to the 26-yard line.

Jason Myers kicked off six times. All three first-half kickoffs were touchbacks. Then Godwin Igwebuike returned a kick from two yards deep in the end zone to the 29-yard line. He returned another 25 yards to the 27. Seattle attempted an onside kick near the end of the game. Diontae Johnson recovered the kick to end Seattle’s prospects.

THE STATS

*Onside kick recovered by Diontae Johnson

Advantage Steelers

PUNTING

Pressley Harvin III punted once for 46 yards. Dallas fair-caught the ball at the 14-yard line. Just one punt but a good one that put Seattle inside its own 20-yard line.

Michael Dickson punted three times. He averaged 53 yards a punt but only netted 37.7 yards per punt due to two touchbacks. Calvin Austin III returned the third six yards to the 21-yard line.

THE STATS

Advantage Steelers.

FIELD GOALS AND EXTRA POINTS

Boswell was perfect with three extra points and three field goals. Jason Myers was also perfect with two extra points and three field goals. Steelers special teams edge the Seahawks 12-11 in scoring.

THE STATS

Advantage Steelers

YOUR HOT TAKES DURING THE GAME

Thank you, Ross McCorkle, for keeping us up to date on the game’s first- and second-half Live Update and Discussion Threads. Steelers Depot respondents contributed 1,236 first-half comments. Respondents added  1,400 more second half comments.  Here are the top three comments from each half. I don’t know the algorithm used by Disqus but here is how they stacked it up:

The top three first-half comments focused on the offense.

Definitely Not Udyr had the best of the first-half comments with an observation of Mason Rudolph’s pocket presence: “Rudolph looks so calm in that pocket. Nice to see.”

Cory Fisher noted his impact on the offense saying, “Is it me, or is this a whole different offense with Mason in?”

Mateo K liked a different facet of the offense: “Absolute dominance on the ground. That is soooo pretty.”

In the second half, David had the top comment, continuing on the offense: “There is no way that any quarterback other than Mason Rudolph can play the rest of the year.”

Axel reminded us of a former Steelers linebacker’s pre-game comments. “Devin Bush said he knew how to stop the Steelers run game. Good thing he did otherwise the Steelers would have had 400 yards rushing.”

Rusted Curtain expressed concern about the defensive scheme. “Seattle definitely game planned for Watt and Highsmith. They are doing a great job minimizing their impact. Similar to that Houston game.”

Hope you all enjoy the banter on the live update and discussion threads!

CONCLUSION

Mason Rudolph and the running tandem of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were impressive on offense. Rudolph threw nice passes to George Pickens, Diontae Johnson, and Pat Freiermuth to move the ball downfield and keep possession. The running backs played ruggedly, stiff-arming Seattle defenders to the ground. Three impressive touchdowns from the ground attack. The Steelers controlled the clock and gained a season-high 468 total yards.

The defense gave up ground, but as the game wore on asserted itself. Geno Smith was under constant pressure while Eric Rowe and Chandon Sullivan made some nice plays in the secondary. Nick Herbig came up with the big takeaway. And Watt, who was just elected 2023 Steelers MVP by his teammates, prevented some first downs with his relentless play.

Boswell was perfect and Pressley Harvin III came through on his only punt. I like Godwin Igwebuike returning kickoffs.

Baltimore is up next. The Steelers still need help even if they defeat a dominant Ravens team with or without its full complement of starters. Even if they lose, there is a remote possibility of making the playoffs. Either way, they need outside help. Here we go.

Your Song Selection

I always like to include a bit of music. The Steelers came through in Seattle. Can they win one more in Baltimore? There’s a chance they will. Here is There is Still a Chance performed by Todd Snider.