Back home in the friendly confines of Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore, the Pittsburgh Steelers look to improve to 2-0, while the Seattle Seahawks come into town looking to avoid starting 0-2 for the first time in a decade.
Something’s got to give.
The Steelers defense is vowing a bounce back, as is the offensive line, while Seattle is banged up in the secondary and has major questions to answer on offense at receiver and quarterback.
Add in this being the home opener for the Steelers, and it being the first game against his old team for DK Metcalf, and there are quite a few storylines to keep an eye on Sunday.
There will be games within the game to watch. That’s what makes it so entertaining, especially individual matchups. That’s the biggest thing. There are plenty of them this week from top to bottom in all three phases for the Steelers against the Seahawks.
Below are my four key matchups to watch Sunday.
STEELERS LT BRODERICK JONES VS. SEAHAWKS DE LEONARD WILLIAMS
The performance in the season-opener for Broderick Jones was dreadful. He allowed four pressures and three sacks, struggling mightily against Will McDonald IV and Quinnen Williams. It won’t get any easier this week with All-Pro Leonard Williams across from him.
Williams will move all over the place in the Seahawks’ defense, but he can hunt matchups against Jones. The star defensive end generated three pressures last week against San Francisco and played at least 10 snaps at three different positions, that being left and right defensive end, and left defensive tackle, according to Pro Football Focus.
Expect more of the same on Sunday, but the matchups against Jones will be critical. Jones has to be better this week. He must play with more of an edge and add physicality. If not, it could be another long day for Aaron Rodgers.
STEELERS WR DK METCALF VS. SEAHAWKS CB TARIQ WOOLEN
DK Metcalf is calling it just another game ahead of his first matchup against his former team, but deep down, there has to be a desire to stick it to Seattle after how things went last season, leading to his trade request. He’ll do so against a guy he’s gone against quite a bit in practices in recent years in Tariq Woolen.
Metcalf didn’t get much work down the field last week against Sauce Gardner, recording the lowest average depth per target of his career at just 3.2 yards. But he was a yards-after-catch monster, racking up four receptions for 83 yards, with 67 of those yards after the catch.
He’ll get a chance to feast against Woolen, who was dreadful in Week 1. Woolen graded out at a 37.4 overall from PFF, badly misplayed two passes on the 49ers’ final scoring drive, and was a possibility to be benched this week until injuries at the position popped up.
If the Steelers’ OL can hold up long enough, Metcalf could work his way downfield for some shot plays. Woolen is a big, physical corner who Metcalf knows well, but the young corner might be second-guessing himself this week. That bodes well for Pittsburgh.
SEAHAWKS RT ABE LUCAS VS. STEELERS OLB T.J. WATT
Coming off a quiet Week 1 as a pass rusher (though he was an elite run defender), T.J. Watt has to be champing at the bit to get after quarterbacks. He’ll have a great matchup this week against Seattle and Sam Darnold. To bring down Darnold, he’ll have to get around veteran right tackle Abe Lucas.
Lucas has a new contract extension in hand and is solidified in Seattle as the right tackle. But he’s coming off a Week 1 performance in which he allowed the game-sealing strip-sack to Nick Bosa and allowed two total pressures. The last time he faced Watt and the Steelers in Week 17 of the 2023 season, Lucas allowed four pressures and had the worst pass-blocking grade of his career from PFF (23.0).
Watt might see some chips this week, but he should find himself in a lot of 1-on-1 situations against Lucas. Time for Watt to win big.
SEAHAWKS WR JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA VS. STEELERS DB JALEN RAMSEY
Any time a receiver accounts for 82% of receiving yards in a game, you tend to take notice. That’s what Jaxon Smith-Njigba did last week for the Seahawks, hauling in nine passes for 124 yards in the loss. Even with San Francisco doubling him at times, he still found a way to win on routes and made big plays for Seattle.
He’ll move around the formation, which makes him dangerous. Seventeen of his 25 routes came from the outside in Week 1, while another eight came in the slot. He’s at his best in the slot, though, and that’s where he could find himself in a tough matchup against Jalen Ramsey on Sunday.
Smith-Njigba is on the smaller side, while Ramsey is a big, physical corner. It’s not exactly the best matchup for the Steelers due to JSN’s shiftiness, but Ramsey is their best DB and will need to handle that matchup more often than not. Ramsey was outstanding in Week 1, allowing just six receiving yards.
He faces another tough task in Week 2, but this is why he was brought to the Steelers.
