Seahawks-Steelers: Game result
What happened and what do Seahawks fans think about what happened?!
Football is a game of inches instances.
Yes, it is also a game of inches. But that’s the micro picture. The macro of football is that the NFL is a 17-game season and that means that every instance of a happening (I am trying to avoid overrusing the term “data points”) is hugely important. This is not a 162-game season. It is not 82 games.
Players and teams get less than 20 opportunities per regular season to prove who they are and that means that we take almost everything so seriously every week. However, players and teams get just as many opportunities to prove that “last week was a fluke” as they do to prove that “this week is the real me”.
Through the first half, the Seahawks did not look much better against the Pittsburgh Steelers as they did in losing to the San Francisco 49ers. By the end of the game though, many of the things that went wrong in the first six quarters could be filed away as potential flukes.
Seahawks 31, Steelers 17
The Seahawks were far from perfect and the game turned on one of the wildest, unpredictable, and unforced touchdowns in NFL history, but Seattle did much more good than bad and outscored the Steelers 24-3 in the second half of the game…on the road.
Any time you survive some of the mistakes that Seattle got away with on the road, like two interceptions and a short field goal miss, and win anyway, it’s the type of game that makes you think that things will continue to go your way for the rest of the season.
Every good team gets lucky and the Seahawks better hope that this is their type of year.
Sam Darnold: Mostly good despite 2 picks
Never ideal when a quarterback throws two interceptions. However, Darnold had a crucial 19-yard completion to AJ Barner whilst under pressure on third down and a 43-yard bomb to Jaxon Smith-Njigba that sealed the deal. In addition to two touchdowns.
Think about this:
Justin Fields, who went 3-of-9 on Sunday, got $30 million guaranteed from the Jets
Sam Darnold got $37.5 million guaranteed from the Seahawks
That’s how little teams thought of Darnold as a free agent, but his first two games haven’t been bad value at all.
What did you think of Sam Darnold’s second game?
Running backs: Reversal of fortune
LAST WEEK’S RB post: Kenneth Walker “never had a chance” against 49ers
Walker had 105 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per carry, including an amazing 20-yard touchdown run on third and long.
It was the opposite story of last week, as Zach Charbonnet averaged 0.7 yards per carry despite getting considerably more snaps this week than Walker. Who will get more carries next week against the Saints?
The Seahawks lost Jalen Sundell to injury in the second half and Olu Oluwatimi entered the game, so that’s another OL/Run situation to monitor this week.
Wide Receivers: Kupp is Back
LAST WEEK’S KUPP post: Cooper Kupp had hidden value vs. SF
Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s season total through two games:
17 catches
227 yards
Kupp rebounded from 15 yards last week to catch seven passes for 90 yards. Tory Horton had his first career touchdown and looks nifty on the punt returns. Elijah Arroyo is seeing his role increase. A.J. Barner caught the first touchdown of the game.
Between Walker’s breakout game of the season and the receiving group, I think this is ideally what Klint Kubiak was hoping to see from Seattle’s offense. Especially in the second half.
Offensive Line: Not bad?
Maybe a mixed bag. We’ll see if Jalen Sundell is back or not. Mike Macdonald said after the game that he had cramps and that he should be fine.
There were no other injuries for the Seahawks.
Seahawks Defense: Elite, but against who?
The Seahawks held Aaron Rodgers to 18-of-33 with 1 TD/2 INT, but I have to say it…Rodgers might be toast. He does not seem very good at all and I am including last week’s 4-TD game against the Jets. Seattle could have one of the best defenses in the NFL…they probably do…but also the Steelers offense seems fairly terrible.
Jaylen Warren had 14 carries for 48 yards (3.4 YPC) and he added a 65-yard reception that featured some awful tackle attempts by Seahawks (Knight, Jones were numbers I could recognize) but nobody else had over 31 receiving yards against Seattle. DK Metcalf had 3 catches for 20 yards and 2 drops.
Tariq Woolen actually made a hustle tackle on Warren, saving a touchdown because Derion Kendrick intercepted Rodgers a few plays later. We should be happy to give Woolen credit when credit is due:
More stats:
Coby Bryant, 1 INT
Derion Kendrick, 1 INT, 2 PD
Byron Murphy, 1.5 sacks
Jarran Reed, 1 sack
Leonard Williams, 0.5 sacks
Derick Hall, drew a crucial holding penalty that would’ve been a sack
Byron Murphy’s been as-advertised in the first two weeks of the season.
Who would get your defensive MVP award?
Special Teams: I guess you take wins when you get them
Jason Myers missed a “chip shot” field goal and Michael Dickson was fairly mediocre, especially for Michael Dickson.
But then George Holani scored that touchdown. Lucky that happened to the Steelers and not the Seahawks because I think every team in the NFL learned a lesson about the new kickoff rules today.
Myers also went 4-4 on extra points and hit from 54, so don’t be too hard on him.
Seahawks: 1-1, Saints on deck
Seattle turned around their winning percentage in the fourth quarter:
I think it has to be said that this could be the worst Steelers team in the history of the Mike Tomlin era. They barely beat the Jets in Week 1 and the Jets were the worst team in the NFL on Sunday against the Bills.
Even so, Seattle didn’t lose to the Steelers and they get a chance to get over .500 in hosting the 0-2 Saints in Week 3. New Orleans put up a fight against the 49ers but ultimately lost.
Lots to learn from this one for Macdonald and Kubiak. Can they carry their strong second half into next week and play great for all four quarters?
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I’m trying something new this week:
Subscribers really like all those Film Study videos that I share in the newsletter throughout the week. Well, I’m going to start dropping them immediately into a special thread on the Substack Seaside Joe subscriber chat as soon as they make it onto my YouTube feed.
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Seaside Joe 2386
Super frustrating first half. Felt like we dominated, other than a handful of catastrophic plays. Second half the bad plays mostly disappeared, and the touchdown on the kickoff really turned the tide. A few initial thoughts;
- Abe Lucas did not have a great day. I'm not sure what he'll grade out, but Watt was beating him to the outside repeatedly. There were a number of jail breaks inside too. But Sam hung in there, and limited additional mistakes in the second half. Abe had Bosa last week, and Watt this week, so he's in tough for sure. I can't be too critical of him.
- Tyrice Knight looked like he's back today. Made a bunch of key tackles.
- Josh Jobe is real. He played great, and had an awesome tackle late in the game to put a WR on his head.
- The defence generally played really well. I have to give Aaron Rogers credit. Not for playing well, but for getting up repeatedly. Murphy, Hall, Leo, J-Reed and others got his ass on the ground, and he kept getting up. D-Law roughed him up too.
- I don't think Sam Darnold would say he had a great game. But he bounced back from two mistakes to play tough. Stayed in the fight and made key plays. The pass to Barner on the fire drill to his left, and the deep ball to JSN were two huge 4th quarter clutch plays.
- K9 looked way more decisive today, mostly. A few dancing in the backfield moments, but he was better at getting in a lane and exploding. Hope he keeps it up. Charbs looked out of sync this week.
- When we came out in the 4th quarter in 'I' formation, and Robbie Smash squared up a LB and K9 ran to daylight, that was awesome. That's what I want to see.
- Tory Horton with his first catches and touchdown, Arroyo getting in the mix, Kupp looking like Kupp, and JSN with 100+ again. That's what it should look like. And Barner as well with a TD and another key play.
Solid win on the road. Just keep getting better.
I certainly hope all the teams did NOT learn a lesson about the new kickoff rules today, because that rule has been around since before I learned what football was back in 1980. Kickoffs have always been live balls, whether touched by the returning team or not. Nothing has changed about that with the new rules.