Seahawks-Steelers: What Are Your Instant Reactions?

Seaside Joe 1764

The Seattle Seahawks entered Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a lot to gain and even more to lose. The Seahawks couldn’t worry about what any other team did in their games this week, they could only hope to beat the Steelers and let the rest play out as it will. Especially because if Seattle could just win their last two games, they knew they were guaranteed to make the playoffs as a wild card.

That guarantee no longer exists and the playoffs are out of the Seahawks hands.

The Seahawks lost to the Steelers 30-23 and were smacked with a reality check that says: “You can’t tackle”, “You can’t get out of your own way with penalties”, “You. are prone to busted coverages”, “You make bad decisions with challenges and timeouts”, and “You just might not be a deserving playoff team this season”.

I don’t have much to add about today’s game, I would rather ask you to share your thoughts on the Seattle Seahawks in the comments section below. Usually, comments are for paid subscribers only but if you have been itching to add your thoughts on this season and you’re a FREE JOE, now is your opportunity to try it out:

What I will say about the Seahawks today:

I have been and will continue to be a Pete Carroll defender, but in case you’re wondering if I would ignore bad days to support my previously-held beliefs at any cost, I won’t…This felt like the worst-coached game of the season, if not one of the five worst in Pete’s tenure. The Seahawks should have won the game, maybe, but they also should have given themselves an OPPORTUNITY to win the game.

• Seattle’s two “trick play” attempts that I remember were utter disasters; I don’t care about calling a trick play (doing one that involves your center when your starting center is out is curious though) but if your players don’t even come close to executing it right, was it the right decision to call it in those critical moments?

• Pete Carroll challenged a call that wouldn’t have had a significant impact on the game and he should have been aware that losing the challenge—when your team is losing in the fourth quarter—could end up costing you a valuable timeout. The Seahawks lost in part because they didn’t have three timeouts.

• At the point of only having two timeouts and being down 10 points, I think the Seahawks should have either kicked a field goal when they were in range to preserve time before the two-minute warning OR kick it out of the end zone when there’s 2:01 left on the clock. The last thing that the Seahawks should have done is cut the lead to 30-23 and then attempt the most hopeless play in football, the expected onside kick.

• Players not tackling well is frustrating to watch as a fan and most responsibility should be on the players…but people will ultimately have a right to ask Pete, “Your players haven’t tackled well in years, what are YOU doing wrong?”

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba was targeted two times? Your running backs had 12 carries? How did that happen in a close game?

I’m probably forgetting some other points.

I mostly just think that the Seahawks players should be embarrassed about getting bullied by the Steelers on their home field. That’s on the players, to let Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren toy with you, to have them score two rushing touchdowns inside the 5 on plays where the pile was pushed more than five yards (and Riq Woolen avoiding contact with any Steelers), so for me that’s always going to be the stopping point with who is to blame for games like this.

However, I don’t have Pete Carroll glasses on. He gets an F for Week 17 and it could cost the Seahawks the playoffs this time.

The Seahawks want the Packers and Vikings to tie (or Packers win) on Sunday Night Football, then Week 18 becomes hopeful again. Realistically, either the Packers or Vikings will be 8-8 after Sunday night and then the Seahawks need to beat the Cardinals in Week 18 (after they just beat the Eagles today) and then hope that the rest of the games go as they hope they will.

Seattle had control of their destiny. They couldn’t wrap up though.