Seahawks-Steelers preview: 3 challenges that Pittsburgh gives Seattle

Seahawks-Steelers is going to be a playoff atmosphere: Seaside Joe 1759

The Steelers have named Mason Rudolph as their starting quarterback against the Seahawks in Week 16. Both teams are 8-7 and a loss would be devastating for the playoff hopes of either franchise, so who is starting at quarterback is a big deal and a couple of days ago neither team could necessarily guarantee which player that would be.

Now we know, it’s Geno Smith vs. Mason Rudolph.

Days ago, it was announced that Kenny Pickett, last year’s first round pick, could return from an ankle injury to start against the Seahawks. Then Rudolph made his first start of the season and not only did Pittsburgh have its most comfortable win of the year, they blew out the Bengals 34-11. Rudolph, a 2018 third round pick who had his shot to start in 2019 and has not been fully resurrected since then, threw for 290 yards and two touchdowns against Cincinnati.

It was only his third start in the last four years and he threw as many touchdowns as Pickett had in his most recent nine games combined.

I don’t think the Seahawks are necessarily “getting a break” to face the Steelers third different starting quarterback this season. The pecking order now has to be: Rudolph, Pickett, only playing 10 players on offense, and then Mitchell Trubisky last.

I was more nervous about the Titans than I was about the Eagles. And I think that the Steelers present more of a challenge than Tennessee. So while “the gauntlet” of the schedule was Rams-49ers-Cowboys-49ers-Eagles, there are perhaps just as many challenges in Seattle’s need to finish out the season with a four-game winning streak. A mark that, if they accomplish it, could put the Seahawks in the six-seed and potentially heading to Detroit instead of San Francisco, Dallas, or Philadelphia.

What other challenges do the Steelers present?

T.J. Watt is likely to get home

I think it is probably easier for the Seahawks to survive playing against an elite player when they accept that he’s going to have success anyway. T.J. Watt’s 17 sacks leads the NFL and he could win Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons.

The Seahawks have allowed 3.5 sacks to Nick Bosa in two games this year, two to Kayvon Thibodeaux, and two to Kyle Van Noy. Giving up a few sacks is something teams can survive, but it’s critical for Geno Smith to protect the football.

Since their Week 1 loss to the 49ers, the Steelers are 3-0 when Watt forces a turnover.

If Charles Cross and/or Abe Lucas lose a rep to Watt, that’s just part of the game sometimes. What’s important is that Seattle doesn’t lose their cool—or the football—when it inevitably happens.

Let George Pickens not block

Some teams would never let a receiver put himself above the rest of the team, but the Steelers are not one of those organizations. Never have been, it seems. If a receiver produces, he can be a bad teammate—we’ve seen this countless times under Mike Tomlin before. Pickens is no different.

On one hand, Pickens admits that he will avoid blocking a player to help a teammate if he feels it could result in a serious injury for him, as what happened to rookie Tank Dell this season. On the other, Pickens had 195 yards and two touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s win over Cincinnati.

He’s also over 1,000 yards and is sixth in yards per target among players with at least 60 targets.

The Seahawks hope to get back Devon Witherspoon this week and along with Mike Jackson, Riq Woolen, Tre Browns Artie Burns, and the safeties, it’s definitely important to contain Pickens because he’s the type of player who would seem to be able to have an explosive or two against Seattle’s defense.

The Seahawks have allowed eight 100-yard receivers this season and they’re 3-3 in those games. (Two of their losses had two receivers with at least 100.)

But if Pickens isn’t going to block or be a team player, that’s something that Seattle can hopefully take advantage of and the Steelers don’t have a huge second receiving threat right now. Despite their recent offensive explosion, the Steelers still rank 28th in points per drive and have one of least effective offenses in the NFL, even after firing their offensive coordinator midseason.

The Steelers really need this

Had the Steelers not played the Bengals twice in the last two months, they wouldn’t have anything to play for this weekend. Pittsburgh is 2-0 against Cincinnati but 0-4 against everyone else in their last six games; that includes losses to the Patriots and Cardinals, two of the three worst teams in football.

That would make you think that Pittsburgh is bad, but this season they’ve also swept the Bengals and defeated the Browns, Rams, Packers, and even the Ravens.

What do their wins have in common? The opponent made too many mistakes:

When the Steelers defense has two or more takeaways, Pittsburgh is 5-1. When they force one turnover, they’re 3-3. When they force zero, they’re 0-3.

Yet here are the no-quarterback, no-coordinator, one-weapon Steelers and once again Tomlin, who has never had a losing season before, is either two losses from 8-9, one win from a winning season, and two wins from potentially being the last team into the AFC playoffs. Even though there are rumors of Tomlin’s demise if the Steelers don’t make the postseason, even though they haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, even though they don’t have the most impressive roster in the conference, Pittsburgh is playing for something with two games to go.

They’re playing for a lot. This is already the playoffs…for both teams. I imagine it will be a playoff environment in Seattle and not likely to be a game that is decided in the first quarter, the second quarter, or the third quarter.