Steelers Now
The Pittsburgh Steelers fell flat in their home opener, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in a very winnable game, despite what the 31-17 final score would indicate. Parsing out the blame for this loss could go a plethora of ways, but the reality is that all three phases—offense, defense, and special teams—were all inconsistent and played a role in the outcome. As always, let’s talk about some winners and losers from week two pending film review.
There weren’t many bright spots for the Steelers offense in this one, but Warren was fantastic all afternoon. 43% of his rushing attempts were successful thanks to him consistently getting what was blocked for him and then some. His 65-yard catch and run was nothing short of spectacular, with him bobbing and weaving through a myriad of Seahawks defenders. Most teams are moving away from the old-school workhorse back ideology, but there’s an easy argument to be made that he should be playing more snaps regardless.
The four-time MVP was sharp in the season opener, but his home debut in the steel city was rough, to say the least. He finished with a 33% passing success rate and failed to complete a pass further than 10 yards down the field until the fourth quarter, which tells the story of how restricted everything felt through the air. The biggest concern right now is the lack of mobility. There were moments when Rodgers wanted to tap into creation mode, but his legs just wouldn’t allow him to play that style any longer.
The Steelers’ run defense as a whole was marginally better today in contrast to last week’s debacle versus the Jets. One player who stepped up to the plate in that regard was Patrick Queen, who was flying downhill and playing with his hair on fire. He finished with a team-high four stops in the loss, per PFF. It wasn’t perfect by any means. He was a step behind on the touchdown throw in the second half, and he wasn’t able to bring down Sam Darnold on a blitz up the middle. It was at least a step in the right direction.
Off-ball linebacker is one of the toughest positions in this sport, and when a rookie holds his own out of the gate, you expect to see him take a step forward in year two. So far, that has not happened for Payton Wilson. Whether it was taking poor angles in the run game or getting lost in coverage, it’s been two weeks that he’ll want to forget. You can tell that the Steelers don’t want to rotate guys along the spine, but if his play doesn’t pick up soon, it may push them to give other guys an opportunity.
Even in the loss, it was business as usual for Boswell in the kicking game, going 3-3 with all...
