My Visceral Reaction to the Steelers Loss vs. Seahawks
That was a disgraceful performance. 1-1.
Hats off to the Seattle Seahawks, who spoiled the Steelers home opener, beating them 31-17. I’m calling this a visceral reaction, because I’m not deep diving for numbers, or looking at film, or anything like that. These are just some observations I have based on how I’m feeling right here, right now, immediately after the loss.
For starters, the defensive line has me flat out concerned right now. We lost Isaiahh Loudermilk in-game, which is significant when you consider that we’re already without Derrick Harmon and Dean Lowry. Then, you consider Keeanu Benton’s houdini act to start the year off, and the result has been back to back games where this defense can’t get off the damn field. Yahya Black has had his moments, but these guys need help. Thankfully, the Steelers did spend first-round draft capital on some help; I just didn’t think it would look this bad without him. Derrick Harmon is going to have to come in and be a star immediately, in my opinion, if this defense is going to reach the heights it seems like they’re striving for. Of course we have no word yet, the new football week hasn’t even begun, but it’s possible he makes his NFL debut next week in New England.
In the meantime, our defense just got handled, yet again, against the run to the tune of 29 carries for 117 yards (4.0 ypc) and a TD, and we lost time of possession despite forcing two turnovers. The Seahawks’ offensive line was able to set up some MASSIVE holes, and Kenneth Walker III took advantage of it. We got dog-walked in the trenches for a second-straight week. Also, just like the Jets, they simply ran the ball away from T.J. Watt, and it worked almost without impunity. Remember during the offseason when there was all this talk of moving him around, getting him one-on-one opportunities, “matchup hunting”? Where has all that been? Maybe I’ve missed it but I feel like I’ve basically only seen him lined up in a wide nine on the left side in the first two games. I don’t like to call for people’s jobs in the coaching staff, and that’s not my intention here, but Teryl Austin’s ass ought-to-be on fire right now from that hot seat. There’s just no creativity on defense. Just go out there and do the same few things over and over again. It’s madness.
Teryl Austin ain’t the only one, though. I don’t even remember when this happened, but I wanna say it was in the first half (I’ll confirm later and include it in my next post), we ended up in a third down and our offense came out in 13-personnel with Kenneth Gainwell as the RB and Scotty Miller as the WR. Like wtf do you mean that’s what we did? How does Jaylen Warren and DK Metcalf miss that play? That makes no sense to me. There’s many examples of straight up coaching malpractice, in my opinion, so far this season, including, but not limited to, straight-faced giving Kenneth Gainwell meaningful reps as a runner each week, targeting Connor Heyward in the fourth quarter when we’re trying to mount a comeback, and sending out Kaleb Johnson to return kicks, who is clearly not privy to the kickoff rules. His poor judgement on that kickoff, which resulted in the Seahawks special teams TD, probably cost them the game; it was a 10-point swing in what was a tie game just two plays prior. Speaking of Kaleb Johnson, I assume that’s the end of his special teams tenure with the team, so if we’re just trusting Gainwell to actually play RB for us…why does Kaleb Johnson have a roster spot at this point? If you’re a reader of mine, you know how I feel about that kid…I have some damn high hopes. But, the coaching staff isn’t utilizing him at all so what’s the point?
This was a painful game to stomach. An uninspired performance on both sides of the ball. I’ll turn to the tape and have some more positive things to say in a day or two, but for right now I’m gonna sit in the shit of this loss and be upset. Better days are ahead, my friends.
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