Sports

Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances after Steelers beat Seahawks: Replay controversy, missed tackles, T.J. Watts heroics – TribLIVE

I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how that Steelers-Seahawks game ended Sunday night.

I’m still trying to figure out how the Steelers blew that two-touchdown lead to a backup quarterback, yet still managed to win

And I’m still trying to figure out how a team this flawed has managed to get itself back to .500.

But that’s why we post the weekly “Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength” to walk through such questions together.

In this case, after a particularly mind-bending 23-20 overtime win for the Steelers at Heinz Field.

Feats of strength

Outstanding outside linebackers: T.J. Watt was the hero of the game with a strip-sack of Geno Smith in overtime.

That turnover eventually led to Chris Boswell’s game-winning field goal to notch the 23-20 final score. Watt accounted for three passes defensed and seven total tackles, including another sack and three tackles for loss.

Also, heading into the game against the Seahawks, second-year outside linebacker Alex Highsmith had yet to register a sack.

On Sunday night, though, he had 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hits. One of them came in a clutch situation on third down in the red zone early in the fourth quarter.

That play forced the Seahawks to settle for a field goal, tying the game at 17-17 instead of perhaps taking a 21-17 lead.

Hidden moments: A hat tip for a couple of plays during the Steelers’ first touchdown drive.

On Diontae Johnson’s 25-yard run, tight end Pat Freiermuth made a really good block downfield on Jamal Adams.

After a Freiermuth 12-yard reception on the ensuing snap, Ben Roethlisberger threw a pass that was deflected at the line of scrimmage. It fluttered dangerously in the air until Adams made a play on the ball. But wide receiver Chase Claypool interfered — legally, after the deflection — with Adams just enough so that he couldn’t intercept it. So the ball fell incomplete.

On the next play, Roethlisberger hit running back Najee Harris for a touchdown.

It’s the second time in two weeks a receiver helped break up a potential interception on a batted ball. Ray-Ray McCloud did the honors last week against the Denver Broncos.

Necessity is the mother of invention: In Game 1 without JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Steelers figured out a way to fill his role in the short passing game.

And it didn’t all come from other wide receivers.

Harris, Freiermuth and Eric Ebron combined for 15 catches and 114 yards. The trio had nine receptions in the first half alone.

Ebron also scored on an inside handoff in motion, similar (but in the opposite direction) to one Smith-Schuster carried into the end zone versus the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2.

Keep a lid on ‘em: The Steelers managed to keep Seattle’s dynamic receiving duo of Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf in check.

Granted, with Smith at quarterback, that task was easier. Still, Metcalf had a modest six catches for 58 yards. Lockett only had two catches for 35 yards. Those numbers are below their usual totals.

Seattle was just 3 of 12 on third-down conversions in the game.

Grievances

Ridiculous replay: With 18 seconds left in the game, Smith completed a pass to Metcalf near the sideline. For some reason, Metcalf didn’t run out of bounds at the Steelers 27-yard line. As he moved up the sideline, Steelers cornerback James Pierre punched the ball loose and it stayed inbounds. Seattle covered it up and scurried to get snap off for a spike to stop the clock.

But as the ball was being spiked — with maybe a second left on the clock — the officials stopped the action for a replay. The stated reason for the review was to see if the play was a legal catch, which never appeared to be in question. Even if they were reviewing to see if Metcalf stepped out of bounds after the catch, either result in that case provides Seattle with a free stoppage and frozen restart of the clock before the spike.

In the stadium, it looked like the clock expired before the spike got off. Upon replay, it looks like the spike to set up the field goal beat the clock. That’s something that could’ve been worth reviewing. But the needless review of the previous play made that a moot point with the free stoppage of the clock.

So, Seattle kicked the game-tying field goal to force overtime tied at 20-20.

Halftime halt: The Steelers’ defensive effort on the Seahawks’ opening drive of the second half was putrid.

That put a stop to any buzz the fans may have had after the halftime ceremony to honor the five Steelers Hall of Fame inductees of 2020 and 2021 (Bill Nunn, Donnie Shell, Bill Cowher, Alan Faneca, Troy Polamalu).

The Seahawks shoved the ball right down the throat of coordinator Keith Butler’s defense, marching 75 yards for a touchdown on 10 plays in 5:05. Running back Alex Collins accounted for eight touches along the way for 60 yards.

I don’t know what the missed tackle count was for the Steelers defense throughout the night, but it had to be high.

For the special teams on a few kick returns, too.

Multiple missed tackles within multiple plays. Just fundamental failures to bring Seahawks ball carriers to the ground or flat-out whiffs.

The Steelers allowed 18 yards rushing at 3.6 yards per carry at halftime. Yet, Seattle ended up with 144.

Throw short to come up short: I’ll keep complaining about this until it stops.

The Steelers have to start throwing beyond the sticks on third downs.

At one point, coordinator Matt Canada’s offense was 5 of 10 on third downs. Four of those failed third-down conversions were actually completions, but the plays still came up short of the yardage needed.

Two of those successful conversions went for a combined 3 yards beyond the sticks.

It’s maddening.

Read the room: While Seattle’s Darrell Taylor was lying motionless on the field with the medical cart coming out, Seattle players were noticeably upset that Steelers fans were doing the wave to keep themselves into the game.

Carlos Dunlap, among others, was gesturing at the fans to quiet down and be respectful of the injury.

Steelers players, picking up on the awkward situation, also were openly telling fans to sit down and be quiet.

It took too long to notice, but eventually, the fans did settle in their seats before Taylor was carted off. Thankfully for Taylor, he had motion in his limbs and was supposed to fly home with the team.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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