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Week 5 Game Recap: Seattle Seahawks 0, Pittsburgh Steelers 21
What you need to know
| Seattle Seahawks |
The Seahawks could not get anything going. They came out swinging for the fences as Hasselbeck threw deep several times in the opening quarter, all to no avail. In the second half, the Seahawks had to wait a full ten minutes before getting the ball on offense, and they promptly went three and out. Approximately eight minutes later on the clock they get it for the second time that half. Again, three and out.
Matt Hasselbeck was forced to throw into coverage all day, which resulted in a low pass percentage and a crucial interception in the end zone to end the first half. He did not look bad; the Steelers defense looked very, very good.
Shaun Alexander is still wearing a protective cast on his wrist, but is having no trouble holding on to the ball. Carrying it for positive yardage is another matter. Against a tough defense, he came up short, and was not a factor in the passing game either.
Number one wideout Deion Branch left the game early in the second quarter with a sprained foot and did not return. The Seahawks had trouble passing without him on the field.
| Pittsburgh Steelers |
Pittsburgh showed that the best defense is a good offense. The Steelers time of possession was an incredible 40:45, giving the Seahawks very limited opportunities to score. The defense stopped them cold when they did have the ball. All in all, an extremely convincing shutout by the defense, and a gut check win for an offense that was playing without their top two wide receivers.
QB Ben Roethlisberger could not get much going in the first half, but found his clutch target in Heath Miller for his lone passing touchdown. With Ward and Holmes out, he locked on to Cedrick Wilson, whose play was starter-worthy. To begin the second half, he led the team on a touchdown drive that lasted over ten minutes, and covered more than the length of the field in yardage (due to three penalties).
The running back situation is becoming interesting. Willie Parker carried the ball 28 times for 102 yards and no touchdowns. Najeh Davenport carried seven times for 58 yards and two touchdowns. Davenport got all the goal line carries. Parker had a 20 yard touchdown reversed, ruled down inside the one, on a spectacular diving effort at the sideline. He hit the pylon before he was down, but apparently they ruled the ball did not cross the line.
The defense was missing S Troy Polamalu, but did not miss a beat. The Steelers stopped the running game cold, and covered the receivers so well that Hasselbeck was unable to find any sort of rhythm.
What you ought to know
| QB Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 13 - 27 - 116 - 0 TD / 1 INT |
Hasselbeck had trouble finding his receivers. The Pittsburgh coverage was very good, so he had to be perfect to beat them, and he wasn't. The interception came on one of many throws into tight coverage -- but in this case it was in the end zone, with seven seconds left in the half. At this point, the Steelers were only up 7-0, so it was a definite turning point. Hasselbeck did throw deep on a few occasions, usually almost connecting, but in each case, an incomplete pass was the result. His frustration was evident on some throws, in which he threw directly into coverage, trying to make something - anything -- happen. Not one bounce went his way. Losing his top receiver in the first half didn't help any.
| QB Seneca Wallace, Pass: 1 - 3 - 6 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 11 - 0 (1 targets) |
Once Branch left the game, Wallace was used as a slot receiver, and dropped a tough to catch ball that would have been a first down. Late in the game, he relieved Hasselbeck and did not look out of place at QB, but was only able to convert a single first down, scrambling for an 11 yard pickup.
| RB Shaun Alexander, Rush: 11 - 25 - 0, Rec: 3 - 7 - 0 (3 targets) |
Alexander continued his poor form, rushing for a mere 25 yards on 11 carries. It's difficult to pin the blame on him, as nothing went right for the Seahawks, but with the ground game never materializing as a threat, the Steelers defense was able to key on the passing game. His longest carry on the day was his very first, for six yards. In the second half, with the team playing from behind, he only had two carries.
| RB Leonard Weaver, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 2 - 3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Weaver was dependable, catching both balls thrown to him, one for a rare Seahawks first down. Not a fantasy factor, as he is sharing time as a change of pace back.
| RB Maurice Morris (1 targets) |
Morris was targeted on a deep sideline route that was slightly overthrown. He does not appear to be the sole change of pace back anymore, as Leonard Weaver appears to be getting more third down looks.
| WR Deion Branch, Rec: 2 - 14 - 0 (3 targets) |
Branch left the game early in the second quarter with a sprained foot. He caught two of the three balls thrown his way, for short gains. His presence was definitely missed.
| WR Bobby Engram, Rec: 2 - 25 - 0 (4 targets) |
Engram was easily the best Seattle WR on the field (which isn't saying much). One of his catches went for a first down, and the other was an 11 yard gain on second down and fourteen.
| WR Ben Obomanu, Rec: 2 - 38 - 0 (6 targets) |
Obomanu was the main beneficiary of Branch's injury. Pittsburgh's excellent coverage of Burleson and Engram made Obomanu a slightly more open target, and Hasselbeck tried to take advantage. He got two end zone looks in the first half as well as a 30 yard catch (Seattle's longest of the day), but was too inconsistent to make an impact -- not that he did anything wrong, but when he had the opportunity to make things happen, he was unable to come through with the tough catch. He also returned kickoffs.
| WR Nate Burleson, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (4 targets) |
Burleson was like every other Seattle receiver: invisible. Once Branch left the game, Burleson had an even harder time getting open.
| WR D.J. Hackett |
Hackett remained out due to injury (ankle).
| TE Marcus Pollard, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (2 targets) |
Pollard is still an afterthought in the passing offense, but he has proven reliable when called upon.
| PK Josh Brown 0 - 0 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 0 points |
Aside from warm-ups, he was on the field exactly once, sending a kickoff into the end zone for a touchback.
| SEA Rush Defense |
They did an effective job of shutting down Willie Parker, but the much bigger and more bruising Najeh Davenport gave them fits. The fact that the Steelers were without their top two wideouts allowed them to key on the run.
| SEA Pass Defense |
The pass rush was effective in pressuring the QB, resulting in three sacks, but Roethlisberger picked them apart with medium length passes in the second half. It was a slow, painful picking apart though, as they did not allow any long gains.
| QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 18 - 22 - 206 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0 |
Roethlisberger was patient, and that patience was rewarded in the second half. Up by a score of 7-0 to start the second half, he engineered a touchdown drive that lasted over ten minutes. In doing so, he overcame three Pittsburgh penalties, which meant that the actual yardage gained on the drive was more than a hundred yards. Despite a tough Seahawk defense, he was able to consistently find the open man on short and medium routes. With the top two receivers out due to injury, he spread the ball around, with TE Heath Miller and WR Cedrick Wilson becoming favourite targets as the game wore on.
| QB Charlie Batch, Rush: 2 - -1 - 0 |
Entered the game once it was already in hand, and did not throw a pass.
| RB Willie Parker, Rush: 28 - 102 - 0 |
Parker almost notched a 20 yard touchdown scamper that was ruled down inside the one after the replay. Davenport then got the call and ran it in. Parker got his yards slowly but surely, eclipsing 100 on the day. He also had a 30 yard rush called back due to penalty. He is the clear cut starter, however, he was replaced on third downs and near the goal line.
| RB Najeh Davenport, Rush: 7 - 58 - 2, Rec: 4 - 38 - 0 (4 targets) |
Davenport looked unstoppable on his 45 yard run, and nearly every time he touched the ball, Seattle had trouble taking him down. He appears to have cemented his role as third down back, as well as being the first consideration for goal line carries.
| RB Carey Davis, Rush: 2 - 1 - 0, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (1 targets) |
Davis carried twice once the game was wrapped up.
| RB Dan Kreider, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
Kreider carried once late in the game, once the outcome was not in doubt. He was primarily used as a blocker.
| WR Cedrick Wilson, Rec: 5 - 69 - 0 (8 targets) |
Wilson got the ball -- and gained the confidence of his QB - more as the game went on. He was able to haul in four of five targets in the second half, all for decent yardage (16, 11, 18, 17).
| WR Nate Washington, Rec: 3 - 26 - 0 (3 targets) |
Washington figured to be busier than this, given that Ward and Holmes were out. He did catch everything that was thrown to him, but unfortunately that didn't amount to much.
| WR Willie Reid, Rec: 1 - 25 - 0 (2 targets) |
Reid made a nifty move to turn a short catch into a 25 yard gain. He got himself noticed with a limited amount of playing time.
| WR Santonio Holmes |
Holmes was a last minute scratch due to injury (hamstring).
| WR Hines Ward |
Ward remained out due to injury (knee).
| TE Heath Miller, Rec: 4 - 44 - 1 (5 targets) |
Miller was Roethlisberger's clear go-to guy in the clutch. While his yardage total will not impress anyone, his four catches were all for first downs, one of which was a touchdown. Along with Wilson, Miller was a clear beneficiary of the injuries to Ward and Holmes.
| PK Jeff Reed 0 - 0 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 3 points |
His work was limited to three PATs, which he converted easily.
| PIT Rush Defense |
The Steelers shut down the running game, plain and simple. In the second half, the Seahawks only had the ball long enough to run twice -- for two yards. The longest rush given up was to backup QB Seneca Wallace, who scrambled for eleven.
| PIT Pass Defense |
Even before Deion Branch left the game, they had no trouble stopping Hasselbeck. Their tight coverage forced Hasselbeck to make a large number of low percentage throws.
