The way Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks started, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked every bit the unit that tied for the NFL lead in sacks last season. By the end of it, they looked anything but.

At least one Seahawks player had a theory to explain why.

“You could feel them kind of start to get tired and wear down,” Seattle left tackle Duane Brown said, “and that helped us out in the second half.”

The Steelers brought down Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson on three of his first seven and four of his first 15 dropbacks. But they barely touched him after that, and the Seahawks used a quick passing game to take a second-half lead en route to a 28-26 win.

“We just took over,” Brown said. “They got tired. They’ve got the big guys over there. It’s hot out there.”

Gametime temperature was 82 degrees. But it didn’t seem to affect the Seahawks as much.

The Steelers had 52 sacks last season. No NFL team had more. They only had one during a season-opening loss to the New England Patriots. Stephon Tuitt had 2½ of their four Sunday, but all came during the first half.

“We had put Russ really in command of the rhythm of the game, and all the quick stuff he did a really great job on,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.

“I thought Russ’s rhythm really picked up, and the sacks went away in the second half.”

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