Steelers Week 6 film study: A tale of 2 halves went the home team's way in overtime
NFL football analyst Matt Williamson will break down each of the Steelers games this season in the Trib’s Steelers Film Study. Here’s what he saw in the Steelers’ Week 6 win over the Seahawks.
Seattle, at 2-3, came to Heinz Field without its superstar quarterback for Sunday Night Football to battle the 2-3 Steelers with all sorts of legends and Hall of Famers from Pittsburgh’s organization in attendance. Pittsburgh had lost its past two home contests coming into Sunday night but was able to seal the deal with a 23-20 win in overtime to get to .500 heading into the bye week.
Let’s review some of the key numbers in this game, and these stats do a great job of telling the story.
• At the half, the Steelers led 14-0. They had run 39 plays compared to just 21 from Seattle and won the first half time of possession battle, 20:45 to 9:15.
• The Steelers produced 177 yards of offense and averaged 4.5 yards per play compared to 65 total yards by Seattle’s offense at just 3.1 per clip.
• Seattle QB Geno Smith had 63 first-half passing yards, averaging 2.9 yards per pass, and Seattle rushed for just 18 yards in the first half.
• The Steelers produced 13 first downs while Seattle had just three.
• Ben Roethlisberger had just four incompletions in 20 first-half passing attempts.
But when it was all said and done, the final numbers looked much different than those at halftime.
• The Steelers ran just seven more plays than Seattle, 71 to 64.
• Pittsburgh averaged 4.9 yards per play vs. 4.8 from the Seahawks.
• Although Pittsburgh finished with 36 more total yards, the Seahawks outrushed the Steelers 144 to 119.
• The penalties and turnovers were nearly identical and at the final whistle, Pittsburgh possessed the football for 37:33 compared to 29:37 for Seattle.
The most startling thing about this Seahawks team coming into this game was the number of snaps they are playing this year on both sides of the ball. Seattle was averaging 20 more snaps on defense than offensive snaps leading into this game. That is a remarkable disparity, especially when considering that no team had turned the ball over fewer times than Seattle through five weeks of play.
Primary pass-catchers
Pittsburgh’s passing game went through wide receivers Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool, running back Najee Harris and tight end Pat Freiermuth. Johnson was targeted 13 times while the other three were thrown to seven times apiece. No one else was targeted more than twice. Johnson, in his third NFL season, in the most experienced of the bunch, which should really encourage Steelers fans on a macro level.
Claypool flashes every week but isn’t yet consistent. He finished with only 17 receiving yards despite having plenty of opportunities to make plays. He also had two brutal penalties.
If Claypool is going to be the main replacement for the injured JuJu Smith-Schuster in the slot, he simply must bring more as a blocker — and he is highly capable. He also simply must improve in contested catch and jump ball situations. While this outing for Claypool was “below the line,” we also should recognize that he battled a hamstring injury all week at practice leading up to this Sunday night event.
Harris finished this game with 127 yards from scrimmage even though Pittsburgh had just 4 rushing yards in the first quarter, and Johnson produced 96 yards from scrimmage including a 25-yard carry.
This was a career high for Freiermuth in terms of receptions (7 catches, 58 yards), and he is an impressive young player. As just about every rookie tight end is, Freiermuth is a work in progress as a blocker, but he has the want-to and ability to really grow in this area.
Freiermuth is already a weapon as a receiver. He has a massive catch radius with big soft hands. Freiermuth caught every pass thrown his way in this game. But what might be most impressive about this young man is how well someone his size gets in and out of his breaks as a route runner. There is an awful lot to work with here with Johnson, Claypool, Harris and Freiermuth.
McCloud’s workload
It is a little curious that Ray Ray McCloud continues to get as much work as he does. This is especially true with how little wide receiver James Washington was used on Sunday night. McCloud played 52 snaps and ran 34 pass routes compared to Washington, who only saw the field on eight occasions and was employed in a route just seven times.
The answer probably is just as simple as Washington was fighting an injury all week and wasn’t particularly healthy for this game. To his credit, McCloud again showed that he is a plus return man. But less of him on offense should be the goal.
Keeping Ben clean
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was very rarely touched. The Steelers didn’t allow a sack in this game. This offensive line continues to take strides forward. It is a physical unit and a huge difference of late compared to early in the season is that the communication is much better, and there are far fewer mental mistakes.
The linemen might not execute it perfectly every time of course, but this young unit certainly understands assignments much better. That is something that doesn’t just come overnight.
And, along those lines, the Steelers offense is committing far fewer self-inflicted wounds. The starting pair of guards, Trai Turner and Kevin Dotson, were the best of the bunch, and Kendrick Green is handling power better than he did to start his rookie season. That is major progress.
Working to Ben’s strengths
The Steelers are doing a better job now of working around their quarterback. Roethlisberger is still reluctant to hold the football to make a play and doesn’t go through his reads like you would expect. As was the case in 2020, his intermediate and deep passing is very questionable. In fact, there is very little intermediate passing, and the deep passes are more like just chucking the ball up, almost always down the sidelines out of harm’s way, and hoping for his receiver to make a play.
While Roethlisberger’s arm strength isn’t what it once was, of course, he can still make deep throws. What you rarely see though is control of the deep passes. And, of course, he no longer has much in the way of second reaction playmaking ability, something that is just now required in the NFL from starting quarterbacks.
Also, very late in this game at a critical juncture, Roethlisberger was incredibly lucky that Jamal Adams showed poor ball skills as a pass hit him right in the facemask in what very well could have been a pick-six or at least a game-changing play in Seattle’s favor.
Pittsburgh’s short controlled passing game worked well enough in this game, albeit against one of the NFL’s worst defenses. This offense still doesn’t do a good enough job of attacking large blades of grass on the football field. Example: when was the last time you saw the Steelers throw a deep post route in the middle of the field?
The Steelers run a high percentage of RPOs (Run/Pass Options). Those plays are either handoffs or quick throws from Roethlisberger. There isn’t an option for the quarterback to be the ball carrier, which makes perfect sense. But these RPOs lend to illegal blocking downfield penalties, as not everyone on the offense knows if the option is a run or a pass.
Also, the Steelers’ offense operates almost entirely out of the shotgun to accommodate Roethlisberger. When they do take a snap from under center, it is almost always a running play. Opposing defenses catch on to such massive tendencies. But, out of shotgun, the Steelers’ RPOs are now favoring the “R” more than the “P,” which is how this team must play, and Roethlisberger deserves credit for this. The coaching staff certainly could be pushing Roethlisberger in this direction the past two weeks, as well.
It should be noted that Pittsburgh’s red zone offense has been impressive of late. Considering the style of play this team must utilize to win, the Steelers must excel in the red zone, as well on third downs.
Dedication to the running game
Unlike last year or early this season, the Steelers have done an excellent job of staying dedicated to running the football these past two weeks. They ran into the teeth of heavy boxes early in this game with little success, but eventually those efforts paid off as the game went along…against the NFL’s worst run defense.
This works against Teddy Bridgewater and Geno Smith, but how about against Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson?
Seattle’s standouts
The Seahawks’ Darrell Taylor was injured with 3:10 left in regulation and taken off on stretcher in a frightening turn of events. It’s been reported that he avoided major injury. Taylor can be a star in this league and foundational player for Seattle for years to come. Taylor ruined tight end blocks all night out of Seattle’s five-man fronts and more often than not, gave Steelers tackle Dan Moore all he could handle.
In what has been a recurring theme for him, Joe Haeg came off the bench and held up well when Moore exited the game with injury.
Bobby Wagner was his usual excellent self in all facets of linebacker play and was Seattle’s best defender. Wagner and Adams played every snap of this game. The Seahawks also might have a find in their fourth-round pick, Tre Brown, a tough, feisty cornerback. The cornerback position has been a disaster this year for the Seahawks.
Neutralizing Seahawks’ weapons
Seattle’s Smith attempted 32 passes but only threw for 209 yards. Keeping wide receivers DK Metcalf (6-58) and Tyler Lockett (2-35) in check to the degree they did is a major accomplishment for the Steelers coverage players and pass-rush alike. But why didn’t Seattle at least try to stretch the field with these two dynamic deep threats, especially considering the Steelers struggles vs. the deep ball this year?
As this game went on, Pittsburgh took the approach that a big play over the top would give Seattle a better chance of winning than the Seahawks getting back into the game with their rushing attack. But Pittsburgh changed that tune once they began getting gashed on the ground.
Steelers defensive standouts
Led by outside linebacker T.J. Watt, of course, Pittsburgh sacked Smith five times. Simply put, Watt played like one of the best defensive players on the planet and was the best player on either side of the ball in this game. Alex Highsmith looks to be finally recovered from his groin injury and did a number on tackle Duane Brown on several occasions.
Arthur Maulet looks like he is the starter as the slot cornerback, but this secondary is difficult to figure out, and Pittsburgh is using that ambiguity to its advantage. Instead of bumping Cameron Sutton inside and putting James Pierre on the outside, Pittsburgh kept Maulet, who has played well the last few weeks, on the inside and left Sutton on the perimeter in the nickel personnel more often than not.
But we did see Pierre as well as Tre Norwood in the secondary. Maulet played 28 snaps. Norwood played 15 and Pierre was on the field for 14 of Pittsburgh’s 65 snaps. The Steelers now have a lot of options with the defensive backfield.
While it is obvious on offense, Pittsburgh’s defense is also working in some young players — a tactic that could pay off down the road. Norwood is a keeper. Even as a late-round rookie, Norwood has been asked to perform a wide variety of assignments at the NFL level. He shined in coverage against Seattle. Norwood is a true playmaker.
Defensive line struggles
Where the young players and depth options are not holding their own is alongside Cameron Heyward on the defensive line. Outside of Heyward, this unit was disappointing. They didn’t win one-on-one matchups or pressure Smith.
Seattle’s double teams in the second half pushed guys like Chris Wormley, Isaiah Buggs and Henry Mondeaux downfield to allow the Seahawks to get back in the game with their running game. Buggs’ poor outing was especially noteworthy, and Seattle ran right at him and Wormley every chance they got. These guys really didn’t protect the Steelers second level defenders close to well enough.
Isaiahh Loudermilk showed some promise and could be in line for more playing time. This could be a great opportunity for him coming out of the bye.
Seattle realized that running at Heyward was futile, but they did attack the other defensive linemen with running back Alex Collins (20-101) coming downhill. Pittsburgh countered by moving Heyward across the interior line, but he is only one man. Heyward particularly had his way with guard Damien Lewis.
While there is a lot to worry about with this unit outside of Heyward, it can’t be overlooked that the Steelers did finish this game with six tackles for loss.
Inside linebackers not at their best
Part of this falls on the big men in front of them, but inside linebackers Joe Schobert and Devin Bush didn’t impact this game nearly enough in a positive manner after coming off their best game together against Denver last week. Schobert and Bush were too influenced by presnap motion.
It is also peculiar that we are seeing so much of reserve Robert Spillane on third downs/passing situations with Schobert and Bush on the sideline. None of the second level players did a good job with their run fits or getting off blocks. And their tackling was poor.
That brings us to two things that really stood out with this defense in a negative manner. Wow, was Pittsburgh’s tackling poor in this game, especially in the third quarter of play. There were far too many instances of defenders reaching and attempting to make arm tackles rather than bringing their feet underneath them and bodying up ball carriers.
Going hand in hand with this, you must question the conditioning of this front seven. They seemed to be fatigued once again way too early in this game despite having to play so few snaps in the first half. Seattle ramped up the physicality of this game, and Pittsburgh’s defense wasn’t up to that challenge right from the start of the second half. The Steelers’ coaching staff was also a little slow to bring more run defenders up to the line of scrimmage once Collins started to really have success.
The Steelers only had to play a little over nine minutes of defense in the first half but were immediately man-handled at the point of attack in the third quarter, and that continued for too much of the second half. Poor tackling can often be the result of fatigue. This begs the question about what sort of condition is this defensive front in right now?
Seattle runs wild
Collins deserves some kudos though for the ferocity in which he ran the football. Collins showed good pad level, power, quick feet and competitiveness with the ball in his hands. Led by Collins, Seattle’s first possession of the second half was a real Marshawn Lynch-type of statement drive to get the Seahawks back into this game on the road.
With the Steelers’ secondary back to full health and their defensive line depth in question, Seattle, a team searching for a true third wide receiver and getting Gerald Everett back off the covid list, was best served by employing a large dose of heavy personnel to keep Pittsburgh in its base 3-4 defense.
Everett caught just two passes, but he was a force in this game. It has gotten to the point where opposing offenses are going to try to exploit Pittsburgh’s defensive line and second level linebackers rather than the secondary and edge defenders. That being said, Pittsburgh’s secondary certainly should not be the slightest bit proud of how they tackled against Seattle either.
Reliable Wizard of Boz
Chris Boswell has yet to miss from 50 yards out or greater this year and his 52-yard field goal with 1:35 remaining in regulation was about as good as it gets. A miss would have handed Seattle the ball at midfield. This was huge risk by coach Mike Tomlin to trust Boswell (rather than his offense) in such an important situation, and it paid off.
Many don’t realize that there is somewhat of a kicker shortage in the NFL over the last decade or so and how frightening it is to be one of those teams that is constantly searching for the answer at this crucial position. There has been a huge rash of missed field goals and extra points in the NFL this year…but not by Boswell.
There is one common mistake with this team when leading late in games: With a lead and trying to drain the clock, Boswell kicked it into the end zone. Therefore, the clock never started, and Seattle got the ball at the 25 instead of having to field it and make the clock tick off a few precious seconds. And, as we saw, a few precious seconds at the end of games can make all the difference in a win or loss in the NFL.
Healthy at the end
The Steelers seemed to get out of the game in great shape in terms of injuries. Moore is the only possible exception, although that information is a little vague right now. Although he was eligible to play, Pittsburgh kept tackle Zach Banner on the inactive list for this game. That allowed Banner to further heal through the Week 7 bye. Plus, the Steelers didn’t have to choose between Banner and Chukwuma Okorafor as their starting right tackle. Okorafor was coming off his best performance of the year against Denver and edge rusher Von Miler.
Overall thoughts
This was an evenly played game between two teams that have been amongst the most successful in recent memory in the NFL. Tomlin and Seattle coach Pete Carroll have won Super Bowls and an awful lot of games at this level. Both coaches should end up in the Hall of Fame someday. Both coaches also were coaching around their quarterback instead of through him, as they have become accustomed over the years. But neither of these teams are true contenders right now and the mighty have fallen a bit in 2021.
The Browns lost convincingly at home to Arizona, but the Ravens and Bengals won this week in impressive fashion advancing to 5-1 and 4-2, respectively. The Bengals head to Baltimore next week with huge divisional consequences.
Sunday’s loss dropped Cleveland to 3-3. The Browns host Denver on a short week this Thursday as they deal with a multitude of injuries to critical players, including quarterback Baker Mayfield, both starting offensive tackles and their two great running backs, Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Fortunately for Cleveland, they then get a mini-bye after the Broncos game to prepare for their home Halloween date with the Steelers.
Quarterback aside, of course, the Steelers are a young football team, especially on offense. We have witnessed the growing pains in 2021, but we have also seen improvement. The upcoming bye week could do the Steelers a lot of good. The young players now have half of dozen games this year under their belt and understand what is demanded of them at the NFL level while Roethlisberger and Heyward’s older bodies surely could use all the rest and treatment they can get before Halloween.
The Steelers got a huge win and with 11 games remaining, it is possible that they can revive their season. They still have a lot to work on, but Pittsburgh is now back in the mix.
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