Nov 30, 2015 5 min read

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I wanted to digest this one a little bit before I commented on it.

First, I didn’t expect the Steelers to win this game. But they needed to be competitive to show that they were a contender moving forward.

They did that. Russell Wilson is now 26-4 at home for a reason. He typically plays well at home and Seattle’s defense does as well.

But the Steelers had a chance to win this game. And that would have been huge.

They didn’t. It’s not the end of the world. But the fact the defense was picked apart isn’t very comforting.

This secondary isn’t getting any better soon. And inserting Brandon Boykin isn’t necessarily going to make a difference – though I expect the team will at least look at that this week.

But who does he replace? Antwon Blake and Ross Cockrell both had issues in this game. But Boykin is best in the slot. And the Steelers really like William Gay there.

Seattle had issues with Cary Williams’ coverage. Williams, who had been a starter, wasn’t active for the Seahawks on Sunday. DeShawn Shead started in his place and Jeremy Lane was the nickel.

But Seattle allowed nearly 500 passing yards in this game. Ben Roethlisberger’s 456 yards is a record against the Seahawks.

Seattle, however, took the ball away four times, matching its season total for interceptions.

That has been the Steelers’ formula for defense this season. They’ve allowed yards, but had been taking the ball away. When they don’t take it away, however, it looks ugly. And Sunday was ugly.

@ Markus Wheaton stepping up and catching nine passes for 201 yards and a touchdown – all career highs – was big.

If opponents are going to try to take Antonio Brown away – and why wouldn’t they? – the other receivers have to make plays. Wheaton hadn’t done much of that this season but he did in this game.

Had Martavis Bryant followed suit, the Steelers still could have won this game – despite their defensive deficiencies.

But Bryant didn’t come down with some contested plays and had five catches for 69 yards on 13 targets. That’s OK production, but not what the Steelers needed to win on this day.

@ When trick plays work, they’re genius. When they don’t, they’re dumb.

We assume that the Steelers cost themselves three points on a fake field goal attempt on the opening play of the third quarter. But it would have been a 45-yard attempt or so.

That’s no gimmee, though Chris Boswell has been pretty good this season.

I understand Mike Tomlin wanting to be aggressive and try to keep the momentum in a game the Steelers were dominating to that point, even though they led just 3-0.

But on fourth-and-2, you could just leave Roethlisberger and the offense on the field.

Alejandro Villanueva, by the way, was the second option on that play. Heath Miller was the first, but he was covered.

Villanueva began the play on the right side of the formation and sprinted to the left flats at the snap. Credit Lane for not biting when the Steelers rolled Landry Jones to the right.

“The play is designed so that they blow the coverage and I’m by myself, but obviously they picked it up and he made a heck of a play on it,” said Villanueva, who led Army in receiving as a senior.

@ The question this week will be if/when Roethlisberger clears concussion protocol.

There are very specific rules in place that he now has to clear.

If he’s not available to play next week against Indianapolis, things could get very dicey.

The Steelers have won this season without Roethlisberger, but the Colts are on a bit of a roll themselves.

Pittsburgh can’t afford to lose more than one more game down the stretch.

@ I didn’t have a problem with Tomlin kicking a field goal from the 3 with just over three minutes remaining.

That pulled the Steelers to within two points and the defense, which had four three-and-out stops in this game, needed one more.

And they had the Seahawks at third-and-10 with 2:14 remaining from their own 20. That’s the situation they wanted.

But Doug Baldwin made them pay.

Seattle converted 6 of 8 third downs that were six yards or longer. That’s one the defense should win more often than it loses.

It didn’t happen in this game.

@ The Steelers scored 30 points, turned the ball over four times, allowed the Seahawks to convert 7 of 13 third downs and gave up five touchdown passes. On the road at a place where they’ve won one time in their history.

By all rights, they probably should have been blown out in this game.

That is why you walk away from this game feeling OK moving forward – as long as Roethlisberger is OK.

At 6-5, the Steelers are currently out of the playoffs in the AFC, but can take care of business with Indianapolis this week. There’s a lot of football left to play – as long as this defense doesn’t make a habit of playing as it did Sunday.