Steelers Route Seahawks 24-0 To Net First Win of 2011

Seattle fans had to know what they were in for this week. Coming across the country to an angry, hungry ravenous Steeler team that had just gotten blown out in their opener was not going to bode well for their team. The Seahawks were out matched from the get go.  The Steelers had a point to prove and for one day ,they did. They showed the world their defense is not too old, they do have a potent offense and they are still a bully on the block. 

The Steelers got the ball first and marched down the field inside the Seattle 5 with Big Ben slashing the secondary and with a big pass interference penalty in the end zone.  On this opening drive however the Steelers were stuffed by the Hawks and had to go for it on 4th and goal from the 1 and were stuffed again.  This is one concern that did arise from the game, they don’t appear to have a goal line offense. This really isn’t new and has been this way since the Bus left but with a swiss cheese offensive line and a lack of a bigger back they don’t seem to have that formation and set of plays locked in just yet. Our opinion is Isaac Redman or even Jonathan Dwyer should be in that package and not Mendenhall.  We digress however as the Steelers forced 3 and out and a Seattle punt just after that series. From then on they dominated. They went down the field and scored a TD and never looked back, totaling 24 points and not allowing a single score to the hapless Hawks.

Offensively the team looked stellar in the passing game. Big Ben made it a point to keep the mistakes to a minimum completing 22 of 30 passes for 298 yards and a TD to their ace receiver Mike Wallace.  He also did not put the ball in the opposing teams hands via interception of fumble like he did a 5 times last week.  Mike Wallace has officially proven he’s the main man in the passing game grabbing another 8 balls for 126 yards and a TD. He’s pacing for a pro ball season at this rate.  It was also very nice to Antonio Brown grab 4 balls for 67 yards and Emmanuel Sanders take in 2 more for 44 as well as throw one for 15 to the aging veteran Hines Ward.  While Ward is still one of the teams starting receivers it appears he is their 3rd or even 4th option at this point. He did catch 4 balls for 33 yards but he’s more of a team leader emotionally rather than via his play at this point.  We’re not saying he still can’t put up decent and respectable numbers but he’s really not a focal point of the teams passing game anymore…despite what some people we know may wish.

The running game is a a bit of a cocern. Through two weeks we are not impressed with Rashard Mendenhall. He put up better numbers than last week carrying the ball 19 times for 66 yards and a TD. However that’s only a 3.5 YPC average and that’s not good.  We really like Redman and think he’s a great second option and could possibly be a feature back in this offense. He garnerd 10 carries for 49 yards and had an amazing 20 yard scamper for a TD.  He has a better YPC average than Mendenhall and may be a bit faster than Mendenhall which with this O Line may be a better fit.  Speaking of the O line they did the job for the most part but failed on some goal line situations in the running game as we mentioned. They kept the sacks down to two and one guy we asked you to watch in our Game Day feature was rookie Marcus Gilbert making his first start at right tackle. We’ll give him a C- grade.  He was decent blocking but he allowed a big sack on Ben early in the game and also almost got Ben seriously injured when he was beat and Ben got his knee crumpled. Fortunately Ben was ok but it’s scary to see your leader go down like that.

Defensively the Steelers had a near perfect game. They were hungry for a shut out and felt like they had to prove all the critics wrong.  Last week after the drubbing the took everyone said they were old washed up and done. They proved that to be a bit reactionary and didn’t allow one score today.  The team was led by Troy Polamalu with 8 tackles and sack. Overall they had 5 sackes on the game. They were brutal to the Hawks’ offense only allowing a total of 164 yards, and just 31 on the ground. Now let’s be honest the Seahawks are not the Patriots and are relatively putrid but this was just the game the doctor ordered and we won’t pick anything apart here this week on the defensive side of the ball.

The one thing we will pick apart today is Mike Tomlin leaving the starters in the game when it was clearly in hand. last week with the game in check in the wrong fashion he left the starters in and they lost Willie Colon for the year. This week with the game at hand for the good, he leaves the guys in and risks injury to  the guys he needs to rely on down the stretch, Big Ben, Polamalu, Harrison etc. With Big Ben getting his knee hurt early on you’d think he’d have pulled him. With Colon getting hurt last week you’d think he’d have learned. Well, he’s either a bit hard headed or slow not sure but that’s just the one complaint we do have this week. 

That all said, when you’re coming out of a game with just one complaint it means you had a fantastic week and you won the game. 

Up next: Steelers (1-1) at Colts (0-2)