- Thread starter
- #1
blstoker
Bill Bergen for HoF!
Positives:
Thomas Rawls - It's early in his career, and he hasn't faced the toughest defenses, yet, but Rawls has injected some energy with his running when he's been given a chance. His 209 yards rushing last week was really impressive, but he also had that 169 performance against Cincinnati who other than that game has been a top 10 run defense all year.
Cliff Avril - Avril has been the best he's been since coming to Seattle this year, and Big Ben has a tendency to wait for the big play. Seattle will need the defense to 1 - get pressure on Ben and 2 - get him to the ground when they get to him, which may be the harder of the two.
LOB Health - With Burley returning last week and Lane coming back today - the LOB will be the healthiest they have been all season. Burley's return gave the team the depth they needed to bench the underperforming Williams, and if Lane can be anything like he has been in the past, the LOB will be a better unit. And with the Steelers' receivers, they will need to be solid on all the receivers today.
Negatives:
Bye Bye Bye - This is the third straight week that the Seahawks will play against an opponent that is coming off their bye week. Teams like San Fran usually are rusty, but teams like Arizona and Pittsburgh usually come in just better prepared.
#6 - Seattle has struggled against top 10 offenses this season - including all but one of the teams 4th quarter collapses. The defense needs to show up today and no matter what happens on offense, they need to play 60 minutes of good football. The offense will have to find a way to put up touchdowns against the #6 scoring defense as well.
Heath Miller - Seattle has had horrible success covering tight ends, especially this season. They struggled a bit last year, but have taken the coverages against TEs to ineptitude levels. They are going to have to find some way of stopping Miller, or he will carve our defense for 10-15 yard gains all game long.
Matchups:
Martavius Bryant vs. DeShawn Shead - Seattle has proven that they can shut down #1 WRs when they need to, but they have consistently given big games to #2 guys. Williams has a lot of the blame for that, but for a team like Pittsburgh, the coverage is going to have to be good/great against Brown, Miller and Bryant, or it'll be a long day.
Pittsburgh D vs. Russell Wilson - Pitts' run defense is #6, but they haven't really faced any teams that run the ball exceptionally well. That said, Seattle will need to have a Wilson who is sharp and making good decisions to take advantage of a #28 passing defense to open up running lanes for Rawls. It's that time where the season for the Hawks on offense will come down to the decisions Russell makes.
DeAngelo Williams vs. Seattle Front 7 - Williams has become a huge weapon with the injury to Bell, and the best way to get to Roethlisberger is to take his running game away. Williams has only 167 yards rushing in 4 career games against Seattle, but has 428 yards in 4 starts this season. Seattle will need to render Williams useless and score early and often to make the Steelers' offense one dimensional.
Overview:
This is a tough matchup - and one of the toughest they have remaining. Seattle has broken their strength at home this season by losing 2 games already, and they will need to gain that back today if they are wanting to finally have a winning record for the first time this season. They will need to play 60 minutes of football and the coaches will need to find a way to finish off the Steelers even if the game seems to be in hand. This game must be a win - cause the team needs to beat a quality team at some point, cause even if they manage to make the playoffs with 6 or 7 losses, they will face quality opponents then.
Thomas Rawls - It's early in his career, and he hasn't faced the toughest defenses, yet, but Rawls has injected some energy with his running when he's been given a chance. His 209 yards rushing last week was really impressive, but he also had that 169 performance against Cincinnati who other than that game has been a top 10 run defense all year.
Cliff Avril - Avril has been the best he's been since coming to Seattle this year, and Big Ben has a tendency to wait for the big play. Seattle will need the defense to 1 - get pressure on Ben and 2 - get him to the ground when they get to him, which may be the harder of the two.
LOB Health - With Burley returning last week and Lane coming back today - the LOB will be the healthiest they have been all season. Burley's return gave the team the depth they needed to bench the underperforming Williams, and if Lane can be anything like he has been in the past, the LOB will be a better unit. And with the Steelers' receivers, they will need to be solid on all the receivers today.
Negatives:
Bye Bye Bye - This is the third straight week that the Seahawks will play against an opponent that is coming off their bye week. Teams like San Fran usually are rusty, but teams like Arizona and Pittsburgh usually come in just better prepared.
#6 - Seattle has struggled against top 10 offenses this season - including all but one of the teams 4th quarter collapses. The defense needs to show up today and no matter what happens on offense, they need to play 60 minutes of good football. The offense will have to find a way to put up touchdowns against the #6 scoring defense as well.
Heath Miller - Seattle has had horrible success covering tight ends, especially this season. They struggled a bit last year, but have taken the coverages against TEs to ineptitude levels. They are going to have to find some way of stopping Miller, or he will carve our defense for 10-15 yard gains all game long.
Matchups:
Martavius Bryant vs. DeShawn Shead - Seattle has proven that they can shut down #1 WRs when they need to, but they have consistently given big games to #2 guys. Williams has a lot of the blame for that, but for a team like Pittsburgh, the coverage is going to have to be good/great against Brown, Miller and Bryant, or it'll be a long day.
Pittsburgh D vs. Russell Wilson - Pitts' run defense is #6, but they haven't really faced any teams that run the ball exceptionally well. That said, Seattle will need to have a Wilson who is sharp and making good decisions to take advantage of a #28 passing defense to open up running lanes for Rawls. It's that time where the season for the Hawks on offense will come down to the decisions Russell makes.
DeAngelo Williams vs. Seattle Front 7 - Williams has become a huge weapon with the injury to Bell, and the best way to get to Roethlisberger is to take his running game away. Williams has only 167 yards rushing in 4 career games against Seattle, but has 428 yards in 4 starts this season. Seattle will need to render Williams useless and score early and often to make the Steelers' offense one dimensional.
Overview:
This is a tough matchup - and one of the toughest they have remaining. Seattle has broken their strength at home this season by losing 2 games already, and they will need to gain that back today if they are wanting to finally have a winning record for the first time this season. They will need to play 60 minutes of football and the coaches will need to find a way to finish off the Steelers even if the game seems to be in hand. This game must be a win - cause the team needs to beat a quality team at some point, cause even if they manage to make the playoffs with 6 or 7 losses, they will face quality opponents then.