Three areas the Seahawks must improve vs the Steelers

The Seahawks squeaked by with a one-point victory over the Bengals Sunday. To beat the Steelers, they’ll need to beef up these three aspects of their game.

The Seahawks season opener was supposed to be an easy win over a rebuilding Bengals. Some people who shall remain nameless even predicted Seattle would dominate the game. Clearly, that was not the case. The Hawks came away with a one-point win, but were dominated in most phases of the game. I know, the scoreboard cures all ills, but Seattle can’t keep winning with performances like this. I see three areas that need to be tightened up to defeat Pittsburgh.

First up is the offensive line. How can we say they were not good, but with a little more bite? I’ll just go with not good for now. When the line gives up four sacks and nine quarterback hits, that’s not good. When the line gives up six tackles for a loss, that’s not good either. No time to throw and no holes to hit equals a bad offensive output. Michael Dickson is an All-Pro, but we don’t really want to see him punt eight times.

Russell Wilson and Chris Carson were practically wearing tiger strips themselves by the end of the game. By my count, Carson was hit behind the line of scrimmage four times and once right at the line. It’s amazing he managed to churn out 46 yards. The Bengals had a good line last year, but from this game you’d think they were the Steel Curtain.

The second need is painfully obvious. The secondary was atrocious. Andy Dalton is a good quarterback, but he looked like Dan Marino’s clone against Seattle. He completed 35 of 51 passes for 418 yards and two scores. The new Legion of Boom played more like the Legion of Gloom, they were so sad.

Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks secondary played nothing like the LOB

Seattle’s secondary only broke up three passes and came away with zero interceptions. A flea-flicker to John Ross III torched the Hawks. It was just one of the former UDub speedster’s seven catches on the day. Linebacker Mychal Kendricks had the initial coverage on Ross. Considering Ross’s 4.22 speed, they might as well have had me try to stay with him. Bradley McDougald was far too late in support, and cornerback Tre Flowers was faked out of his cleats as Ross gave him a subtle twitch and blew past him.

If that had been the worst play, I wouldn’t be too worried. But Tedric Thompson managed to make his teammates look like Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman with his miscue. Dalton launched a bomb to Ross, but Thompson was poised to make the play, just like Earl Thomas. Unfortunately, he jumped for the ball about a week early, and Ross hauled the pass in for a 55-yard score. At least Shaquill Griffin broke up a couple of passes. Overall, the secondary was just plain bad.

The third improvement needs to come from the coaching staff. Yes, DK Metcalf looked great, but how can you give Tyler Lockett just two targets? This calls up awful memories of forgetting Chris Carson over the first two games of 2018. Why is a linebacker covering the fastest man in the NFL? And what on earth was that fiasco of clock management with the game on the line?

The secondary definitely needs help. The Steelers got crushed by the Patriots and Antonio Brown is gone, but quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is at least as dangerous as Dalton. I expected the Hawks to give DeShawn Shead a call. As it turns out, they’re bringing back corner Jamar Taylor. With any luck, guard Mike Iupati will be ready to go and can help shore up the O-line. And coaches, please: Tyler Lockett and the clock are your friends.