Seahawks beat Steelers in Russell Wilson’s brilliant game

The Seahawks defeated the Steelers in week 2 behind Russell Wilson’s pinpoint passing and timely running. But the game was closer than it should have been.

The Seahawks will play the Saints in week three and will be 2-0 when they do so. Week one’s victory against the Bengals was not pretty and in many ways felt like a loss. And while week two’s defeat of the Steelers was only by a score of 28-26 the game felt better because it shouldn’t have been as close as it was.

Let me preface what I am going to say by acknowledging that Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger left with a sore arm at halftime and did not return. However, before he left the Steelers weren’t doing much against a solid Seattle defense. Pittsburgh had 102 total yards at halftime. His replacement Mason Rudolph was actually better.

But no one was better on Sunday than Russell Wilson. After being under heavy pressure for the first part of the game (at one point Wilson had dropped back seven times and had been sacked three times), Brian Schottenheimer changed his play-calling and designed throws to allow Wilson to get rid of the ball quicker and to tight ends over the middle.

But Wilson also made Wilson-type throws, like a brilliant touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf on third and three midway through the fourth quarter. The play ended up being the difference in the game and at the time put Seattle up 28-19.

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Things seemed comfortable until Chris Carson failed to take a handoff from Wilson correctly and the Steelers recovered deep in Seattle territory and turned that into a touchdown. Seattle still led 28-26 but it didn’t feel happy.

Carson had a solid day but his two fumbles were not great. He now has three on the season and while he remains Seattle’s number one back he needs to fix his fumbling issues or he will not remain number one.

Especially after Rashaad Penny had a really good day against Pittsburgh. He ran for 62 yards on 10 carries and a fantastic 37 yard touchdown run. Maybe Penny is finally coming into his own?

There were some good things that happened on Sunday. Tyler Lockett had a career high 10 receptions and looked like a number one receiver. Will Dissly had five catches, two of them for touchdowns.

But Wilson was the difference in the game as he often is. He completed 29 of 35 passes for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also picked up several first downs on a key fourth quarter drive by running up the middle. Seattle isn’t 2-0 without Wilson but Seattle is. And that is a beautiful thing.