The Seattle Seahawks could theoretically clinch a playoff spot in Week 17. They would need a little help, though. Seattle would have to beat a decent Pittsburgh Steelers team and then hope that the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers game ends in a tie. That is unlikely but possible.
A couple of Seahawks could get to milestone numbers on Sunday as well. DK Metcalf needs just 2 receiving yards to get to 1,000 for the season. That would be the third time in five years he has reached the 1,000-yard mark.
Edge rusher Boye Mafe needs just one sack to reach 10 for the season. He would become the first Seahawk to reach double-digits in sacks since Frank Clark and Jarran Reed both did so in 2018. Oddly, while Seattle is tied for the lead in the NFC for the most sacks (45), only two Seattle players (Mafe and Reed) have more than 4.5. But here are some bold guesses for what will happen in Week 17.
Prediction No. 1 - Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker runs for 120 yards
The Steelers are 8-7, like the Seahawks, but they have mostly gotten to that record because of the play of their defense. Pittsburgh is seventh in the NFL in fewest points allowed per game (19.6 - Seattle is 23 at 23.5) and has a very good pass defense. Pittsburgh also likes to try to disrupt and blitz quite a bit and are very good at hiding where the blitz is coming from. The Steelers blitz the fourth-most in the NFL (35.7 percent of dropbacks) and are 12th in sacks (42).
But where Pittsburgh's defense is somewhat suspect is in run defense. The Steelers have allowed the 13th-most rushing yards per game (117.5) and 12th-most rushing yards per attempt (4.2). Plus, one way for Seattle to keep Pittsburgh pass rush honest is to run the ball a bit more than they have been doing. This should mean Kenneth Walker getting the ball a lot.
Walker only has one game in 2023 where he has rushed for more than 100 yards. That was in Week 7 when he carried the ball 26 times against the Arizona Cardinals for 105 yards. Walker has a couple more games where he has had over 100 total yards, including Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles, and Walker does still need to be used in the passing game, but this needs to be a week he gets to 100 yards rushing and at least a touchdown. I think he gets 118 yards carrying the ball and 2 touchdowns.
Prediction No. 2 - The Steelers get 3 interceptions
This won’t be a great game for Geno Smith, however, and it won’t all be his fault. He is going to get sacked 5 times and have pressure constantly in his face. The Seahawks' offensive line, especially the right side with right guard Anthony Bradford and right tackle Abraham Lucas, is better at run blocking than pass protection. Seattle still throws the ball a bit too much and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron can go through bouts of only passing the ball on drives, especially early in the second halves of games, but hopefully, Waldron will see what is going on between the Steelers and Seahawks and adjust his play-calling.
Smith will throw for a touchdown but he will also throw for 3 interceptions. Twice his arm will get hit and the ball will flutter to a Steelers defender. The real difference between the Titans, who Seattle played in Week 16 and gave up a lot of pressure on Smith early in the game, and Pittsburgh is that Pittsburgh’s secondary is better. Smith likely won’t be able to throw the ball as quickly as his receivers won’t be getting open quickly.
This has been an issue all season, unfortunately. Maybe it is the routes that DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are being asked to run. The trio of receivers is too good to be shut down quickly in routes unless the routes they are running are too slow to develop. The longer Smith has to hold the ball, the more he will be forced to put the ball in danger.
But before 12s go blaming Smith for all the interceptions - two of them in the first half - the blame should really go toward Waldron for putting Smith and the offensive line in harm's way. Smith will still have an efficient game except for the interceptions and when the game is tight in the fourth quarter, he will play clean.
Prediction No. 3 - A guess at who wins and why
So doing the math above where I have Kenneth Walker scoring two touchdowns and Geno Smith throwing for one, that would be 21 points. That is a very good output against the Steelers and more points than Seattle has scored in five of the last six games. I also think kicker Jason Myers adds a field goal to get the Seahawks to 24 points. But as we all know, Seattle likes to keep most games tight.
Five of Seattle's last seven games (and every game that did not have Seattle facing the San Francisco 49ers) have been decided by 6 points or fewer. Seattle is 3-2 in those games. Mason Rudolph appears to be set to start in Week 17 at quarterback for the Steelers, even though QB1 Kenny Pickett has practiced this week in a limited basis, and Rudolph probably gives Pittsburgh as good of chance, if not better, to win in Week 17.
Pickett this season has just 6 touchdown passes and 4 interceptions in 324 pass attempts. He doesn't turn the ball over, but he doesn't lead his team to many points either. Rudolph, meanwhile, was fantastic against a decent Cincinnati Bengals defense in Week 16 and went 17 of 27 for 290 yards and 2 touchdowns with no picks. Rudolph has also been in the Steelers system for six years so he knows how to run the offense in a loud environment like Lumen Field.
This will be another close game late and the Steelers will hold a lead for a lot of the second half, but Geno Smith will hit Jake Bobo for a touchdown with around 5 minutes left to give Seattle a 24-21 victory that they hold onto and move to 9-7.