Seattle Seahawks Pass Defense vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: 37/59, 480 Yards, 1 TD, 4 INTs

Pass #17

Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 44
Description: Q1-(1:48) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Middle to M. Wheaton to SEA 35 for 21 Yards (E. Thomas)

Wagner (#54) has to drop deeper in his zone drop if the Seahawks are going to stop this play. The Seahawks are in their Seattle Cover 2 that they run against trip formations (Man coverage by the backside CB and zone everywhere else) and Wagner is sitting in the hook zone. Wagner initially gets underneath the post route out of Wheaton (#11) but he doesn’t get any depth after getting underneath the route. There are no routes underneath for Wagner to worry about so he should be naturally getting depth to take away the post route. Instead, he sits flat footed and Wheaton is able to get into the big gap between the LBs and Thomas (#29). You can argue Wright (#50) should have dropped deeper as well in his coverage but he had Willaims (#34) running towards him initially so he had to respect Williams coming out of the backfield before he could work backward in his coverage. (11/16, 102 Yards)

Pass #18

Situation: 1st and 10 SEA 35
Description: Q1-(1:11) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to M. Bryant Pushed Out of Bounds at SEA 31 for 4 Yards (D. Shead)

The Seahawks get caught on the nickel back blitz by the quick screen, but Shead (#35) and Chancellor (#31) (initially) do a great job in limiting the gain. The Steelers have what they want as they have two blockers (Miller (#83) and Wheaton (#11)) against Shead and Chancellor. Chancellor does a good job getting downhill fast to clog up the intended lane for Bryant (#10) to run through on the screen (between Miller and Wheaton). This forces Bryant to try to run to the outside instead and Chancellor gets the job done despite getting pushed ten yards downfield by Miller. Shead is a strong safety and is built like one as he is 6’1″ and 220 lbs. Wheaton is giving up 30 lbs to Shead and Shead takes advantage of this by pushing Wheaton into Bryant and shedding off of the block to knock Bryant out of bounds. (12/17, 106 Yards)

Pass #19

Situation: 2nd and 6 SEA 31
Description: Q1-(0:36) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Deep Right to A. Brown

Sherman (#25) uses his size to advantage for the first time against Brown (#84) on the go route on this play. Sherman has maybe the longest arms out of any CB in the league and he uses them to his advantage on this play as he pushes Brown toward the sideline with the jam and hand fighting. This gives Roethlisberger (#7) a very small window to throw the ball into and his pass is overthrown. Sherman does lose a step when looking back for the ball, but his work before the throw was made took away Brown’s route. The Seahawks did get lucky though as Miller (#83) was open underneath on the curl route. There is nothing the Seahawks could do to stop this on the play call because as Wagner (#54) was coming on the blitz. Chancellor (#31) and Burley (#28) (?) were both occupied by WR routes (Wheaton (#11) on the crossing route and Bryant (#10) on the out route respectively) leaving Wright (#50) to cover Miller. Wright is on the opposite side of the formation and has no chance to pick this route up. (12/18, 106 Yards)

Pass #20

Situation: 3rd and 6 SEA 31
Description: Q1-(0:31) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Left to H. Miller to SEA 27 for 4 Yards (K. Chancellor)

Shead (#35) may have been fortunate on this play as he lets WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (#88) get by him too easily on the play. Heyward-Bey takes a jab step to the outside before running the post route and Shead gets turned around. Shead gives up the inside due to getting turned around and Heyward-Bey gets by him as a result. A throw to Heyward-Bey may have been tricky due to Thomas floating towards the post route but an early throw could thread the needle as the Seahawks are in man coverage and Chancellor (#31) is focused on Miller (#83). Roethlisberger (#7) doesn’t even give this a look though as he sees the blitz coming and dumps the ball of to Miller on the out route. Chancellor is playing off coverage on Miller so he is always going to give up the short out route. He makes up with this by closing on the throw quickly and stopping Miller in his tracks by using his size and wrapping him up. (13/19, 110 Yards)

2nd Quarter

Pass #21

Situation: 4th and 2 SEA 27
Description: Q2-(15:00) L. Jones Pass Short Left Intended for A. Villaneuva Intercepted by J. Lane at SEA 22. J. Lane to PIT 24 for 54 Yards (D. DeCastro)

This is a great job by the Seahawks to react to the change in formation in a calm and prepared manner. As soon as the Steelers shift in formation, Seattle audibles to their base Cover 3 package. The Seahawks have multiple defensive position players going up against mostly offensive and defensive linemen in coverage so predictably no one is open on the strong side of the formation. The Steelers try to sneak Villaneuva (#78) out to the left and have QB Landry Jones (#3) throw back to him and it kind of works as CB Jeremy Lane (#20) is late to react to the route. Jone’s pass is horrible though as he throws it well behind of Villaneuva, forcing him to stop his route. This allows Lane to climb the ladder and make the athletic interception. If Jones tries to make Villaneuva run under the pass, Lane may still get over the top of the route for the INT but Villaneuva would tackle him and the Seahawks would not have gotten such a big return. (13/20, 110 Yards, 1 INT)

Pass #22

Situation: 2nd and 6 SEA 45
Description: Q2-(11:39) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Left to M. Bryant to SEA 40 for 5 Yards (D. Shead)

Shead (#35) is going to give up this route to Bryant (#10) just based on his alignment. The Seahawks are in Cover 2 Man and Shead has the responsibility of Bryant. Shead gives Bryant a big cushion because Bryant is known for being a home run threat on any play and Shead isn’t the fastest secondary player in the world (4.53 40 yard dash). Shead back pedals out of his stance to maintain that cushion and Bryant has a four-yard gap with Shead once he makes his cut. Shead’s rounding backward out of the back pedal gives him no chance to make a play on the ball, but I do like how he closed down on the out route hard and his attempt to knock the ball out of Bryant’s hands. (14/21, 115 Yards, 1 INT)

Pass #23

Situation: 1st and 10 SEA 38
Description: Q2-(10:31) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Deep Right to M. Bryant (D. Shead)

This should have been a touchdown for the Steelers as Shead (#35) was beat by Bryant (#10) deep on the go route. The Seahawks are in a Cover 1 Robber and Shead has man to man coverage on Bryant. Unlike the previous pass, Shead is playing on the line of scrimmage and the speed mismatch shows as Bryant runs right by him. If Roethlisberger (#7) throws this ball out for Bryant to run under, Bryant has a touchdown. Instead, Roethlisberger underthrows the pass and this allows Shead to get in the way of the pass. Chancellor (#31) also needs to question as he is nowhere near this pass despite being responsible for deep coverage. Chancellor stops his drop once Roethlisberger starts his throwing motion and loses any chance to get over the top of Bryant and make a play on the ball. Chancellor needs to keep back pedaling and make a break on the ball once he knows where it is going. (14/22, 115 Yards, 1 INT)

Pass #24

Situation: 2nd and 10 SEA 38
Description: Q2-(10:25) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Middle to H. Miller to SEA 30 for 8 Yards (B. Wagner). Penalty on SEA-B. Irvin, Defensive Offside, 5 Yards, Enforced at SEA 38 - No Play

Wagner (#54) needs to know when to go for the interception and when he should just drive through the receiver. Wagner (#54) is in hook zone coverage and the only player in his area in Miller (#83) running the curl route. Miller does a good job finding the hole in the zone coverage between Wright (#50) and Wagner but Wagner is in a great position to stop this play for a minimal gain by driving through Miller. Instead, he goes for the pass breakup and ends up being out of position to make the tackle. He does wrangle Miller down, but this should have been a reception of four yards instead of eight. Irvin’s (#51) offsides make this all naught.