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

Pass #49

Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 20
Description: Q4-(12:17) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Short Right to M. Wheaton

Chancellor (#31) does something right for a change and his positioning throws off Roethlisberger’s throw. Chancellor is responsible for the flat zone coverage and does a good job of expanding outwards towards Wheaton’s (#11) out route. Chancellor is in a great position to pick off a pass that is thrown behind Wheaton so Roethlisberger (#7) has to throw the ball to the outside to avoid this chance. Roethlisberger throws a safe, low pass that ends up being too low and falls short of Wheaton. The coverage outside of Chancellor is solid as well. (28/42, 327 Yards, 3 INTs)

Pass #50

Situation: 2nd and 10 PIT 20
Description: Q4-(12:14) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to M. Bryants to PIT 31 for 11 Yards (D. Shead)

Shead (#35) has been burnt multiple times this game by Bryant and this opens himself up to being beat by the curl route. Shead has Bryant (#10) in man to man coverage and instead of trying to play press coverage, he bails off the line of scrimmage to take away the go route. When Bryant stops to curl back, Shead has all his momentum going backward and cannot stop with Bryant. This leaves Bryant wide open on the curl route and Roethlisberger hits him for a first down. (29/43, 338 Yards, 3 INTs)

Pass #51

Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 31
Description: Q4-(11:51) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Middle to M. Wheaton for 69 Yards and Touchdown

I don’t know what Thomas (#29) is thinking on this play. Thomas is responsible for the deep left half of the field yet he gets no drop on his coverage. He turns to the inside and he sees that Wheaton (#11) has gotten past Lane (#20) (due to a great swim move off of the line of scrimmage). Thomas should be flying backward to keep even with Wheaton and trust that Sherman (#25) will handle Brown (#84) on the outside. Instead, he drifts towards Wheaton and then gets sucked upfield by Roethlisberger (#7) scrambling. He should be the last person sucked upfield and keep dropping backward till Roethlisberger is past the line of scrimmage. Instead, Lane cannot catch up to Wheaton and Roethlisberger has a whole half of the field to throw to Wheaton for the touchdown. (30/44, 407 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #52

Situation: Two Point Conversion Attempt
Description: B. Roethlisberger Pass to A. Brown is Incomplete. Attempt Fails. Seattle #25 Sherman Intercepted the Pass in the End Zone

The coverage on this play is pretty spot on as all of the receivers are covered by the Seahawks. Lane (#20) maybe should have followed Wheaton (#11) out to the flat on the out route but he knew he had Shead (#35) out there so this was likely not an issue. I usually have issues with secondary players charging at the QB when they are scrambling, but Thomas (#29) helped make this play by rushing down on Roethlisberger (#7). Roethlisberger is able to escape the pocket due to Hill (#97) being shoved to the inside by Foster (#73) and he looks like he has an open lane to convert the two-point conversion. Thomas flies out of the secondary to get in his face though and forces Roethlisberger to force a pass to Brown (#84). Sherman (#25) is in a great position though and uses his length to beat Brown to the ball and grab the interception.

Pass #53

Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 26
Description: Q4-(8:07) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Short Right to J. James [M. Bennett]

The Steelers are trying to set up the screen pass, but Avril (#56) does a great job clogging up the play. Avril is coming on the pass rush and is initially blocked by James (#81). Once James tries to release to become available on the screen pass, Avril grabs a hold of him and delays James’s release. This allows Bennett (#72) enough time to beat Villaneuva (#78) with a bull rush and force Roethlisberger to dump the ball at Jame’s feet. (30/45, 409 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #54

Situation: 2nd and 10 PIT 26
Description: Q4-(8:04) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Left to De. Williams to PIT 39 for 13 Yards (J. Lane)

The coverage by the Seahawks on this play is really good. The only issue I can see is that Thomas (#29) jumps to the inside initially to take away Wheaton’s (#11) post route. This allows Bryant (#10) to be open for a split second after Shead is down jamming him in his flat zone coverage. As soon as Thomas sees Wagner (#54) running underneath the post route, he immediately bounces back towards where he suppose to be and would be able to get over the top of Bryant’s go route. Williams (#34) is open underneath the coverage because he comes out of the backfield after he throws a chip block on Bennett (#72) so I wouldn’t expect any of the Seahawks to cover him. The issue I have is how passive the tackling technique of Lane (#20) and Shead is. Lane is somewhat understandable as he is my size (6’0, 180 lbs) and a lot smaller than Williams but Shead is a strong safety by trade and should be more aggressive in trying to tackle Williams. Instead, Shead tries to catch and rip the ball out of Williams’s hands and allows him to fall forward for extra yards. (31/46, 420 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #55

Situation: 1st and 10 PIT 39
Description: Q4-(7:27) B. Roethlisberger Pass Deep Right to M. Wheaton Pushed Out of Bounds at SEA 33 for 28 Yards (J. Lane). Seattle Challenged the Pass Completion Ruling, and the Play was Reversed. B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Deep Right to M. Wheaton

Do the Steelers just have a bunch of speed merchants as WRs? (Answer to that question, yes) Lane (#20) is coming off surgery on his knee so he may not be at 100% speed yet, but Lane has sub 4.5 40 yard dash speed and Wheaton (#11) just runs right by him. Lane’s technique is fine, but Wheaton just beats him to the outside with ease and is open for a big play on the outside. Roethlisberger throws a pretty pass to Wheaton, but Lane makes a heads up play to shove Wheaton after he makes the catch. This prevents Wheaton from getting his second foot down and the pass falls incomplete. (31/47, 420 Yards, 1 INT, 3 TDs)

Pass #56

Situation: 2nd and 10 PIT 39
Description: Q4-(7:22) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Short Right to M. Bryant (K. Chancellor)

This is the Chancellor (#31) I remember watching. Chancellor is responsible for the hook zone coverage and sees that Brown (#84) is running the flare route from the slot. Chancellor recognizes that the Steelers are running the slant-flare combo. Lane (#20) is responsible for taking away the flare route so Chancellor has to expand to his outside and jump the slant route if the Seahawks are going to defend this play. Chancellor does this and should of come down with the interception as he cuts in front of Bryant. (31/48, 420 Yards, 1 INT, 3 TDs)