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

Pass #57

Situation: 3rd and 10 PIT 39
Description: Q4-(7:18) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Short Middle to M. Wheaton [B. Irvin]. Penalty on SEA-M. Bennett, Roughing the Passer, 15 Yards, Enforced at PIT 39 - No Play. Penalty on SEA-R. Sherman, Defensive Holding, Declined

Lane (#20) needs to know where the sticks are and not bee too passive in his coverage. Lane is playing off man coverage on Wheaton (#11) and his goal in his coverage is to not be burned deep. In doing this, he gives up the middle of the field to Wheaton and Wheaton is open on the curl route. Lane has to be at least a little more aggressive and not be five yards away from Wheaton once he makes his break. Lane is lucky that Roethlisberger (#7) can’t complete this pass due to the heavy pass rush. Irvin (#51) and Bennett (#72) get good pressure on Roethlisberger as Irvin is a complete mismatch for James (#81) in pass protection and Bennett’s stunt splits DeCastro (#66) and Wallace (#72). Irvin makes a legal hit on Roethlisberger as he is throwing it, but Bennett hits him high and gets called on the easy roughing the passer call. On a side note, I don’t see any blatant defensive holding on Sherman (#25) on this play but the angle of the camera obscures the view so I may be wrong.

Pass #58

Siutation: 1st and 10 SEA 46
Description: Q4-(7:13) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Left to De. Williams to SEA 48 for -2 Yards (M. Morgan)

This is a great head’s up play by Morgan (#57) to sniff out the RB screen and blow it up for a loss. Morgan is responsible for the flat coverage and is sitting in the zone where the Steelers are trying to run the screen to Williams (#34). Roethlisberger (#7) tries to get the defense flowing to the fake screen to Bryant (#10) but Morgan stays home and doesn’t bite on the fake. As soon as he sees Williams leak out of the backfield, he flies upfield and beats Wallace (#72) to the spot to make the tackle. (32/49, 418 Yards, 1 INT, 3 TDs)

Pass #59

Siutuation: 2nd and 12 SEA 48
Description: Q4-(6:36) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Short Middle to A. Brown [B. Irvin]

The coverage by the Seahawks is great on this play and Roethlisberger (#7) is lucky he gets hit by Irvin (#51) on this play. Roethlisberger is trying to hit Wheaton (#11) on the wheel route but Lane does a great job staying over the top of the route and not letting Wheaton get behind. He then senses Bennett (#72) is at his feet and tries to scramble through the gap created by Hill (#97) getting pushed to the outside by Foster (#73). Irvin does a good job of not getting deeper than the ball and runs back downfield to put pressure on Roethlisberger. Irvin’s hit forces the ball to fall short for the incompletion, but this may have been the best case scenario for the Steelers. Sherman (#25) is right on the hip of Brown (#84) and it would have taken a perfect pass for Sherman not to intercept it. (32/50, 420 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #60

Situation: 3rd and 12 SEA 48
Description: Q4-(6:31) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Right to De. Williams to SEA 34 for 14 Yards (B. Wagner; R. Sherman)

Lane (#20) forgets that Williams (#34) outweighs him by 30 lbs and as a result Williams runs right through him. The coverage by the Seahawks is good on this play and the only route they give up is Williams underneath as the release valve. Lane is in perfect position to close down on Williams and make the tackle short of the first down line. Lane forgets the low man wins (especially when the lower man is bigger than him) and William’s hits him in the chest. Combine that with Lane not wrapping up with his arms and Williams easily runs through him for a first down. Lane needs to hit Williams in the thigh and bring his arms through if he going to tackle the bigger Williams. (33/51, 432 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #61

Situation: 1st and 10 SEA 34
Description: Q4-(5:45) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Middle to W. Johnson to SEA 23 for 11 Yards (M. Morgan)

I don’t even know what Wagner (#54) is thinking on this play. He is responsible for the hook zone coverage, but he expands to the outside like he is covering the flat. Morgan (#57) has that responsibility and does a good job getting underneath the go route of Brown (#84). Wagner needs to stay in his responsibility and react to any route coming his way. With Wright (#50) trying to get underneath James’s (#81) seam route, there is no one underneath to cover Johnson (#46) on the crossing route. Roethlisberger (#7) takes advantage of this and the Steelers pick up a first down. (34/52, 443 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #62

Situation: 1st and 10 SEA 23
Description: Q4-(5:09) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Middle to M. Wheaton to SEA 16 for 7 Yards (E. Thomas)

Lane (#20) needs to stay parallel to the line of scrimmage when he is dropping backing in man to man coverage. Lane is playing man to man coverage on Wheaton (#11) and does a good job on not giving up inside leverage on the initial phase of his coverage. Lane turns his hips to the outside slightly when Wheaton is about to make his cut and that is all Wheaton needs to beat Lane to the inside on his in route. Thomas (#29) almost makes a great interception though as he flies upfield to jump the in route when no deep routes come his way. Roethlisberger’s (#7) is perfect though as it is slightly behind Wheaton, preventing Thomas from making the interception. (35/53, 450 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #63

Situation: 2nd and 3 SEA 16
Description: Q4-(4:32) B. Roethlisberger Pass Short Middle to M. Spaeth to SEA 10 for 6 Yards (K. Wright)

It is very tough to cover receivers running delayed routes in zone coverage because zone defenders are going to drop deeper and expand outside in their coverage. This is exactly what Wright (#50) does on this play and it is the right thing to do. Spaeth (#89) comes out late into his route because of his chip block on Bennett (#72) and does a good job of settling underneath the zone coverage. You can argue that Wright should have rallied down to Spaeth immediately, but Wright doesn’t know if a WR is going to run a dig behind him and he can’t give that away. What Wright does well is that he rallies down quickly to Spaeth and doesn’t allow Spaeth to get extra yards after the catch by wrapping him up and driving him backward. (36/54, 456 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)

Pass #64

Situation: 1st and Goal SEA 10
Description: Q4-(3:55) B. Roethlisberger Pass Incomplete Short Left

The coverage on this play is excellent as none of the Steelers rReceivers are able to get open. There may have been a small window that Wheaton (#11) was open on the crossing route where he was underneath Wager (#54) and not quite in Sherman’s (#25) deep outside third zone. Roethlisberger (#7) cannot see this though as Hill (#97) has pushed Villaneuva into Roethlisberger’s field of vision. Roethlisberger is able to get outside of this pressure but by the time he does, Sherman has Wheaton on lock down and Roethlisberger has nowhere to throw this pass. Irvin (#51) is able to beat Foster (#73) to the outside and get pressure on Roethlisberger, forcing Roethlisberger to throw the pass away. (36/55, 456 Yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs)