And Ben Roethlisberger was carving them up. Teammate Doug Baldwin said after the game that he hoped Graham could come back sooner, but at this point, it does indeed appear that Graham’s first season in Seattle, star-crossed as it has been, has come to an abrupt end. In his three seasons, Wheaton had never caught more than five passes nor totaled more than 97 receiving yards in a game.
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Heyward’s dismay is understandable.
Instead, the list was lengthy of everyone who came through late for the Seahawks (6-5), from Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor grabbing interceptions in the fourth quarter, to the touchdown catches of Jermaine Kearse and Baldwin.
Roethlisberger threw for 456 yards, the most ever against the Seahawks, topping the 455 of Philip Rivers in 2010. Wheaton stepped up when the Seahawks doubled outside receivers Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant and had nine catches for 201 yards and a touchdown. Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked five times. He essentially put all the trust to win the game on his defense.
But the Steelers defense was abysmal. Graham reportedly will have season ending surgery, while Roethlisberger is dealing with a concussion.
“The game-sealing touchdown of 80 yards to Doug Baldwin-his third of the day-was the best example, as the 5’10” wideout shook off two Steelers defensive backs just yards past the first-down marker. Mike Mitchell and Antwon Blake missed tackles on that second Baldwin touchdown. Several players have surpassed him in value during the fantasy football season, but he was always a threat to score a touchdown or two. “Five TDs as a passing group? That shouldn’t be sitting well with any of us”. “We’ve got absolutely zero money on the Ravens to massive money on the Browns”, Rood said.
But it’s fair to note that despite the injuries, the Steelers have somehow remained afloat in a crowded wild card competition behind a surprisingly decent defense, and now have a chance to get ahead of the rest with a few more wins.
But sometimes he turns meek unexpectedly.it has to be maddening for a team to see its coach change on the fly like this, even with mitigating circumstances dictating the game flow.
“There wasn’t much of an opportunity to reload in the afternoon”, Rood said, “and the Steelers seemed to be the side most people fell on”. Not that Pittsburgh’s defense is what it used to be, but then again whose is?
The Steelers were inside the five-yard-line without the ability to get a first down when Tomlin sent kicker Chris Boswell into the game and pulled his offense off the field. He had two timeouts left and the two-minute warning.
“I’m just sick about him missing out… breaks my heart that he won’t get to play”, Carroll said. “I felt comfortable with our ability to do it. Obviously, we didn’t”. “When you love the game, you do anything to find a way”.
But Tomlin’s other critical decision was absurd.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) passes against the Seattle Seahawks in the first half, Sunday, in Seattle. The fans in the CenturyLink Field-record crowd of 69,055, which included a remarkable number of Steelers’ rooters twirling gold Terrible Towels, roared for each team as if this was a heavyweight title fight.
Point being, do you look at any of those four teams and think the Seahawks have no shot whatsoever in a rematch?
“They checked to a defensive play”, Steelers guard Ramon Foster said. “It was good to see them do that”. So was Tomlin’s decision to open the second quarter with a fake field goal that had Jones take the place of usual holder Jordan Berry and saw the Steelers shift into an offensive formation on fourth-and-two.
And he was just sick, needing three IVs to make it through a game Sunday against Pittsburgh after waking up feeling terrible. The quarterback seemingly spread the ball around at will to his other targets. But when Roethlisberger goes to the sideline, as he did late in the game to be checked for a concussion, Pittsburgh is close to hopeless.
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It still was a stupid call. Why not just hold up a sign? “I thought our guys fought hard”.
