“We’ve loved Jimmy Graham coming to our team and we are very grateful that he has been a part of it and we are going to miss the heck out of him the rest of the season”, Carroll said, calling it “unfortunate”.
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The downside for Seattle was the loss of tight end Jimmy Graham for the season to a patellar tendon injury in his right knee that will require surgery. That’s Russell Wilson. When his back is against the wall, he plays the best. Starting cornerback Cary Williams, benched in last Sunday’s win over the 49ers, was a healthy scratch in this game, with DeShawn Shead taking his place.
Ben Roethlisberger threw for the third-most yards of his career but it still was not enough as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Steelers 39-30 in a game that changed leads seven times. The Seahawks took a 32-27 lead in the fourth quarter of a thrilling shootout with this score.
The last two times the Steelers played the Seahawks, Pittsburgh shut them out both times, but this would be big Ben Roethlisberger’s first trip to Century Link Field. And this game, in particular, was a crucial one to make sure they didn’t let slip away.
“Our offense put up 30 points, they were moving the ball consistently throughout the game, so I definitely take blame for that defensively”, Pittsburgh linebacker Arthur Moats said.
“We feel like we can run it, we feel like we can throw it. Obviously we felt like the opportunities were there today in the pass game and they were”. They were on it today, man – they were tough to stop. It was the 36th time he was sacked tied for most in the NFL.
ABOUT THE STEELERS (6-4): After being held to 23 points in back-to-back defeats to Kansas City and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh erupted for 68 points in consecutive wins over Oakland and Cleveland prior to its bye. Kearse had four catches for 47 yards and two touchdowns, while Baldwin hauled in six grabs for 147 yards and three touchdowns. Martavis Bryant was also targeted 13 times, and Antonio Brown was targeted 12 times, but neither of them were able to haul in as many catches as Wheaton.
“We’ve been growing with him and you expect certain guys to do things and we’ve expected Jimmy to make some plays and do some special things so it will be a little different”, Carroll said.
So the pass defense is a mess, but the pass offense is now explosive – if we’re going by this one game sample.
Willson believes that Graham could work everything out and be able to come back next year. “So we’re going to treat this like it’s a great football team, which it is, and go in there to a great environment and try to play our best”.
Two decisions will most likely haunt Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin for a long while.
Roethlisberger was intercepted twice, including Richard Sherman’s first of the season, and Landry Jones’ attempt at a late rally ended on Chancellor’s pick at the Seattle 6 with 1:37 left. He followed it up with a 21 yard pass to Kevin Smith and then a 12 yard touchdown pass to Kearse to take back the lead 14-10 with just over 2 minutes to play in the first half. The quarterback seemingly spread the ball around at will to his other targets. A bevy of injuries to Roethlisberger have come and gone, and even with NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal reporting that he’s in concussion protocol following the loss, he still showed on Sunday that he’s as good as ever.
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“It was fun, but it doesn’t mean too much when we lose”, Wheaton told a throng of reporters.
