My final gameday thoughts on Steelers vs. Seahawks today here in the good place:
• Pin those ears back.
Meaning this defense. Meaning the way this defense was designed. Meaning this ...
Everyone gets a Game 1 mulligan, I guess, and that can go for coaches, as well. So the grand gaffe made by Teryl Austin and/or Mike Tomlin can be erased in his home opener as easily as it was in the third quarter of that mess in the swamps last weekend. And that's to get to the backfield, get to the gaps, get to the harder contact ... and gamble if needed.
"That's the plan," one veteran told me Friday before repeating, "That's the plan."
We'll see, yeah?
It'd make maybe even more sense against this opponent. Amid the pageantry of their own home opener this past Sunday in losing to the 49ers, the Seahawks' offense put up 13 points, 230 total yards, one touchdown and two field goals. Sam Darnold's Seattle debut saw a 16-of-23 sputter for 150 yards, and the running back duo of Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker combined for 67 yards on 22 carries, none longer than 8 yards.
How'd it happen?
That Nick Bosa sack sealed victory for the 49ers, and it obviously didn't come on a blitz. In fact, the San Francisco defense didn't do much blitzing throughout, but Robert Saleh, their accomplished defensive coordinator, did dial them up at perfect times, did disguise/fake them well -- as with the sequence above -- and did earn heavy praise in the San Francisco locker room afterward.
As Bosa would tell reporters in Seattle, “Saleh’s the man. He calls it great.”
Let's just say nobody was saying such stuff in East Rutherford.
I asked Jalen Ramsey, Mr. Aggressive himself, how this defense should emerge this week:
Good for him. Be him.
• Even more DK Metcalf? Really?
• Jaylen Warren will wind up getting more snaps than Kenny Gainwell over time, but I'm here to say Gainwell's going to play. And play a lot, as I'd been stressing since early in training camp. They really like him.
So, what's that mean for Kaleb Johnson?
I spent some time with the kid this week to take his temperature a little, and he seemed to have a healthy approach.
"It was my first time out there," he'd say of his quiet opener in East Rutherford, one carry for a two-yard loss. "I'm just going to keep learning from everyone, keep absorbing, and give it everything I've got."
It'll take a while. But then, that'd also been visible through camp.
• That said, they need to run, as a collective, a hell of a lot better than they just did. Leapfrogging ineffective runners shouldn't be some extraordinary exercise.
• Remember, no DeShon Elliott, no Joey Porter and no Derrick Harmon today. That's three entrenched defensive starters out of 11 who'll be out. That's a very real variable.
• Fun story: Back in 2023, I was covering the Pirates in Cincinnati when I asked Canaan Smith-Njigba, an outfielder with them at the time, if the Steelers should draft his brother, Jaxon, out of Ohio State in the NFL Draft.
He asked me where the Steelers were picking.
I answered that they'd be 17th.
"You kiddin' me?" he'd respond. "They'd be crazy to not take him. But to tell you the truth, he's not even gonna be there."
Well, Jaxon was. He'd last until 20th for the Seahawks ... while the Steelers traded up to 14th to take Broderick Jones.
I'm not about to bury Jones, I swear. It's his third NFL season. But I'm plenty comfortable reminding of the massive impact of misfiring in that range of the draft.
• Tomlin has to have the offense introduced, I'd imagine, if only for Rodgers. But also probably best to let some time pass for the Cam Heyward nonsense to blow over.
THE ASYLUM
DK: My final gameday thoughts
My final gameday thoughts on Steelers vs. Seahawks today here in the good place:
• Pin those ears back.
Meaning this defense. Meaning the way this defense was designed. Meaning this ...
Everyone gets a Game 1 mulligan, I guess, and that can go for coaches, as well. So the grand gaffe made by Teryl Austin and/or Mike Tomlin can be erased in his home opener as easily as it was in the third quarter of that mess in the swamps last weekend. And that's to get to the backfield, get to the gaps, get to the harder contact ... and gamble if needed.
"That's the plan," one veteran told me Friday before repeating, "That's the plan."
We'll see, yeah?
It'd make maybe even more sense against this opponent. Amid the pageantry of their own home opener this past Sunday in losing to the 49ers, the Seahawks' offense put up 13 points, 230 total yards, one touchdown and two field goals. Sam Darnold's Seattle debut saw a 16-of-23 sputter for 150 yards, and the running back duo of Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker combined for 67 yards on 22 carries, none longer than 8 yards.
How'd it happen?
That Nick Bosa sack sealed victory for the 49ers, and it obviously didn't come on a blitz. In fact, the San Francisco defense didn't do much blitzing throughout, but Robert Saleh, their accomplished defensive coordinator, did dial them up at perfect times, did disguise/fake them well -- as with the sequence above -- and did earn heavy praise in the San Francisco locker room afterward.
As Bosa would tell reporters in Seattle, “Saleh’s the man. He calls it great.”
Let's just say nobody was saying such stuff in East Rutherford.
I asked Jalen Ramsey, Mr. Aggressive himself, how this defense should emerge this week:
Good for him. Be him.
• Even more DK Metcalf? Really?
• Jaylen Warren will wind up getting more snaps than Kenny Gainwell over time, but I'm here to say Gainwell's going to play. And play a lot, as I'd been stressing since early in training camp. They really like him.
So, what's that mean for Kaleb Johnson?
I spent some time with the kid this week to take his temperature a little, and he seemed to have a healthy approach.
"It was my first time out there," he'd say of his quiet opener in East Rutherford, one carry for a two-yard loss. "I'm just going to keep learning from everyone, keep absorbing, and give it everything I've got."
It'll take a while. But then, that'd also been visible through camp.
• That said, they need to run, as a collective, a hell of a lot better than they just did. Leapfrogging ineffective runners shouldn't be some extraordinary exercise.
• Remember, no DeShon Elliott, no Joey Porter and no Derrick Harmon today. That's three entrenched defensive starters out of 11 who'll be out. That's a very real variable.
• Fun story: Back in 2023, I was covering the Pirates in Cincinnati when I asked Canaan Smith-Njigba, an outfielder with them at the time, if the Steelers should draft his brother, Jaxon, out of Ohio State in the NFL Draft.
He asked me where the Steelers were picking.
I answered that they'd be 17th.
"You kiddin' me?" he'd respond. "They'd be crazy to not take him. But to tell you the truth, he's not even gonna be there."
Well, Jaxon was. He'd last until 20th for the Seahawks ... while the Steelers traded up to 14th to take Broderick Jones.
I'm not about to bury Jones, I swear. It's his third NFL season. But I'm plenty comfortable reminding of the massive impact of misfiring in that range of the draft.
• Tomlin has to have the offense introduced, I'd imagine, if only for Rodgers. But also probably best to let some time pass for the Cam Heyward nonsense to blow over.
• Have fun, everyone. These days are blessings.
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