December 27, 2023 • 18 mins
Matt and Tom break down the Steelers upcoming matchup in Seattle against the Seahawks
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got some work to do. This is the advanced
scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson. Dealers are able
to snap their three game losing streak beating the Bengals
at Akroshur Stadium last Saturday. Seattle has won two of
their last two games, but they had the four game
losing streak before that. Steelers are three and three on
the road. They'll finish out the regular season on the road.
(00:22):
They traveled to Baltimore after this week in Seattle. The
Seahawks are five and two at home, and they conclude
their season with a road game in Arizona. So this
is the home finale for Seattle. Pittsburgh has a minus
thirty four point differential and Seattle has a minus thirty
two point differential. It's funny, Matt, you know, with Pete
Carroll Mike Tomlin, you know, those coaches kind of near
each other in my eyes, the teams always seem to
(00:43):
miror each other in my eyes. And lo and behold
here we are week seventeen. They're both eight and seven.
They're both fighting for their playoff line.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I mean, I put like Sean Payton in Harbaugh and
some of those guys in that same category where I
think they're gonna end up his Hall of Famers. They've
been doing this a long time, you know, to win
games like last year, you know, going into the season
last year, Carrol's you know, trades Russell Wilson and we're
gonna go with Drew Locke or Gino Smith and I'm like,
(01:11):
what on earth are you thinking? You know, and had
a successful year yet again, I mean it's a quality.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Coach and now both quarterbacks have won him big games. Yes,
this season, Drew Locke winning a couple of weeks ago
in Philadelphia. Is Seattle a little bit better than their
record in your eyes? Per EPAU four teams have a
tougher schedule than Seattle and the stretch they just came
off of where they had that four game losing streak
the exactly and Philly was a fifth game, but they
ended up pulling that one out against the Eagles. But
(01:38):
I mean it was murderers row. I mean, I think
the Niners twice in there. It's just tough for them
to you know, overcome that have a winning record in
that stretch. But they bought him out completely.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yes, I do think they are better than that. Yes,
I think the offense in particular has great skill position players.
I mean the two rookies Smith Jigba and sharbon Ay
have been real nice additions to Walker Locket Metcalf. Of
course two young tackles. Gino's fine. I mean he's a
good passer of the football and it's a well designed offense.
(02:10):
And they have some young guys on defense that are
exciting too, So that match with being well coached. Yeah,
I think they're pretty quality playoff team.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Before we get to the serious history, it might not
be the cleanest game as far as Seattle's concerned. They've
committed more penalties than all but two teams in the NFL,
and Seahawks have more penalty yardage against them sixty one
yards per game than any other team in the NFL.
So not a very disciplined bunch and no, Matt I
was actually pretty surprised to find this out. No team
in the league has fewer pre stat penalties than Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I didn't know that either.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That has been a massive theme amongst the citizens in
Pittsburgh recently, is you know, all, can you think that
right Chukes goes in, he can't line up right they
have all these problems lining up right, but apparently they're
better than most of the league. Actually, they're better than
all of the league at it.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, so it's funny, like just to pull back the
curtain a little bit. There's a lot of different spots
I go to to find these stats, and you know,
looking there and be like, boy, they're high in penalties
or not, you know if it's if they're real outliers.
But I had heard maybe it'soring the broadcast. Someone said,
you know, Seattle's the worst team in the league with penalties.
So went to the site that had broke it down
heavily to see what's the problems, and they are horrible.
(03:15):
But then I found that little nugge with the Steelers
there too. I'm like, wow, wouldn't have guessed that in
the Millionaires.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, quick series history between these two teams, the Steelers
in the Seahawks have only squared up twenty times and
the series has split evenly at ten and ten. So
what a big matchup this Sunday in Seattle, Matt for
inch the team wins inch in front of the other. However,
of course, the most important of those twenty matchups came
in super Bowl forty and it went Pittsburgh's way. During
(03:42):
the Seahawks' long stint as an AFC team, the Steelers
and Seattle never met in the playoffs. Nineteen seventy six
was Seattle's first season in the NFL. This series began
in nineteen seventy seven, Pittsburgh winning that game as well
as another the following season. Most recent matchup was in
twenty twenty one, a game the Steelers won in overtime
in Pittsburgh. This has been a very back and forth
serious history, with neither team, of course, excluding the Super Bowl,
(04:05):
having won more than two in a row at any
point since nineteen seventy seven, and the last time the
Steelers have won in Seattle was in nineteen eighty three.
That is a drought as far as that West coast.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, forty years, and they don't go there often. I
mean they go there every eight years or so, but
still it's quite a bit of a stint.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Taking a look at Seattle's offense to start things out,
you know, I don't really know what they do well,
at least the statistics don't really tell you. Yeah, well,
stuck in the middle in passing yards per game at
like fifteenth or twenty second in total offense. Their points
per game is nineteenth in the NFL. They don't give
the ball away very much, true, and they only have
sixteen giveaways on the season, but they do allow two
(04:44):
and a half sacks per game, so I mean, protection
is not the best that it could be. The average
five point four yards per play of the season, it's
actually gone down in their most recent three games to
five point two. They do throw the ball sixty one
point seven percent of the time, and that's highest than
the or sixth highest in the league. But over the
last three games that's even gone up to a sixty
three percent, So maybe that's what they do or what
they want to do, is throw the football, And that
(05:05):
makes sense when you look at the personnel.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, they were, yes and no, I mean like they
were last year twenty twenty two. They've used more twelve
personnel with two tight ends on the field than any
team in the league. So in the first round they
draft the slot receiver and thinking you're gonna go three
wide a lot and throw the ball a ton, and
they have I mean, then they strangely are just kind
(05:28):
of a tangent. This is the third week in a row.
The Steelers are going to see a tight end room
of just like three or four good not great guys,
you know what I mean. Like, no one's a standout,
it's just odd. But their three receivers are really dangerous
and they do throw the ball fair amount.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You no a fan one of those tight ends coming
over from Denver and the Russell Wilson trade. Gino Smith
is the quarterback now that he is healthy. Goes back
in last week against Tennessee. That was his fourth game
winning drive this season, which at the end of the league,
yes he does. He threw for two hundred and twenty
seven yards and two touchdowns in the second half in Tennessee,
and the Seahawks scored on their three second half drives
(06:07):
against the Titans en route to pulling off that victory
and staying alive in the playoff race for the Arly
Wild Cards. Very slow start, very concerning for Seattle, I'm
sure for getting off that schnin against Philadelphia. Oh, we
don't want to put our our butts back in the
jackpot here by losing this game to Tennessee. But they
were able to get back on track, and you know,
Drew Locke played well in his absence. I don't think
(06:29):
it sparked debates like quite like here in Pittsburgh. As
far as you should.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Start, he knows the guy, Yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
How much of the guy is Geno is where I'm
kind of going with that, because this is for sure
a drop off from what they saw last year. And
do you really want to tie yourself to him for
much longer into your future or are you just simply
stuck with him now if you're Seattle.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, I don't think his contract super brutal, and Locke
is probably a long term two. I could see a
draft pick being at quarterback this year. Yeah, maybe it's
a day two to one, but I could see them
doing something to build a contingency playing going forward.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Well, The nest is there for quarterbacks. They've got great weapons.
The top three wide receivers are DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett,
and Jackson Smith in Jigba. Metcalf has eight touchdown receptions.
It's only behind Tyreek Kill, Mike Evans, and Courtland Sutton
amongst the NFL's wide receivers, and he's eighth in end
zone targets with fourteen targets. While he's in the end zone.
(07:24):
I think they're all three pretty good Jason Smith and
Jigmah rookie coming along, but very different. DK I think
is the alpha of this group.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, and I think he gets Porter. Yeah. I mean
I would think, what do.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You think about that matchup?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean, I'm cool with it. I meant physical dB. Yeah,
and he's.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
He's the physical receiver in football.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean it's a battle. Metcalf played really well lately.
One thing about Metcalf you have to mention he's very
volatile in terms of like taking penalties and get kicked
out of games, and you can get under his skin. Okay, yeah,
I mean, but well.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Good thing Joey Porter Junior doesn't like the trash talk.
That probably won't probably fact.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
In influence at all.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Now, they have three really good receivers and they're all
very different. Smith and Jigs a slot route runner. Lockett's,
you know, the smaller jitterbug. He might be taking a
step back at this stage of his career. Metcalfs the alpha,
as you said.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Well interesting you said that about Lockett. You pointed out
in your stat pack only Calvin Ridley point four to
three averages fewer yards after first contact the Lockett point
five to three baking. If you're you're little the june
bug wide receiver, there's a lot wide receiver. I want
him breaking a couple tackles here and there, and he's
just not doing it this year. You know, it's catch
right out of bounds. So is that part of what
(08:33):
you're saying, maybe taking a little bit of a step
back or was that never really part of his game?
Was he always kind of more like, I'm just gonna
get down here. I'm going to just step out of
the mountains.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
If you get him a little bit of space, he
would run away from people and make you miss with
jitterbug stuff. There's powers not part of his game, gourse,
but he was a separator and then would turn it
up field. I think you're just seeing less of that.
I think he's not quite as explosive.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
As it used to be.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Now they like to use Smith and jig By around
the line of scrimmage too, right, Yeah, six point five
average depth of target is third lowest in the lead,
and his average ardge per reception at ten point two
is eighth lowest. But I mean Smith and Jigba is
a guy that can make a lot of people miss,
so I ask that mentality that they have with him.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I also think that just fits where Metcalf and lock
It a line too. I mean, I think Smith and
Jig was more than capable of being an outside receiver.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Smith and Jake, We're gonna start pushing lock It out
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I think that's an eventual play.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, I mean a year from now, or probably or
year or two from now, we'll probably Metcalf and JSN.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
But right now he's doing more and more from the slot,
and he's impressive.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Coming along better. I know he had a little bit
of a struggle getting the football early in the season.
How could you not with the weapons that are around him,
But I mean scored the game when he touchdown against
the Eagles. I think they've been really pleased with this progress.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, he doesn't play. He's sitting any kind of rookie wall.
He was my favorite receiver in that class, A good player.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Well, speaking of Joey Porter junior, he's probably gonna draw
DK Metcalf. How do you do last week? Well, Tee
Higgins had five catches for one hundred and forty yards
and of course the big touchdown. But when he was
matched up on Joey Porter Jr. For thirty two of
his forty routes run, Higgins ca just one catch for
fifteen yards. So again, Porter Junior just passes every test
you throw in front of him. So how do you
not have confidence with him against somebody like DK. Yeah,
(10:07):
because he's just every every single box that needs check,
Porter Junior does it emphatically.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, I'm sure people thought Higgins got him, you know,
if he watched DAPE, he really didn't.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
No, I mean the play. I can see the play
in my head where Higgins went for the touchdown. It
was a clear zone by the Steelers defense. Porter Junior
didn't even pretend to guard see Higgins play. He was
right there for the running back trying to leak out
into the flat. One last thing on DK metcalf. You know,
he's such a specimen. Oh wow, just if you had
to you know, if there's like the World's Strongest Man
(10:37):
competition for NFL athletes, he'd win it. You know. Yeah,
the body is sculpted by the gods, but he uses
that physicality too, right, Like it's not just all for show.
Like he's a very tough matchup and he'll put a
lot of DB's in the dirt.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah yeah, I mean he's hard to tackle, he's aggressive.
Everything about him's physical, powerful. Even the way he strides
is real, you know, big powerful strider down the field,
eats up space. Not a great change of direction guy,
but gotten a lot better with inbreaking routes and things
like that too.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Now what about Kenneth Walker and Zach Sharboney, who they
basically have all of Seattle's rushing yards? Yeah, they have
three hundred and fifty four as a team. Hundred and
two of them are to those two. Three point two
percent of Seattle's carries the season have gone for twenty
eight plus yards. Only three offenses are better. So I
can hit you pretty much with a home run every
(11:27):
now and then.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Charbone has certainly been a success, but he's certainly the
number two. He's a good reminds me of James Conner
a little bit in his prime. You know, good physical player,
good receiver, does it all well. Tough Walker to me
is very good. I mean he's not a great receiver,
but he's got great feet, phenomenal contact balance, home run abilities.
(11:49):
I bet those long runs are mostly.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
His switching things over to the defensive side of the football.
Seattle very bad against the run match twenty seven League,
very uncharacteristic of a Pete Carroll defense and that Seattle
defense that we're used to, but another team that kind
of matches up well for the Steelers offense and what
they like to do to stay and you know, head
of the chains, and Tomlin even spoke about that the
(12:12):
day and his press conference. The environment that you're in,
you know, second and long, third and longs, that's not
good business there. It's no, you're not going to be
successful very often. So you got to stay in front
of the change. And this is a run defense that
will allow you to do that. And then as far
as a yards per play basis, Seahawks defense gives up
five point three five point three excuse me, expected points
(12:33):
added per play. It's five point three, but six point
one over their last three games, so they're getting worse.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It's been rough the last week games, but it's.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Five point one as far as expected points added on
defense per play at home, so that home field advantage
definitely still is a thing and it's.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
A hard place to play. The crowd is bonkers the
key I mean sort of as it has been is
success on early downs, particularly in the run game, which
they can be pushed around.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You know, if you just look.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
At EPA over the last month or so, I always
do that every week, they're like one of the best
in the league in offense, one of the worst in
the league in defense, you know, and so they're they
can be had on that side of the ball. They
are young, they're not super physical, but they have some
athletes and some good draft picks. But they rush the
past pretty well too. You don't want to be third
(13:22):
and eight in that environment.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Oh yeah, no, no doubt about it. You know. That's
the thing that's so weird about, you know, seeing their
defensive numbers not be great because I've seen guys on
this defense that are recognizable names. And you know, Devin
Witherspoon's on the injury report, so you don't know what
you're going to see out of him. But he's having
a really good year, yeah, his rookie season.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And him and Porter been the two best corners. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And you pointed out that Seahawks defense is seeing an
average depth of target of seven point five yards downfield,
and that is the eighth lowest in the NFL. So
people aren't really attacking the secondary downfield for Seattle. Is
that because the run defense is so bad or because
there's actual dudes in that secondary.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I also think the pass rush is something to do
with it too.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I mean they rush on stand back, but.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I think that's something to do with it.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I think you want an attack underneath their pretty heavy
zone team as well. You can kind of pick them
apart a little bit with zone stuff as opposed to
challengeing deep downfield.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And their corners are good.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, Seattle's defense is forty five sacks on the season.
Only five teams have more than them.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And you know they don't have a sack master.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
They don't really have a sack master at all. It's
coming from all angles. But is there one guy that
you might You know, PEG has got to worry on
that guy. You'll hear that guy's name probably on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
They traded for Leonard Williams at the deadline, who's he
is an affiliation with Pete Carroll going back to the US.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Is a good interior player for the veteran presence.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, boy, Mafey's had a really good second season
as an edge guy.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
They will blitz a fair amount.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
I mean, I don't know if he'll play, but like
Jamal Adams is a good pass rusher as safeties.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
No doubt one of the best pass rushing safeties. In fact,
Mafey has the most sacks on the team with nine,
and then Jared Reid's behind him with seven, and then
no other Seahawk player has more than four and a
half sacks committee approach on the season. Seattle gave up
one hundred and sixty two yards on the ground last
week to TENNESSEEE three ball carriers eclipse thirty seven yards
against them five point six yards per carry over the
(15:09):
past three weeks. It is the worst in the league. So,
I mean, the run defense is just the dam has
broken on that. That's and the Steelers have got to
really ride Naugy and really ride Jay then Moore on
the road. Yeah, make it easier on Mason Rudolph, who
we think is probably going to start.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I mean, it's early in the week and I haven't
done all my research, but it really seems, really seems
like the key is the Steelers run the ball really
well on the road against a bad run defense or not.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I mean, it might might be what it comes down.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
To one last thing before we get to our key matchups.
That another Steeler stat that kind of had me scratching
my head. Seventy seven point four percent of the Steelers
carries this season have gone for a yard or more.
Only four offenses are worse, but five point seven percent
of their carries have gone for fifteen plus yards. Four
offenses are better. The Seattle's defense, by the way, has
a lot five point eight percent of the carries against
them to go for fifteen plus yards, which is the
(15:56):
fourth highest. So the Steelers have a lot of home
run to this running game, crazy and that hasn't always
been the case.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And a little more boom or bust than you think, right.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And Naji and Warren don't either of them don't strike
me as home run backs.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
No, and explosive runs were a real problem a year ago,
and they're getting a lot more of them this year.
And they're not all Warren. I mean, Nagy's breaking off
his share as well.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Nagi's up towards the league lead as far as twenty
plus yard runs. Yeah he is, so who would have
figured that would have been the case. Seahawks defense has
given up one hundred and sixteen first downs on the
ground only defense. Only two defenses have allowed more. So,
you know, when you're going into a hostile environment on
the road and you've turned them out late December, you
want to play defense and you want to run the football,
(16:36):
and this team pretty much obliges you in the running
the football.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
If you could turn out a bunch of first yard,
first down yards or first downs on the ground, you
probably win all right.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Key matchups in this game. Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf
for Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Junior. I just feel like,
now now that Pittsburgh has that shutdown corner, it's been
so long that every week we're just like a who's
next going to job? It is fun and seeing if
you can erase the side of the field. Yeah, and
he's done it so far, so let's see what he
can do against the K.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah. He's really making a name for himself. He's turning
into a star very quickly.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
And then finally Steel's running back Naujie Harris for a
Steelers inside linebacker. I can't believe he's still doing this
here in Seattle. Bobby Wagner. Yeah, I mean, obviously not
the same. Bobby Wagner is not from the legion of Boom,
but I still think a serviceable inside back. And the
brain's got to be there.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Oh, the brain's there real quick. I mean two household
names we mentioned, Adams and now Wagner. They're paying these
guys a fair amount of money. They're greatly respected.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
They may be.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Doing more harm than good though at the stage of
their career.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
You know, I mean, it costs too much money.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
They cost a lot, and you know, Adams could get
picked on in coverage. He's closer to a linebacker than
a safety. Wagner just isn't the player used to be,
and he's an easy Hall of Famer. But I bet
he hangs it up after this year.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I would not be surprised about that. Such a weird
thing with him too, with that one stint in LA programs.
Other than that, a Seahawk for life and certainly one
of the better Seahawks players defensively in team history. But
Steelers will try to solve him and try to solve
that Seattle defense. Get a win against Seattle and stay
alive in the AFC playoff race. Kickoff is at four
to five in Seattle for Matt Williamson on Tom Opferman.
(18:11):
As always, we appreciate you giving us a listen, and
we'll talk to you next week on the Advanced Scout
We got some work to do. This is the advanced
scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson. Dealers are able
to snap their three game losing streak beating the Bengals
at Akroshur Stadium last Saturday. Seattle has won two of
their last two games, but they had the four game
losing streak before that. Steelers are three and three on
the road. They'll finish out the regular season on the road.
(00:22):
They traveled to Baltimore after this week in Seattle. The
Seahawks are five and two at home, and they conclude
their season with a road game in Arizona. So this
is the home finale for Seattle. Pittsburgh has a minus
thirty four point differential and Seattle has a minus thirty
two point differential. It's funny, Matt, you know, with Pete
Carroll Mike Tomlin, you know, those coaches kind of near
each other in my eyes, the teams always seem to
(00:43):
miror each other in my eyes. And lo and behold
here we are week seventeen. They're both eight and seven.
They're both fighting for their playoff line.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I mean, I put like Sean Payton in Harbaugh and
some of those guys in that same category where I
think they're gonna end up his Hall of Famers. They've
been doing this a long time, you know, to win
games like last year, you know, going into the season
last year, Carrol's you know, trades Russell Wilson and we're
gonna go with Drew Locke or Gino Smith and I'm like,
(01:11):
what on earth are you thinking? You know, and had
a successful year yet again, I mean it's a quality.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Coach and now both quarterbacks have won him big games. Yes,
this season, Drew Locke winning a couple of weeks ago
in Philadelphia. Is Seattle a little bit better than their
record in your eyes? Per EPAU four teams have a
tougher schedule than Seattle and the stretch they just came
off of where they had that four game losing streak
the exactly and Philly was a fifth game, but they
ended up pulling that one out against the Eagles. But
(01:38):
I mean it was murderers row. I mean, I think
the Niners twice in there. It's just tough for them
to you know, overcome that have a winning record in
that stretch. But they bought him out completely.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yes, I do think they are better than that. Yes,
I think the offense in particular has great skill position players.
I mean the two rookies Smith Jigba and sharbon Ay
have been real nice additions to Walker Locket Metcalf. Of
course two young tackles. Gino's fine. I mean he's a
good passer of the football and it's a well designed offense.
(02:10):
And they have some young guys on defense that are
exciting too, So that match with being well coached. Yeah,
I think they're pretty quality playoff team.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Before we get to the serious history, it might not
be the cleanest game as far as Seattle's concerned. They've
committed more penalties than all but two teams in the NFL,
and Seahawks have more penalty yardage against them sixty one
yards per game than any other team in the NFL.
So not a very disciplined bunch and no, Matt I
was actually pretty surprised to find this out. No team
in the league has fewer pre stat penalties than Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I didn't know that either.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That has been a massive theme amongst the citizens in
Pittsburgh recently, is you know, all, can you think that
right Chukes goes in, he can't line up right they
have all these problems lining up right, but apparently they're
better than most of the league. Actually, they're better than
all of the league at it.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, so it's funny, like just to pull back the
curtain a little bit. There's a lot of different spots
I go to to find these stats, and you know,
looking there and be like, boy, they're high in penalties
or not, you know if it's if they're real outliers.
But I had heard maybe it'soring the broadcast. Someone said,
you know, Seattle's the worst team in the league with penalties.
So went to the site that had broke it down
heavily to see what's the problems, and they are horrible.
(03:15):
But then I found that little nugge with the Steelers
there too. I'm like, wow, wouldn't have guessed that in
the Millionaires.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, quick series history between these two teams, the Steelers
in the Seahawks have only squared up twenty times and
the series has split evenly at ten and ten. So
what a big matchup this Sunday in Seattle, Matt for
inch the team wins inch in front of the other. However,
of course, the most important of those twenty matchups came
in super Bowl forty and it went Pittsburgh's way. During
(03:42):
the Seahawks' long stint as an AFC team, the Steelers
and Seattle never met in the playoffs. Nineteen seventy six
was Seattle's first season in the NFL. This series began
in nineteen seventy seven, Pittsburgh winning that game as well
as another the following season. Most recent matchup was in
twenty twenty one, a game the Steelers won in overtime
in Pittsburgh. This has been a very back and forth
serious history, with neither team, of course, excluding the Super Bowl,
(04:05):
having won more than two in a row at any
point since nineteen seventy seven, and the last time the
Steelers have won in Seattle was in nineteen eighty three.
That is a drought as far as that West coast.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, forty years, and they don't go there often. I
mean they go there every eight years or so, but
still it's quite a bit of a stint.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Taking a look at Seattle's offense to start things out,
you know, I don't really know what they do well,
at least the statistics don't really tell you. Yeah, well,
stuck in the middle in passing yards per game at
like fifteenth or twenty second in total offense. Their points
per game is nineteenth in the NFL. They don't give
the ball away very much, true, and they only have
sixteen giveaways on the season, but they do allow two
(04:44):
and a half sacks per game, so I mean, protection
is not the best that it could be. The average
five point four yards per play of the season, it's
actually gone down in their most recent three games to
five point two. They do throw the ball sixty one
point seven percent of the time, and that's highest than
the or sixth highest in the league. But over the
last three games that's even gone up to a sixty
three percent, So maybe that's what they do or what
they want to do, is throw the football, And that
(05:05):
makes sense when you look at the personnel.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, they were, yes and no, I mean like they
were last year twenty twenty two. They've used more twelve
personnel with two tight ends on the field than any
team in the league. So in the first round they
draft the slot receiver and thinking you're gonna go three
wide a lot and throw the ball a ton, and
they have I mean, then they strangely are just kind
(05:28):
of a tangent. This is the third week in a row.
The Steelers are going to see a tight end room
of just like three or four good not great guys,
you know what I mean. Like, no one's a standout,
it's just odd. But their three receivers are really dangerous
and they do throw the ball fair amount.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You no a fan one of those tight ends coming
over from Denver and the Russell Wilson trade. Gino Smith
is the quarterback now that he is healthy. Goes back
in last week against Tennessee. That was his fourth game
winning drive this season, which at the end of the league,
yes he does. He threw for two hundred and twenty
seven yards and two touchdowns in the second half in Tennessee,
and the Seahawks scored on their three second half drives
(06:07):
against the Titans en route to pulling off that victory
and staying alive in the playoff race for the Arly
Wild Cards. Very slow start, very concerning for Seattle, I'm
sure for getting off that schnin against Philadelphia. Oh, we
don't want to put our our butts back in the
jackpot here by losing this game to Tennessee. But they
were able to get back on track, and you know,
Drew Locke played well in his absence. I don't think
(06:29):
it sparked debates like quite like here in Pittsburgh. As
far as you should.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Start, he knows the guy, Yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
How much of the guy is Geno is where I'm
kind of going with that, because this is for sure
a drop off from what they saw last year. And
do you really want to tie yourself to him for
much longer into your future or are you just simply
stuck with him now if you're Seattle.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, I don't think his contract super brutal, and Locke
is probably a long term two. I could see a
draft pick being at quarterback this year. Yeah, maybe it's
a day two to one, but I could see them
doing something to build a contingency playing going forward.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Well, The nest is there for quarterbacks. They've got great weapons.
The top three wide receivers are DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett,
and Jackson Smith in Jigba. Metcalf has eight touchdown receptions.
It's only behind Tyreek Kill, Mike Evans, and Courtland Sutton
amongst the NFL's wide receivers, and he's eighth in end
zone targets with fourteen targets. While he's in the end zone.
(07:24):
I think they're all three pretty good Jason Smith and
Jigmah rookie coming along, but very different. DK I think
is the alpha of this group.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, and I think he gets Porter. Yeah. I mean
I would think, what do.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You think about that matchup?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
I mean, I'm cool with it. I meant physical dB. Yeah,
and he's.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
He's the physical receiver in football.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean it's a battle. Metcalf played really well lately.
One thing about Metcalf you have to mention he's very
volatile in terms of like taking penalties and get kicked
out of games, and you can get under his skin. Okay, yeah,
I mean, but well.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Good thing Joey Porter Junior doesn't like the trash talk.
That probably won't probably fact.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
In influence at all.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Now, they have three really good receivers and they're all
very different. Smith and Jigs a slot route runner. Lockett's,
you know, the smaller jitterbug. He might be taking a
step back at this stage of his career. Metcalfs the alpha,
as you said.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Well interesting you said that about Lockett. You pointed out
in your stat pack only Calvin Ridley point four to
three averages fewer yards after first contact the Lockett point
five to three baking. If you're you're little the june
bug wide receiver, there's a lot wide receiver. I want
him breaking a couple tackles here and there, and he's
just not doing it this year. You know, it's catch
right out of bounds. So is that part of what
(08:33):
you're saying, maybe taking a little bit of a step
back or was that never really part of his game?
Was he always kind of more like, I'm just gonna
get down here. I'm going to just step out of
the mountains.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
If you get him a little bit of space, he
would run away from people and make you miss with
jitterbug stuff. There's powers not part of his game, gourse,
but he was a separator and then would turn it
up field. I think you're just seeing less of that.
I think he's not quite as explosive.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
As it used to be.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Now they like to use Smith and jig By around
the line of scrimmage too, right, Yeah, six point five
average depth of target is third lowest in the lead,
and his average ardge per reception at ten point two
is eighth lowest. But I mean Smith and Jigba is
a guy that can make a lot of people miss,
so I ask that mentality that they have with him.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I also think that just fits where Metcalf and lock
It a line too. I mean, I think Smith and
Jig was more than capable of being an outside receiver.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Smith and Jake, We're gonna start pushing lock It out
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I think that's an eventual play.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, I mean a year from now, or probably or
year or two from now, we'll probably Metcalf and JSN.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
But right now he's doing more and more from the slot,
and he's impressive.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Coming along better. I know he had a little bit
of a struggle getting the football early in the season.
How could you not with the weapons that are around him,
But I mean scored the game when he touchdown against
the Eagles. I think they've been really pleased with this progress.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, he doesn't play. He's sitting any kind of rookie wall.
He was my favorite receiver in that class, A good player.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Well, speaking of Joey Porter junior, he's probably gonna draw
DK Metcalf. How do you do last week? Well, Tee
Higgins had five catches for one hundred and forty yards
and of course the big touchdown. But when he was
matched up on Joey Porter Jr. For thirty two of
his forty routes run, Higgins ca just one catch for
fifteen yards. So again, Porter Junior just passes every test
you throw in front of him. So how do you
not have confidence with him against somebody like DK. Yeah,
(10:07):
because he's just every every single box that needs check,
Porter Junior does it emphatically.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, I'm sure people thought Higgins got him, you know,
if he watched DAPE, he really didn't.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
No, I mean the play. I can see the play
in my head where Higgins went for the touchdown. It
was a clear zone by the Steelers defense. Porter Junior
didn't even pretend to guard see Higgins play. He was
right there for the running back trying to leak out
into the flat. One last thing on DK metcalf. You know,
he's such a specimen. Oh wow, just if you had
to you know, if there's like the World's Strongest Man
(10:37):
competition for NFL athletes, he'd win it. You know. Yeah,
the body is sculpted by the gods, but he uses
that physicality too, right, Like it's not just all for show.
Like he's a very tough matchup and he'll put a
lot of DB's in the dirt.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah yeah, I mean he's hard to tackle, he's aggressive.
Everything about him's physical, powerful. Even the way he strides
is real, you know, big powerful strider down the field,
eats up space. Not a great change of direction guy,
but gotten a lot better with inbreaking routes and things
like that too.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Now what about Kenneth Walker and Zach Sharboney, who they
basically have all of Seattle's rushing yards? Yeah, they have
three hundred and fifty four as a team. Hundred and
two of them are to those two. Three point two
percent of Seattle's carries the season have gone for twenty
eight plus yards. Only three offenses are better. So I
can hit you pretty much with a home run every
(11:27):
now and then.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Charbone has certainly been a success, but he's certainly the
number two. He's a good reminds me of James Conner
a little bit in his prime. You know, good physical player,
good receiver, does it all well. Tough Walker to me
is very good. I mean he's not a great receiver,
but he's got great feet, phenomenal contact balance, home run abilities.
(11:49):
I bet those long runs are mostly.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
His switching things over to the defensive side of the football.
Seattle very bad against the run match twenty seven League,
very uncharacteristic of a Pete Carroll defense and that Seattle
defense that we're used to, but another team that kind
of matches up well for the Steelers offense and what
they like to do to stay and you know, head
of the chains, and Tomlin even spoke about that the
(12:12):
day and his press conference. The environment that you're in,
you know, second and long, third and longs, that's not
good business there. It's no, you're not going to be
successful very often. So you got to stay in front
of the change. And this is a run defense that
will allow you to do that. And then as far
as a yards per play basis, Seahawks defense gives up
five point three five point three excuse me, expected points
(12:33):
added per play. It's five point three, but six point
one over their last three games, so they're getting worse.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It's been rough the last week games, but it's.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Five point one as far as expected points added on
defense per play at home, so that home field advantage
definitely still is a thing and it's.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
A hard place to play. The crowd is bonkers the
key I mean sort of as it has been is
success on early downs, particularly in the run game, which
they can be pushed around.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You know, if you just look.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
At EPA over the last month or so, I always
do that every week, they're like one of the best
in the league in offense, one of the worst in
the league in defense, you know, and so they're they
can be had on that side of the ball. They
are young, they're not super physical, but they have some
athletes and some good draft picks. But they rush the
past pretty well too. You don't want to be third
(13:22):
and eight in that environment.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Oh yeah, no, no doubt about it. You know. That's
the thing that's so weird about, you know, seeing their
defensive numbers not be great because I've seen guys on
this defense that are recognizable names. And you know, Devin
Witherspoon's on the injury report, so you don't know what
you're going to see out of him. But he's having
a really good year, yeah, his rookie season.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
And him and Porter been the two best corners. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And you pointed out that Seahawks defense is seeing an
average depth of target of seven point five yards downfield,
and that is the eighth lowest in the NFL. So
people aren't really attacking the secondary downfield for Seattle. Is
that because the run defense is so bad or because
there's actual dudes in that secondary.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I also think the pass rush is something to do
with it too.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I mean they rush on stand back, but.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I think that's something to do with it.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I think you want an attack underneath their pretty heavy
zone team as well. You can kind of pick them
apart a little bit with zone stuff as opposed to
challengeing deep downfield.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And their corners are good.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, Seattle's defense is forty five sacks on the season.
Only five teams have more than them.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
And you know they don't have a sack master.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
They don't really have a sack master at all. It's
coming from all angles. But is there one guy that
you might You know, PEG has got to worry on
that guy. You'll hear that guy's name probably on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
They traded for Leonard Williams at the deadline, who's he
is an affiliation with Pete Carroll going back to the US.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Is a good interior player for the veteran presence.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, boy, Mafey's had a really good second season
as an edge guy.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
They will blitz a fair amount.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
I mean, I don't know if he'll play, but like
Jamal Adams is a good pass rusher as safeties.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
No doubt one of the best pass rushing safeties. In fact,
Mafey has the most sacks on the team with nine,
and then Jared Reid's behind him with seven, and then
no other Seahawk player has more than four and a
half sacks committee approach on the season. Seattle gave up
one hundred and sixty two yards on the ground last
week to TENNESSEEE three ball carriers eclipse thirty seven yards
against them five point six yards per carry over the
(15:09):
past three weeks. It is the worst in the league. So,
I mean, the run defense is just the dam has
broken on that. That's and the Steelers have got to
really ride Naugy and really ride Jay then Moore on
the road. Yeah, make it easier on Mason Rudolph, who
we think is probably going to start.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I mean, it's early in the week and I haven't
done all my research, but it really seems, really seems
like the key is the Steelers run the ball really
well on the road against a bad run defense or not.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I mean, it might might be what it comes down.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
To one last thing before we get to our key matchups.
That another Steeler stat that kind of had me scratching
my head. Seventy seven point four percent of the Steelers
carries this season have gone for a yard or more.
Only four offenses are worse, but five point seven percent
of their carries have gone for fifteen plus yards. Four
offenses are better. The Seattle's defense, by the way, has
a lot five point eight percent of the carries against
them to go for fifteen plus yards, which is the
(15:56):
fourth highest. So the Steelers have a lot of home
run to this running game, crazy and that hasn't always
been the case.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And a little more boom or bust than you think, right.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And Naji and Warren don't either of them don't strike
me as home run backs.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
No, and explosive runs were a real problem a year ago,
and they're getting a lot more of them this year.
And they're not all Warren. I mean, Nagy's breaking off
his share as well.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Nagi's up towards the league lead as far as twenty
plus yard runs. Yeah he is, so who would have
figured that would have been the case. Seahawks defense has
given up one hundred and sixteen first downs on the
ground only defense. Only two defenses have allowed more. So,
you know, when you're going into a hostile environment on
the road and you've turned them out late December, you
want to play defense and you want to run the football,
(16:36):
and this team pretty much obliges you in the running
the football.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
If you could turn out a bunch of first yard,
first down yards or first downs on the ground, you
probably win all right.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Key matchups in this game. Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf
for Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Junior. I just feel like,
now now that Pittsburgh has that shutdown corner, it's been
so long that every week we're just like a who's
next going to job? It is fun and seeing if
you can erase the side of the field. Yeah, and
he's done it so far, so let's see what he
can do against the K.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah. He's really making a name for himself. He's turning
into a star very quickly.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
And then finally Steel's running back Naujie Harris for a
Steelers inside linebacker. I can't believe he's still doing this
here in Seattle. Bobby Wagner. Yeah, I mean, obviously not
the same. Bobby Wagner is not from the legion of Boom,
but I still think a serviceable inside back. And the
brain's got to be there.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Oh, the brain's there real quick. I mean two household
names we mentioned, Adams and now Wagner. They're paying these
guys a fair amount of money. They're greatly respected.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
They may be.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Doing more harm than good though at the stage of
their career.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
You know, I mean, it costs too much money.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
They cost a lot, and you know, Adams could get
picked on in coverage. He's closer to a linebacker than
a safety. Wagner just isn't the player used to be,
and he's an easy Hall of Famer. But I bet
he hangs it up after this year.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I would not be surprised about that. Such a weird
thing with him too, with that one stint in LA programs.
Other than that, a Seahawk for life and certainly one
of the better Seahawks players defensively in team history. But
Steelers will try to solve him and try to solve
that Seattle defense. Get a win against Seattle and stay
alive in the AFC playoff race. Kickoff is at four
to five in Seattle for Matt Williamson on Tom Opferman.
(18:11):
As always, we appreciate you giving us a listen, and
we'll talk to you next week on the Advanced Scout
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