Unlike last week, the Steelers let their entire comfortable advantage slip away. But just like last week, they pulled it out in the end.
A two-touchdown cushion at halftime evaporated shortly into the third quarter, completely disappeared a couple minutes into the fourth, and the Steelers needed overtime to edge a Seahawks team without Russell Wilson, 23-20, Sunday night at Heinz Field. Chris Boswell nailed a 37-yard field goal with 2:50 left following a crucial stop for the defense on the first possession of overtime.
Ben Roethlisberger started out sharp again, and finished with 229 yards and one touchdown on 29-of-40 passing. But he served up what should’ve been a game-changing interception to Jamal Adams, who dropped it, and his lost fumble on a pump fake — initially ruled an incompletion but challenged by Seattle and overturned — gave the Seahawks a short field with a chance to take the lead. The Steelers defense stiffened, got the ball back to the offense, and Pittsburgh found a way to move to 3-3.
It was over when: T.J. Watt punched the ball out from Geno Smith and set up a kick that Boswell would hardly ever shank. Boswell does have one miss this season, a 42-yarder Week 3 against Cincinnati, but he’s one of the most automatic legs in the league.
Player of the game: Talk about a furious finish. Watt was quiet in regulation, but took over in the extra frame with two sacks, the first of which ended the opening possession of overtime after the Seahawks won the coin toss. Then, the forced fumble that set up the Steelers at Seattle's 16. That made it a chip shot for Boswell, and the Steelers will sleep well knowing that they made Watt the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.
Trending up: Alex Highsmith finally had the type of breakout performance that was expected of him when the Steelers let Bud Dupree leave in free agency. Highsmith came in with zero sacks in his second season, but left with 1.5, not to mention seven tackles, four quarterback hits and two tackles for loss. He’s an especially strong pass-rusher who can play the run as well as he gets to the quarterback, and that was the idea when the Steelers took him in the third round last year.
Trending down: Tackling. It’s that simple, and hard to pick just one player. The Steelers seemingly forgot how to wrap up ball-carriers in this one, especially in the second half, be it running backs, tight ends or wide receivers. Good thing Russell Wilson wasn’t running around in the backfield. It won’t be a fun day of film review for many on the defense, but especially Terrell Edmunds, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cam Sutton, Robert Spillane, Devin Bush and Joe Schobert.
Next up: An off week, but after that, what figures to be a huge game Oct. 31 at Cleveland. Both sit at .500, so one of those two will want to dress up as an AFC North title contender for Halloween.
