In just a few hours the Pittsburgh Steelers will kickoff against the Seattle Seahawks. The Steelers come into the game 0-1 after losing to the New England Patriots, meanwhile the Seahawks are 1-0 after beating the Cincinnati Bengals. Falling to 0-2 heading into a trip across the country in Week Three would be disastrous for the remainder of the season.
Here are the keys to victory for Pittsburgh this week.
Run the football
At some point offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner must be held accountable for his questionable playcalling. At one point last week he called the same toss sweep three plays in a row. He must do a better job putting running backs James Conner and Jaylen Samuels in a position to be successful and he cannot simply abandon the run game if the Steelers get behind.
Get Diontae Johnson the football
Back to Fichtner, he needs to find new and creative ways to get Johnson the football in space. He’s so dynamic after the catch there’s no reason he shouldn’t see more targets this week.
Contain Russell Wilson
The job of the pass rush this week it to harass Wilson but don’t let him break contain and get into open space. Wilson is too athletic to simply let him run free. This also means the Steelers will have to run more zone defense this week because you don’t want Wilson looking up and seeing the backs of all the Steelers defenders.
Play up to the competition
Last week the Steelers came out flat and honestly seemed defeated from the time they stepped on the field. In the friendly confines of Hines Feild, the Steelers need to match the energy of the thousands of fans in the stands cheering them on. If they come out flat again this week, Seattle is sure to take advantage.
