Geno Smith rallies Russell Wilson-less Seahawks to OT, then loses fumble, game to Steelers

PITTSBURGH — Ninety seconds left, and 75 yards to the win.

But Russell Wilson and his surgically repaired hand was in a team jacket, on the sideline. Geno Smith was in the huddle instead, in his first NFL start in 1,414 days.

Down 20-17 and about 60,000 Terrible Towels twirling all around him, Smith went Wilson with the game on the line. He completed all five of his throws under supreme pressure. He moved his believing Seahawks from their own 25-yard line to the Steelers 25 in 90 seconds. Jason Myers kicked the tying field goal from 42 yards with no time left to force overtime.

But in overtime, Smith tried to make a play that lost the game.

The 31-year-old veteran starting for the first time since Dec. 3, 2017, stepped up trying to pass on the second Seahawks possession of overtime. Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt ran from behind and stripped the ball from Smith. The Steelers recovered the fumble at the Seahawks 16-yard line.

That allowed Chris Boswell to kick a 37-yard field goal with 2:50 left in overtime, sending the Seahawks to a stunning, bitter, 23-20 loss Sunday night into early Monday morning at Heinz Field.

The last-place Seahawks are 2-4 for the third time in Pete Carroll’s 12 years running the Seahawks. Seattle is four games behind undefeated Arizona in the NFC West just six games into this season that now goes on indefinitely without Wilson.

The other times the Seahawks have been 2-4 under Carroll: in 2011 on the way to finishing 7-9, when he and general manager John Schneider were overhauling the franchise; and 2015. That ‘15 team was coming off the last-play Super Bowl loss to New England months earlier.

It rallied to win eight of its final 10 regular-season games to make the playoffs at 10-6, win the deep-freeze wild-card playoff game at Minnesota then lost in the divisional round at Carolina. That team had Wilson, though.

Smith completed 23 of 32 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown pass. His passer rating was 99.6. Smith’s 1-yard flip to tight end Will Dissly in the third quarter got Seattle to within 17-14. It was Smith’s first touchdown pass in an NFL regular-season start since Dec. 3, 2017, for the Giants against Oakland.

Alex Collins, starting for the second consecutive game for Chris Carson, had 20 carries for 101 yards. It was the Seahawks’ first 100-yard rushing game since Dec. 15, 2019, when Carson had one.

But Collins appeared injured on the sidelined, looking pained while stretching. Third-string back DeeJay Dallas and third-down back Travis Homer were Seattle’s only options to run in overtime.

So Seattle threw. And lost.

He had started overtime with his best throw in four years, a glorious dart over the middle that stuck into the chest of Tyler Lockett to get the Seahawks to midfield, and then the Steelers 46 on the opening possession of overtime.

But then Watt sacked Smith to end that drive, forcing Seattle to punt.

The Seahawks defense had a key three and out after that. Jamal Adams with a hard tackle second down preceded Carlos Dunlap jumping in Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisbeger’s face to force check-down throw that rookie Tre Brown jumped all over and tackled.

Pittsburgh punted.

Smith fumbled.

And the Seahawks fell to four games out in the division.

OPPORTUNITY LOST

The Seahawks’ had a golden chance to take the lead after a replay review in NFL headquarters in New York overruled an incomplete pass call on Roethlisberger, after he cocked his arm, cupped the ball to bring it back into his body and lost the ball. Kerry Hyder recovered for Seattle at the Steelers 35-yard line midway through the fourth quarter.

Collins romped for 16 yards on the first play after the awarded turnover. But left guard Jamarco Jones, playing because starter Damien Lewis injured his shoulder earlier, got caught tackling his assigned man blocking behind the play. That ruined the drive. On third and 10 at the Steelers 35, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron called a wide-receiver screen to Freddie Swain. It, and Swain, had no chance. Swain got swarmed by three Steelers 4 yards behind the line, a crushing loss that pushed Seattle out of range to attempt a go-ahead field goal into the tricky, open end of Heinz Field toward the winds off the confluence of three rivers right outside the stadium.

The Seahawks punted instead, wasting the fumble recovery and chance for the lead.

First-half mess

The first half was as bad as the Seahawks have played in years.

Smith was getting pressured, hit, sacked. Left tackle Duane Brown was yelling, apparently at teammate Kyle Fuller.

And all Wilson could do was pull up the zipper on his team coat on the sideline, stare at the screen of a mobile tablet, study the Steelers’ defensive looks and trying to find a way — any way — to help the helpless Smith and the Seahawks’ offense finally forced to play without him.

The Seahawks had 10 yards on just six plays in the second quarter, when Pittsburgh went from 0-0 to up 14-0.

The half included the Seahawks using seven defensive backs for the first time this season, with Ryan Neal, Ugo Amadi and Marquise Blair the extra DBs. Seattle was blitzing Jamal Adams way more and effectively getting 3rd-down stops

USING JAMAL ADAMS

The Seahawks began the night with a new (for 2021) way to use Jamal Adams.

Their All-Pro, $70 million safety entered Sunday night blitzing half as much as in 2020, just over 5% of the time. The Seahawks had chosen through five games to have Adams play deep off the line of scrimmage in coverage, to help free safety Quandre Diggs and a rotating array of struggling cornerbacks prevent huge pass plays over the top of the defense.

But Sunday night, Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. had Adams on the line of scrimmage at the snap seven times and blitzing five times on Pittsburgh’s 14 offensive plays.

The result: the Steelers had three punts, zero points and 41 total yards on their first three possessions.

It was 0-0 into the second quarter.

Then Adams disappeared from the front of Seattle’s defense.

After the Seahawks’ second three-and-out offensive drive in three series to begin the game, one-time All-Pro punter Michael Dickson put his defense in a bind. The usually booming Dickson, who drilled a remarkable, 60-plus-yard, Aussie Rules double punt of his blocked punt the previous game against the Rams, shanked one only 24 yards early in the second quarter Sunday. That gave the Steelers the ball at midfield.

Adams was off the line of scrimmage and did not blitz on any of the Steelers’ first eight plays to the Seattle 5-yard line. Then on play eight, Adams blitzed off left edge. The Seahawks had 345-plus-pound Byran Mone at the opposite end, and defensive end Benson Mayowa dropping into the left flat to defend Steelers running back Najee Harris.

Roethlisberger easily detected that mismatch, and threw quickly and easily to Harris. The rookie first-round pick breezed past end Mayowa for the 5-yard touchdown reception.

That’s coaching.

Adams stayed back off the line for all but one of the Steelers’ next 11 offensive plays. The Steelers went on a 14-play, 84-yard march to another touchdown. Adams did not blitz once on the drive, which ended with a 1-yard fly sweep handoff and touchdown run by tight end Eric Ebron on third and goal.

Seattle trailed 14-0.

Adams dropped an interception late in regulation that would have prevented the Steelers from kicking the 52-yard field goal that gave them a 20-17 lead, before Smith’s clutch drive at the end of the fourth quarter.

TRE BROWN DEBUTS

Rookie cornerback Tre Brown made his NFL debut in his return from a knee injury and injured reserve, entering on the second defensive series of the game.

The second of the team’s three draft choices this spring made an immediate impact. Brown made two tackles on his first five plays. Then he stopped a go-route on third down, when Roethlisberger chose to target the rookie. That was all on his first series in the pros.

And then — poof! — Brown was gone.

Left cornerback Sidney Jones, who started the last three games, returned after one series out and played into the third quarter.

Then teammate Marquise Blair slammed Steelers receiver Ray-Ray McCloud into Jones at the end of a catch and run by McCloud. Jones stayed down and then out of the game, with a chest injury midway through the third quarter.

Brown re-entered. He forced a receiver to the sideline into an incomplete pass. On the next play, Brown charged a wide-receiver screen by the Steelers and forced Chase Claypool to block him in the back. That 3-yard loss, on a tackle by Blair, dead ended Pittsburgh’s red-zone drive. The Steelers settled for a field goal and a 17-7 lead.

His opposite cornerback D.J. Reed made two pass breakups on third downs, the plays Seattle was lacking from its cornerbacks the first five games. Reed’s second break up gave the Seahawks the ball back with momentum, down 17-14 late in the third quarter.

TAYLOR SERIOUSLY INJURED

Edge rusher Darrell Taylor stayed down still and injured on the field for multiple minutes with 3:10 left in the game. The game was delayed while a stretcher then a motorized cart came out to take Taylor from the field. His head and body were immobilized, strapped to the stretcher.

Wilson was the lead player as every Seahawk came on the field to gather with concern around Taylor.

NBC Sports reported on the game broadcast Taylor was moving.

Starting left guard Damien Lewis left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. Jones replaced him, and had the key holding penalty when Seattle would have been in the red zone for the lead.

Wide receiver and punt returner Freddie Swain left in the fourth quarter to the locker room injured. That had Tyler Lockett return his first punt this season.

This story was originally published by The News Tribune.

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