Halftime Observations: Sloppy Seahawks Trailing Steelers 14-7 in Road Opener

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Even after Sam Darnold threw a touchdown to Tory Horton on the game’s opening possession, the mistake-laden Seattle Seahawks went into the half of their road opener trailing the opportunistic Pittsburgh Steelers 14-7 at Acrisure Stadium.

Here are three quick observations from the first half in the Steel City:

1. Offense starts fast, but can’t maintain momentum for remainder of the half.

Frustrated by last week’s dismal performance with 13 total points against the 49ers, the Seahawks came out humming on the opening series on Sunday. Sandwiched around a 13-yard run by Ken Walker III, Darnold converted two long third down conversions, hitting Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 15-yard gain on 3rd and 6 and connecting with Smith-Njigba again for 12 yards on 3rd and 10 to advance the visitors down to the opposing 21-yard line. On the very next play, after calling only one play action total in Week 1, Darnold executed the play fake and stared down an oncoming defender in the pocket, uncorking a perfect throw to Horton for a 21-yard touchdown to take an early 7-0 advantage after an eight-play, 65-yard drive.

But for as satisfying as that touchdown drive was, Seattle couldn’t get out of its own way over the next 25 minutes. To open the ensuing series, Darnold play faked against to Walker, believing he had Cooper Kupp wide open on an out route. Unfortunately, Jalen Ramsey had other plans, jumping underneath an underthrown pass for the pick, which led to a Pittsburgh field goal. On the next possession, Darnold marched the ‘Hawks down to the Steelers 17-yard line, only for Jason Myers to slice a 36-yard field goal off the left upright. Further adding to the nightmare, Seattle tried to go for it on 4th and 1 in Pittsburgh territory and Cam Heyward deflected a bootleg pass up into the air from Darnold, landing in Nate Herbig’s hands to allow the linebacker to return the pass 41 yards to the Seahawks’ 21-yard line, setting up Metcalf’s revenge touchdown. They ended an ugly half with another punt, failing to convert their last five third downs.

2. Pressure on Aaron Rodgers limits damage defensively as ‘Hawks force field goals early.

With two interceptions and a missed field goal, offensive and special teams miscues could have been catastrophic for the Seahawks in the opening two quarters. But while Darnold’s second pick unfortunately led to Metcalf’s touchdown from Rodgers in the closing moments of the half, things could have been far worse if not for a mostly stingy effort by a short-handed Seattle defense. After Pittsburgh advanced past midfield on its first drive, pressure led to an errant throw from the quarterback to running back Kenneth Gainwell, resulting in a Chris Boswell 48-yard field goal. Immediately following Darnold’s first pick, the defense again held strong, as Leonard Williams tossed Rodgers backward on a third down attempt that resulted in another incompletion and Boswell field goal.

Later in the half, after Myers shanked his 36-yard attempt and doinked it off the upright, the Seahawks didn’t let the Steelers get anything going, forcing a quick three-and-out with Jarran Reed sacking Rodgers on third down. They forced another three and out on the next series, keeping the visitors ahead for the time being despite the offensive ineptitude and blown opportunities. Even with the late touchdown allowed, Seattle held Pittsburgh to 69 total yards of offense and 2.6 yards per play, keeping the game close with all of the mistakes made in the other two phases of the game.

3. Six-point swing looms large heading into the final two quarters.

Several momentum changing plays happened in the first half, with too many of the negative ones being made by the Seahawks on offense and a dropped interception by Derion Kendrick on defense taking away three other possible points. But in a seven-point game, Darnold’s first interception and Myers’ ugly field goal miss stand out the most. Happening on successive drives, the suboptimal throw from Darnold led to three gifted points for the Steelers, while the Seahawks didn’t take advantage of their opportunity to get those points back.

Taking those two plays and what resulted afterward out of the equation, Seattle would be trailing by only one at the half at worst. If the game goes down to the wire in the final two quarters and Macdonald’s team loses by three points or less, the team will be kicking themselves for those two mistakes as well as the long interception return by Herbig, as it can be argued 11 of the 14 points scored by Pittsburgh were gift-wrapped for them. To have a shot at winning in the second half, the tides will have to turn coaxing some mistakes out of the home team to offset their litany of turnovers.