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# Report Card: Top Performers in Seahawks 31-17 Win at Steelers
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/report-card-top-performers-seattle-seahawks-pittsburgh-steelers-week-2/
- Published: 2025-09-17T06:45:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:58:13.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Seahawks, Charles Cross, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II, Cooper Kupp, Ken Walker III

Entering the win column for the first time in 2025, Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks overcame a mistake-filled first half and a seven-point halftime deficit to take down the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 31-17 road victory at Acrisure Stadium.

Looking back at Sunday’s winning performance on All-22 film, which Seahawks shined the most in the comeback effort in Pittsburgh? Here are my top five grades and other noteworthy performances in Week 2:

### Charles Cross

**Overall Grade**: 88.0 (Pass Blocking 84, Run Blocking 92)

Get the butter, syrup, and whatever other toppings you prefer, as Cross came to Pittsburgh on a mission to cook up pancakes in bulk, dishing out the punishment as a finisher in the run game. On two specific examples, as demonstrated in the video below, the fourth-year left tackle bulldozed rookie defensive tackle Yahya Black off a combo block and drove him to the turf to help Ken Walker III pick up nine yards on a toss sweep and later took linebacker Payton Wilson for a ride off a duo combo block before bullying him into the ground on another successful five yard run.

For the game, Cross finished with three total pancakes in the run game and later added a key block near the sideline to help spring Walker for a game-icing 19-yard touchdown on another toss play outside. Protecting Sam Darnold, though he wasn’t quite as solid as Week 1 against the 49ers and did give up two quarterback hits, he still turned in a solid effort with three pressures allowed on 35 pass blocking snaps, helping keep the veteran signal caller upright to nearly hit the 300-yard passing mark.

### Byron Murphy II

**Overall Grade**: 87.5 (Pass Rush 88, Run Defense 86, Tackling 90)

The Seahawks already had a formidable defensive front with Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed leading the pack last season, but Murphy has now started to thrust himself into the same conversation as an all-around game wrecker at the start of his sophomore season. Wasting little time disrupting the Steelers’ offensive plans, the former first round pick split a double team on the opening drive of the game and brought down Kenneth Gainwell at the line of scrimmage for no gain. He later added two additional run stops netting three or fewer yards, playing a crucial role in limiting the home team to just 3.4 yards per carry on the afternoon.

But where Murphy arguably made his biggest contributions against Pittsburgh came in the form of an interior pass rusher, posting a stat line that eclipsed his full rookie season numbers in sacks and quarterback hits. Making life rough for Aaron Rodgers, he drove an opposing blocker into the veteran quarterback’s lap on 3rd and 9 midway through the second quarter to force an incompletion and an ensuing punt. At the end of the half, he finally got home, teaming up with Williams to corral Rodgers as he stepped up in the pocket, giving the Seahawks a momentum jolt before intermission. Taking on the role of closer, he fought off of a block from tackle Broderick Jones on the Steelers’ second-to-last drive off a tackle-end exchange stunt and swarmed the signal caller for his second sack, calling game-match-point before Coby Bryant’s pick a few plays later.

### Cooper Kupp

**Overall Grade**: 86.0 (Receiving 90, Run Block 82)

Frustrated by his performance in a quiet team debut one week earlier, Kupp demonstrated to critics that he still has plenty of juice left in the tank, coming through in the clutch with two third down conversions and a 2nd and 11 conversion on his seven total catches for 90 yards. Working the middle of the field all afternoon, he frequently came open on dig and slant routes, producing 17, 17, and 16 yard catches that moved the chains. Nearly half of his 90 yards came after the catch (41) at a 5.9 yards per reception after the catch clip, as he regularly exploded out of his breaks with the ball in his hands to pick up good yardage with the ball in his hands and dragged tacklers a couple of times for additional yardage.

In addition to producing five first downs on his seven receptions, Kupp also got the job done as a physical run blocker, particularly showing up on toss sweeps where he crack blocked back inside. On the previous run featuring Cross’ pancake on Black, as just one example, Kupp made a beautiful crack block down on the linebacker, playing a vital role in creating a crease for Walker to rocket upfield for a nine-yard gain. He made a number of blocks that won’t show up directly in the box score that helped Walker surpass the 100-yard mark for the first time this season.

### Leonard Williams

**Overall Grade**: 85.5 (Pass Rush 87, Run Defense 84, Tackling 85)

While Murphy drew the highest marks with his 1.5 sacks, Williams created near as many problems for the Steelers while playing double-digit snaps as a 3-tech defensive tackle, 5-tech defensive end, and out wide as an edge. He produced a trio of run stops netting three or fewer yards, including stone-walling Gainwell for a one-yard run on the play prior to Rodgers’ end zone interception hauled in by cornerback Derion Kendrick and hammering the quarterback a few yards short of the sticks on a fourth quarter run, holding Pittsburgh to a Chris Boswell field goal that kept Seattle up by seven points.

Like Murphy, Williams’ biggest impact came as a pass rusher, finishing with a trio of pressures, a partial sack, and two quarterback hits. Towards the tail end of the first quarter, lined up outside of the left tackle in a three-point stance, “Big Cat” rocketed upfield past Broderick Jones and then bent around the corner, reaching out to grab the back of Rodgers’ shoulder pads and yanking him backwards to force an errant third down pass out of bounds. Later in the half, he crashed inside from wide-9 alignment in a two-point stance, shedding two blocks to swarm Rodgers alongside Murphy for a partial sack.

### Ken Walker III

**Overall Grade**: 84.0 (Rushing 92, Receiving 80, Pass Block 56\*)

One week earlier, due to a combination of poor blocking and a few runs where he wasn’t quite decisive enough reading his blocks, Walker endured a rough opener averaging just two yards per carry. To say that he bounced back in Pittsburgh would be one hell of an understatement. Toting the rock 13 times, Walker racked up 105 rushing yards and north of eight yards per carry, ripping off six runs of at least nine yards. Four of those runs came after halftime, including a bruising 15-yard run on a duo concept where he cut back inside off a double team from center Jalen Sundell and guard Anthony Bradford before bowling over safety Juan Thornhill. He put the dagger in Pittsburgh with a 19-yard touchdown on 3rd and goal late in the fourth quarter, skipping past the goal line after exploding behind Cross and Grey Zabel as lead blockers.

As a receiver, Walker caught a quick dump off from Darnold on his only target and nearly turned a third and long situation into a new set of downs, only to come up a yard short with the Seahawks choosing to punt on the next play. His biggest struggle came in pass protection, where he failed to even get a finger a blitzing Payton Wilson off a play fake, leading to a eight-yard sack for Darnold in the second quarter. But overall, he had a fantastic bounce-back performance with 115 total yards on 14 touches with a game-clinching touchdown, showing off the electricity out of the backfield that allowed him to rush for over 1,100 yards as a rookie in 2022.

**Other Notable Performances**

Narrowly missing out on a top-five grade with an 83.0 score, Jaxon Smith-Njigba surpassed 100 yards for a second straight week and hauled in a 43-yard reception with Kupp’s run blocking being the biggest separator between the two in this contest. Two first-half interceptions ultimately kept Darnold from earning a top-five grade, but he shook off that early adversity to turn in a dynamic performance while frequently staring down the barrel of oncoming pressure to deliver strikes under duress, including a 21-yard touchdown to Tory Horton, to notch an 81.0 grade. Before exiting with cramps, Sundell held up quite well in pass protection, allowing just a single pressure and no quarterback hits, while he made a few key blocks for Walker in the run game to net a 78.0 grade. The game was more of a mixed bag for the rest of Seattle’s offensive line, including Zabel allowing multiple quarterback hits dragging down his grade to 71.0 and Bradford allowing two bad pressures that left Darnold vulnerable to quick hits that dropped his score to 69.0.

Right in the mix with Murphy and Williams, Jarran Reed registered a sack for the second straight week and produced a one-yard run stop, earning an 82.0 score. With the exception of a rough play that led to a 65-yard catch for Jaylen Warren, linebacker Tyrice Knight had a stellar outing racking up three tackles for two or fewer yards in the run game, earning an 80.0 score. Cornerback Josh Jobe yielded a two-point conversion and had one play where Calvin Austin got separation against him that Rodgers didn’t take advantage of, but he also had a pass breakup against DK Metcalf and allowed just one catch for seven yards on four targets to net a 79.0 grade. Earning his first start at slot cornerback, Derion Kendrick dropped a gimme interception, but made up for that mistake with a pick in the end zone, receiving a 78.5 score. Off the edge, Derick Hall landed two hits on Rodgers with four total pressures for a 76.0 score, while Boye Mafe had two timely pressures that forced incompletions on an otherwise quiet statistical game for a 74.0 score.