It was the second week of the 2025 NFL regular season, and "September football" was in full bloom across the landscape. Missed assignments, mental mistakes, full-on brain cramps, injuries sometimes in bunches stressing position groups and weakening rosters.
The Steelers were guilty of playing "September football" on Sunday against Seattle in their home opener at Acrisure Stadium, but that wasn't the only contributing factor in what ended up being a 31-17 loss that dropped them to 1-1. For the second straight week, their run defense and their pass protection were leaky, and one of the truisms about football played at any level and in every month is that games are won or lost on the lines of scrimmage.
From a statistical standpoint, the run defense against the Seahawks was better than it had been the previous Sunday. The Jets rushed 39 times for 182 yards (4.7 average) and 3 touchdowns, and the Seahawks managed 117 yards on 29 runs (4.0 average) and 1 touchdown. Thirteen of the Jets 23 first downs came via the run, compared to eight of Seattle's 21 first downs; of the Seahawks 29 rushing attempts, 9 were good for no gain or for a loss of yardage.
All of that represented improvement from week 1 to week 2, but there was one visual that overshadowed any and all statistics and left a bad taste when it came to the state of the Steelers run defense.
There was 3:47 remaining in the fourth quarter, and despite all of their September football-itis to that point, the Steelers were still very much in the game. And part of that had to do with their defense. At the time, their deficit was 24-14, with one of Seattle's three touchdowns having come on a full-on brain cramp when a Seahawks kickoff made it to the landing zone and bounced into the end zone where it was left unattended until George Holani fell on it.
So anyway, that negativity had been absorbed, and at the 3:47 mark, the Seahawks led, 24-17, and were looking at a third-and-goal from the Steelers 19-yard line following a 9-yard sack of Sam Darnold by Jack Sawyer. When Darnold took the next snap and simply handed the ball to Kenneth Walker, it seemed as though the Seahawks were playing for a field goal were willing to settle for a 10-point lead, 27-17.
But then Walker ran to the left, made a move upfield and covered those 19 yards virtually untouched into the end zone for the touchdown that was the dagger. The run defense on that critical play in the fourth quarter of a game whose outcome still was very much up for grabs had failed.
"There's always an emphasis on (stopping) the run," said T.J. Watt. "The first note of every single week is 'smash the run,' and you guys have heard me say for 9 years we're always trying to smash the run, and it's not a lack of trying. Schematically, effort, I don't know, we'll have to look at the film, but we need to be better, and we need to look in the mirror, and we need to turn over every stone we possibly can because this can't continue to happen."
That touchdown, which made the deficit 31-17, iced the outcome even though the Steelers got the ball back with 3:41 remaining, with all 3 of their timeouts plus the 2-minute warning. That's because their passing attack was being plagued by consistent pressure on Aaron Rodgers, which didn't allow for chunk plays through the air.
In fact, the Steelers managed only 3 chunk plays through the air all afternoon: a 65-yarder that was a short pass to Jaylen Warren, with the rest coming via spirited and determined run-after; a 22-yarder to Calvin Austin III on the play before the 2-minute warning in the fourth quarter of a 31-17 game; and a 20-yarder to Pat Freiermuth on a perfectly thrown ball and a nice catch down the right sideline.
Besides those, it was either receivers not getting open or Rodgers running for his life, or some combination of both on the same play.
The Jets were credited with 4 sacks and 7 hits on the quarterback; the Seahawks were credited with 3 sacks and 9 hits on the quarterback. It's too much, and it has happened two weeks in a row. And while a 3-for-3 in the red zone mitigated the Jets pressure on Rodgers, against Seattle the offense only got into the red zone twice and on one of those turned the ball over on an interception in the end zone that was the most September football thing ever.
"I look at myself first, and if we settle for a field goal, I probably wasn't effective enough in a situation," said Rodgers. "But I feel like we had a good couple of drives, defense is playing good in the first half, and we came out and just couldn't do a whole lot in the third quarter. And obviously the play that took a lot of points off the board was the interception there on the 3-yard line or whatever."
Actually, the situation was a third-and-goal from the Seattle 4-yard line in a 14-14 game with 4:17 left in the third quarter. Rodgers threw a dart at Pat Freiermuth in the end zone, only to have Calvin Austin III fly in and try to make a play on the ball. What resulted was a ball tipped into the air and then intercepted by CB Derion Kendrick 7 yards deep in the end zone. Touchback.
"And Cal's the best kid ever, but he probably should have just stayed in the flat there," said Rodgers. "He knows it … But Cal's the best kid and, you know, it sucks because he's such a great kid, but unfortunately that whole sequence took points off the board."
A sequence that came later and added points to the wrong side of the board was the aforementioned brain-cramp with 12:46 remaining in the fourth quarter. A 54-yard field goal by Jason Myers had just given the Seahawks a 17-14 lead when his ensuing kickoff bounced in the landing zone and continued into the end zone where it stopped about a yard from the endline. Kaleb Johnson left the ball unattended, and when George Holani was ruled to have covered it in-bounds the Steelers' deficit instantly grew to 24-14.
"Poor judgment by a young player," is what Coach Mike Tomlin said about it in his postgame media briefing; a situation that's covered in practice/meetings "every day of our lives."
We're two weeks into the 2025 installment of September football, and pending the outcome of Monday Night Football, there are 12 – and could be 14 – teams with 1-1 records, including the Ravens, Broncos, Lions, and Vikings. And defending AFC Champion Kansas City is 0-2.
"No, it's week two. Come on. Come on. It's week 2," said Rodgers. "I mean, it's good for us. Last week probably there were some people feeling pretty good because everybody outside the building was talking about how great we were on offense and (scoring) 34 points. That's the league; you can't ride the highs or ride the lows. You have to refocus every single week and be a professional, and it starts with practice and the preparation and so we get a chance to reset. Take a look at what we did last week, what worked, what didn't work from the preparation standpoint. Do better next week."
Best to start with run defense and pass protection.
