WINNERS
Mitch Trubisky – Trubisky ran the show nicely the first two drives of the game. He showed mobility and accuracy on the move, finding a wide open Gunner Olszewski to his left on the Steelers’ opening possession. Trubisky also avoided a would-be sack for a short game. Ben Roethlisberger’s lack of mobility was evident, but it’s nice to see a quarterback able to create with his feet in a situation like this. Trubisky didn’t just keep his head above water. He has essentially cemented his starting spot in the regular season. George Pickens – What fans saw Pickens do on his 26-yard TD is essentially what he’s been doing all camp. Pickens tracked the ball down and got both feet inbounds in the back right corner of the end zone to put the Steelers up 14-0 in the first half. Pickens showed strength in his hands and high efficiency as a blocker, helping turn good runs into better ones. He needs to work on his release package, but he’s killer in these moments. Joe Haeg – Don’t talk about offensive linemen very often, but Haeg was solid against the run with the 2. Strong anchor in pass protection and even though he faced backups, he outplayed Dan Moore Jr. in this game. Haeg should easily be the team’s swing tackle and a stopgap option if a starter misses a game or two. I expected a long time veteran like Haeg to play well and he lived up to expectations. Arthur Maulet – Maulet, like Haeg, is a pretty well-known and established player at this point. But still played well. He is best against the run and when asked to play underneath routes, including a third down stop on a slant over the middle. Stayed solid off the edge against the run and blew some WR bubble screens. Anthony McFarland – Good outing in a good summer for McFarland and oh boy did he need one. He showed vision and burst out and created when things broke down. He finished the day with seven rushes for 56 yards on 24 carries, closing out a 3rd-and-1 when everything was washed out in front of him. Rookie Jaylen Warren ran hard, but he’s done, and McFarland should still be ahead of him on the depth chart. Tre Norwood – Norwood was strong in the red zone in this game with multiple end zone separations. The big moment is playing in prime real estate. Norwood has been used as the dime defender in training camp and his ability to cover man earns him a spot on the field this year, especially with some other injuries in this DB room. Steven Sims – Sims is a small/speed guy and someone who needs to make plays in open grass. That’s what he did on Saturday night. He started things off with a 38-yard hook return down the left sideline and followed things up with a quick jet run down the right sideline for 38 yards, setting up an open field. He capped off a good week of training with a solid performance inside a field. The road to 53 will be tough, but he’s poised to land on the practice squad as insurance behind Gunner Olszewski. Miles Boykin – Another receiver who came on strong and took it to Acrisure Stadium (are we used to it yet?). Boykin caught just two passes for 17 yards, but more importantly, he made a pair of plays on special teams. Forcing a poor decision by the Seahawks punt returner to dig and follow it up with a tackle in kick coverage. With Anthony Miller sidelined with a shoulder injury, Boykin moved a step closer to the #6 WR spot. Pressley Harvin III – I don’t often put players in the winner’s column who didn’t play. But Harvin joined Chris Boswell as experts who didn’t see the field tonight. This is definitely a good sign for Harvin’s roster spot. I thought he would have gone out there to see what he can do inside a stadium. It helped that Cameron Nizialek didn’t do a particularly good job. Kenny Pickett – I thought all the quarterbacks looked solid tonight to varying degrees, but Pickett was good in his NFL debut. Nothing fancy but it didn’t need to be. I wanted him to take care of the football, look confident and in control and be on time with his throws. It was all of those things. This is a solid foundation and something I will happily walk away with for the first time. I wrote that above the paragraph before the Steelers’ final drive, Pickett drives the Steelers downfield and connects with Tyler Vaughns for the game-winning score. What a way to start things off. I can’t ask for anything more from Pickett’s debut.
LOST
Dan Moore Jr. – After a decent showing in camp, Moore had his hands full tonight. The Seahawks have pass rushers, and Moore was beaten by rookie Boye Mafe that led to a fumble by Mason Rudolph that was fortunately recovered. Moore has additional work alongside LG Kendrick Green. Hoping for a better outing next week from him in a crucial second year. Run Defense – Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Yes, the Steelers were without their stars and playing with backups. So is Seattle. Pittsburgh’s front seven struggled to get off blocks and get to the football and didn’t fill the lane well enough. Seattle had success on the ground from the second quarter onward, finishing the day with over 150 yards and averaging over six yards per carry. On the plus side, the Steelers’ DBs were active and aggressive. Unfortunately it led to injuries to Ahkello Witherspoon and Damontae Kazee. Hopefully both are minor, while Karl Joseph could be looking at a season-ending injury. Mataeo Durant – The good news is that Durant was healthy enough to play in this game. He missed the second half of this week’s practice set with an undisclosed injury. And he entered the game ahead of Master Teague. But he did little with the opportunity. It blew up and fell on him on a third play that led to Kenny Pickett throwing hard. His first carry went for a one-yard loss before giving way to Master Teague, who outran him. Durant did make a nice block on a Pickett late in the game, I’ll give him that. Khalil Davis – I’ll have a plate of crow for tonight. We expected a lot more from the Davis twins, Carlos and Khali, who both looked good in training camp. I paid close attention to Khalil tonight and saw him get washed up against the run time and time again, a reason Pittsburgh lost the line of scrimmage up front. The entire front seven was incredible from Mark Robinson (minus his forced fumble off the edge) to Buddy Johnson and others. Davis at least ended up with a big stick on the final play of the game.
