Bold Predictions for Steelers home stand against Seahawks
Welcome to Week 2 of the 2019-20 NFL regular season, Steelers Nation. After a very hard loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1, Team SCU was nearly as divided as Pittsburgh fans were about a miserable performance. In our back rooms, there was a lot of debate, but we’re all moving forward now to look at what we predict the Steelers to do against the Seahawks. ‘Bold Predictions’ is the feature where our SCU team members throw caution to the wind. This week Joe, Ryan, Derek, Terry, and Mike S joined me in our wild prognostications.
Here we go!
Last week lookback
The Steelers didn’t put Tom Brady on the turf five times, at least not via sacks. Pittsburgh’s defense was not able to hold New England to just 20 points, either. Roethlisberger threw for 276 yards, not the predicted 350. He also didn’t earn a single touchdown toss. James Washington didn’t get his 100-yards receiving game; the receivers only combined for a total of 27 completions, with JuJu Smith-Schuster leading the group with 78 hard-earned yards. Terrell Edmunds didn’t grab the lone turnover for the Steelers defense because Pittsburgh created no turnovers. Jaylen Samuels was not a bigger factor than James Conner, with Conner earning 21 yards on the ground to Samuels’ four. The Steelers didn’t walk away with a dirty win; they lost 33-3 in humiliating fashion.
Putting all that in the rear-view, let’s take a deep breath and move on to Seattle.
Joe Kuzma: I predict the Steelers will bounce back in a big way. I’m going out on a limb and giving some huge numbers for the offense. At least 100 all-purpose yards for James Conner and 400+ passing yards for Big Ben with a few touchdown passes added, in what should be a Steelers victory to open Heinz Field for the 2019 season.
Ryan Lippert: Listen, last week was ugly, but this is a new week! The Steelers are at home this week and will have a huge rebound game. Even though they lost, we saw the Bengals and Andy Dalton lead the league in passing yards last week against this Seattle secondary. Unless you didn’t already know, Ben Roethlisberger is a lot better than Andy Dalton. I’ve got Ben throwing for over 400 with a pair of touchdowns to JuJu Smith-Schuster. Russell Wilson will keep Seattle in this game but I have the Steelers winning by a score.
Christina Rivers: After seeing that abandoning the run was detrimental in Week 1, the Steelers go back to using it to open up the passing game. Conner and Samuels combine for 25-plus carries despite Seattle’s defense. The duo will factor into the passing attack as well with 10-plus targets.
Diontae Johnson gets more action at WR and grabs 50-plus yards and a touchdown.
Hello, Vance McDonald! Nearly invisible against the Patriots, the stiff-arm Mac Truck finds the end zone.
The Defense dials back up and sack/hit Russ Wilson at least 4 times and earn a takeaway.
Derek Overly: I don’t know who that team was last week, but it wasn’t the Steelers. This week we get back to Steelers football. We will run the ball more often and more effectively, utilizing both Conner and Jaylen Samuels equally. JuJu will have a dominate game as Ben will start to feed him the ball more often while he works to develop trust with who his #2 will be (10 receptions for JuJu).
Defensively we pressure Russell Wilson but only get home three times because he’s a scrambler. However, that pressure will create two turnovers. One by the rookie (Bush).
Finally, Steelers come away with a pretty straight forward victory (27-10).
Terry Fletcher: Vance McDonald will do more than make an appearance. He will steamroll the Seattle defense. I see Vance making his fantasy teams happy at 12 points. Ben will have a 3-TD day and show his youth with 30 rushing yards. JuJu will get open from any double teams with a 100+ yard day and James Connor will average 5+ yards a carry and help out in the passing game. The Steelers’ secondary wide receivers will help distract the Seattle defensive secondary to help Ben get JuJu the ball. But this game will come down to our special teams play and Boswell will grab a 4/4 day for the win.
Mike Sofis: The Seahawks are no Patriots, so the Steelers will certainly play better than last week. Steelers run the ball up the middle instead of the edges, get Vance McDonald more involved, and find some success through the air. In defense, the Steelers get pressure up the middle on Seattle and put reliable pressure on Wilson throughout.
I’m picking the Steelers to lose in a close one because I don’t believe either coordinator is equipped to have his players play at the level fans expect. The lack of WR options limits the offense as well.
