With the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers both battling for their playoff lives, one Super Bowl winning quarterback stepped up and found a way to outplay the other in one of the best regular season games in the NFL this season.
Russell Wilson threw for 345 yards and five touchdowns — three to receiver Doug Baldwin — as the Seahawks (6-5) took advantage of three costly turnovers that lead to 19 points on their way to a 39-30 victory over the Steelers (6-5) at CenturyLink Field.
The Steelers wasted a career day from Markus Wheaton and Ben Roethlisberger’s 456 passing yards due to some costly mistakes and questionable calls to fall to the sixth and final playoff spot in the crowded AFC playoff race. Wheaton came out of nowhere to tally nine catches for 201 yards, both career highs, and added a 69-yard touchdown grab to give the Steelers a short-lived fourth-quarter lead.
Much of the discussion will revolve around two pivotal decisions by Mike Tomlin that had a significant impact on the outcome. With Steelers holding a 3-0 lead courtesy of a 44-yard field goal by Chris Boswell and then driving for what looked to be a second Boswell field goal attempt from the Seahawks 27 at the start of the second quarter, the Steelers ran a fake field goal attempt only to have backup quarterback Landry Jones get intercepted by Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane.
It took six plays for Wilson to take advantage of the critical mistake, hitting Baldwin for his first of three scores on a perfect 16-yard touchdown strike to make the score 7-3 Seahawks. The Steelers had complete control of the first quarter until the fake and the Jones interception gave the Seahawks life.
However, that did not seem to deter Roethlisberger, who attempted 55 passes on the day, and was able to take advantage of a short field after the Steelers offense started at the Seahawks 49 after a 36-yard Jacoby Jones kickoff return and subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Kam Chancellor. Roethlisberger would complete three passes on the drive that would finish with a 11-yard touchdown run on a reverse by Martavis Bryant. It was the first TD rush by a Steelers wide receiver since 2004.
Wilson led the Seahawks right back down the field on an 11-play, 85-yard drive that took 6:29 off the clock and gave the home team a 14-10 lead. Seven of the 11 plays were Wilson completions, the final a 12-yard touchdown to Jermaine Kearse.
With just over two minutes until halftime, Roethlisberger hit Wheaton for three straight completions for 63 of the 80 yards on the scoring drive, including a 41-yard catch that moved the Steelers into the red zone. DeAngelo Williams, who would do much of his damage as a pass catcher with seven catches for 88 yards, punched it in from six yards out, and the Steelers would convert the two-point conversion pass to Jesse James to make the score 18-10 at the half.
The Steelers would control the much of the third quarter and opened the second half with another time-consuming scoring drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock over 11 plays. Roethlisberger’s five completions, including another deep completion, this time to Bryant, pushed the Steelers to the Seahawks 11-yard line, but three runs, two by Williams and one by Roethlisberger, left the Steelers two yards short of paydirt. Boswell’s second field goal of the day made it 21-14 Steelers.
Roethlisberger’s first of two intercpetions helped cut the Steelers lead to one. After Ahtyba Rubin picked Roethlisberger with 3:42 remaining in the third, the Seahawks needed two plays, one of them a dazzling 36-yard catch by Jimmy Graham, to cut the score to 21-20 Steelers after Cameron Heyward blocked the extra-point attempt.
Richard Sherman would intercept Roethlisberger early in the fourth quarter, and Wilson would once again take little time carving up a Steelers secondary that was victimized all day. After a questionable roughing the passer penalty on Lawrence Timmons moved Seattle to the Pittsburgh 24, Wilson would connect with Kearse for this second touchdown two plays later for a 26-21 lead after a failed two-point attempt.
The fireworks continued when after Roethlisberger hit Bryant for a 11- yard completion, Wheaton would catch a perfect pass in stride on his way to a 69-yard touchdown and 27-26 lead with the Steelers two-point conversion failed.
The lead was short lived.
A white-hot Wilson led his offense right back to the lead in wildly entertaining fourth quarter. After a 10-yard scramble was followed by back-to-back strikes to Tyler Lockett and Baldwin for 16 and 13 yards, Wilson found Baldwin running free down the sideline, beating safety Will Allen for a 30-yard touchdown. The third two-point conversion attempt of the half once again failed and the Seahawks were back in front 32-27.
Roethlisberger would lead the Steelers right back on a 14-play drive that ate up more than five minutes off the clock, and Tomlin would be forced to make a decision that will face a number of skeptics after the fact. Trailing by five, Roethlisberger was able to help push Steelers offense to the Seattle 3-yard line with 3:02 remaining and a tough fourth down decision to be made.
With two timeouts remaining, Tomlin elected to kick the field goal and hope the Steelers defense could get the Steelers the ball back down 32-30.
It was not to be, as Wilson connected with Baldwin on an 80-yard touchdown pass with just over two minutes remaining, giving the Seahawks a 39-30 lead that would be the final score.
For the Steelers, they now hold a precarious grip on the final Wild Card spot with a pivotal home match up against the Indianapolis Colts next on the docket.
