Steelers make do, make good in XL-sized victory
08.10.2007 15:00
Sport and Travel
- Source: USA Today
PITTSBURGH — A team is the sum of its parts.
Or maybe the sum of its parts when missing some of its parts. Two defensive starters out. Two on offense, one a late scratch whose absence added a little desperation to the game plan. The Pittsburgh Steelers coped. They thrived. They didn't so much as step up as step down repeatedly on the necks of the Seattle Seahawks. Two long, time-consuming drives in the second half and a defense that yielded nothing gave the Steelers a 21-0 victory and their first shutout since 2005. BOX SCORE: Steelers 21, Seahawks 0 Excitement? Not much. Highlights? Few, in a so-called rematch of Super Bowl XL, also won by Pittsburgh. Just a steady grinding, a wearing-away of Seattle, which went scoreless for the first time since 2000. "It wasn't pretty today. I know that," said Steelers running back Willie Parker, who ran for more than 100 yards for the fourth time in five games. Coach Mike Tomlin offered a better description. He called it "an attrition football game." PHOTOS: Week 5 in pictures That aspect came into focus early. The Steelers (4-1) knew they'd be without their best receiver, Hines Ward (knee). They did not anticipate Santonio Holmes injuring a hamstring in warmups, too late to be included on the pregame inactive list. So the Steelers went without their starting receivers, in addition to nose tackle Casey Hampton (thigh) and safety Troy Polamalu (abdomen) and only had 44 players available. The Seahawks (3-2) also understood. Fullback Mack Strong (neck stinger) left early and so did receiver Deion Branch (sprained foot). The Seahawks had already deactivated receiver D.J. Hackett (ankle). Everything is chemistry The Steelers thrived. The Seahawks dived. "Everything is chemistry. Any time you lose a player, it hurts," said Seattle running back Shaun Alexander. "But we have tons of talent. I can't make an excuse. Pittsburgh just had their way with us." In every way. • The Steelers ran the ball 41 times for 163 yards, with Najeh Davenport scoring twice. Ben Roethlisberger threw only four incomplete passes in his 22 attempts and hit on 13 in a row. His 18 completions went to backups and the backups of backups. Five to Cedrick Wilson. Three to Nate Washington, who replaced Holmes. • The Seahawks managed only one first down in the second half and that with less than three minutes remaining when Seneca Wallace, subbing for Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback, scrambled for 11 yards. • The Steelers owned the ball for 40:45, the Seahawks for 19:15. Combined, Pittsburgh's two second-half scoring drives chewed up 30 plays and 165 yards. The Steelers took the kickoff and wound 10:17 off the clock in going 80 yards in 17 plays, complicating their own lives by committing three holding plays but still scoring on Davenport's 1-yard run. "The first drive of the second half is always huge," said Roethlisberger, who slipped a bunch of would-be sacks to make plays that salvaged the drive, including a third-and-13 pass of 15 yards to Wilson, a third-and-7 pass to Heath Miller for 13 yards and a third-and-17 pass of 17 yards to Wilson again. "When you can have the ball as long as we did and put points on the board, it puffs your chest a little and demoralizes the other team a little bit." A bit? If the Seahawks were any flatter at the end, they could have faxed themselves home. "We got it handed to us pretty good today," coach Mike Holmgren said. They handed it over pretty good, too. At the end of the first half, trailing 7-0, the Seahawks pushed to the Pittsburgh 14. Hasselbeck's throw for receiver Ben Obomanu (two catches this season, both in this game) was intercepted at the goal line by Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor to stop them on the final play. No touchdown, no field goal, nothing to build on. With only three receivers active, the Steelers wanted to rely on the run. They threw two passes in the fourth quarter and their last 13 plays were runs. "We knew they were going to pack the box because of our wideout situation," Tomlin said. "We had to run the football. I think everybody in that locker room knew what we had to do." Accountability and adaptability The Seahawks at least had the pretense of an offense in the first half but not thereafter. They rushed ball only four times in the second half, though they only snapped it 13 times. With temperatures in the 80s, the sun shining and the defense stuck out on the field, they wilted under heat and pressure. "No one wants to leave their teammates out there," said Alexander, who carried six times in the first quarter and only five more thereafter. "We put our team in a bad position today." Accountability and adaptability. The Steelers needed it and got it. Early in the week, knowing Ward wouldn't play, Tomlin challenged Wilson and Washington to be playmakers. Then Holmes came up lame and both contributed. "You practice every week like you're a starter," Washington said. "That's what you have to do." In the secondary, the Steelers moved Ryan Clark from free safety to strong safety to replace Polamalu. Clark had never played there in his two seasons with the Steelers. Tyrone Carter started at strong safety and was in on five tackles. "That's the good thing about our defense," Clark said. "When you've got a coach like (defensive coordinator Dick) LeBeau, he keeps everybody prepared. We have a lot of guys here that would be able to go out there and be starters on other teams." Some teams. But the Steelers are a sum team.
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