Takeaways from Seahawks 30-23 loss to Steelers

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 31: Najee Harris #22 of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs for a first down against the Seattle Seahawks during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field on December 31, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Conor Courtney/Getty Ima
SEATTLE - The playoff hopes of the Seattle Seahawks are hanging by a thread after the Pittsburgh Steelers came into Lumen Field and bullied them to the tune of 202 rushing yards from Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren in a 30-23 loss on Sunday afternoon.
The Seahawks will now need to win next week's regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals and get some help from the NFC North to extend their season into mid-January.
"I'm surprised we didn't play better," head coach Pete Carroll said. "We did things we needed in the game plan and we called everything that we had. We didn't stop them consistently. Both their running backs did a really nice job against us and it was just more than we could handle on this day."
Harris rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, while Warren added 75 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Of the 197 yards gained by the Steelers' running backs, 132 of those yards came after contact, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
"We weren't right on defense in the running game again. It's been repetitive," Carroll said. "The tackling just seemed like it was really off. We just did not make the tackles that we had to, did not knock piles back like we'd like to."
Nick Herbig delivered the only sack of Geno Smith all day and forced and recovered a fumble with seven minutes left to play that led to a Chris Boswell field goal and a 10-point Steelers lead. Seattle was able to get a field goal to cut the final margin but never got the ball back for one last chance at a tying drive.
"It stinks," safety Julian Love said. "You know, we don't want to sit here and be dealing with a loss. But we got to pick our heads up and go out and execute and win this next game. And then after the game after that final whistle, we'll see how things stack up. But, you know, we're going to finish the season as strong as we can."
The Seahawks will need the Green Bay Packers to lose at home to the Chicago Bears next weekend coupled with a Seahawks victory over the Cardinals to find a way to sneak into the playoffs. Last year, it took a Detroit Lions win over the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 18 to get Seattle into the postseason. Now they'll need a different NFC North team to do the work for them.
Green Bay beat the Bears 38-20 in the opening week of the season.
But before we turn to next week, here are the takeaways from Seattle's loss to the Steelers:
– Tackling was abysmal.
No play was more indicative of Sunday's effort than Najee Harris' 4-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.
Harris was initially stopped at the 4-yard for no gain on a hit by linebacker Bobby Wagner. However, tight end Darnell Washington blocked Wagner into losing his grasp on Harris, and fellow tight end Pat Freiermuth helped push the pile forward. Cornerback Riq Woolen backed away from the pile watching as a spectator, and safety Quandre Diggs provided minimal resistance at the back end of the scrum as Harris barreled his way into the end zone to give the Steelers a 24-17 lead.
It was far from the only play of similar substance in the game, but it was such an obvious contrast of the efforts of the two teams on Sunday.
"Tackling wasn't good enough and we weren't efficient enough," Carroll said. "We had shots. We had shots in the line of scrimmage, we had opportunities, and they won the battles better than we did."
Harris delivered a brutal stiff-arm to Woolen that drove him to the turf early in the fourth quarter. His first touchdown run of the day involved breaking through tackle from Wagner and Dre'Mont Jones before diving to cross the goal line. A 23-yard Warren run in the second quarter saw cornerback Devon Witherspoon, Wagner, safety Quandre Diggs, Love, and cornerback Michael Jackson all get hands on Warren before Jones managed to finally yank him to the ground.
There were plenty of examples to choose from.
"It’s frustrating," Love said. "We hold each other accountable, and obviously try to put our best foot forward. This late in the season, that’s what wins games, honestly. Close games against a tough team like this, we have to tackle better. I wish I had an answer for it. We rep it, we drill it, it just wasn’t our day, and it seemed like things weren’t going our way."
And when Seattle wasn't giving up yards on the ground, they were plenty vulnerable through the air as well. The Steelers finished the day with eight plays of least 18 yards, which included a 42-yard catch-and-run for Dionate Johnson, and two long catches for George Pickens of 37 and 34 yards, which included a stellar diving catch after Mason Rudolph was pressured to throw the ball up for grabs.
"We didn’t make tackles. We didn’t fit up their run and we didn’t make enough plays to win this game," Wagner said.
A brutally bad run defense was the bugaboo of last year's Seahawks team. Seattle seemed to have that problem sorted out early in the year as they jumped out to a 6-3 start to the season. But the loss of Uchenna Nwosu for the season along with the absence of Jordyn Brooks to an ankle injury on Sunday seems to have taken its toll on the Seattle defesne.
– Ken Walker III, DK Metcalf battle injuries to help bolster Seahawks offense.
Both Ken Walker III and DK Metcalf were questionable heading into Sunday's game against the Steelers. Walker has been nursing a sore shoulder and was sick during the week as well. Meanwhile, Metcalf had lower back stiffness that limited him during the week.
Walker's shoulder kept him from finishing Sunday's game as well, but before he left he racked up 53 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries along with three catches for 22 yards. Several of those touches involved making Steelers defenders flail about with unsuccessful tackling attempts of their own.
"Shoot, man, that's Ken Walker," Smith said. "We've seen that all year. We've seen that since he's gotten here. He continues to show up, get the ball in his hands and watch the magic happen."
Walker had been held out of practice for two days this week due to the shoulder injury, which was sustained last week against the Tennessee Titans.
"I thought he played really well," Carroll said. "I thought he was doing all kinds of good stuff. We felt like we were coming, we averaged a pretty good average running the football today. We just didn't get enough of them. But I thought he looked pretty good. I thought he looked sharp."
Metcalf delivered 106 yards receiving on just five total catches on the day. Four of his five receptions picked up at least 15 yards and all four of those catches came as key parts of scoring drives for Seattle's offense.
Smith completed 23-of-33 passes for 290 yards with a touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba as part of a pretty solid day for the offense overall. However, they had three drives stall out inside the Pittsburgh 30-yard line that led to field goals instead of touchdowns. Seattle also had the only giveaway of the day on Smith's fumble. Even with center Evan Brown (concussion) and right tackle Abe Lucas (knee) leaving the game with injuries, the unit gave up just the one sack to Smith on the day.
But the defense was the group that was unable to hold up its end of the bargain on Sunday.