Inside the matchup Seahawks vs. Steelers

Seattle (2-3) travels to Pittsburgh (2-3) this Sunday to play at 5:20 pm on NBC. This is the first game in Russell Wilson’s career that he will miss. Until now, he had played in 149 straight games to start his career. The injury is a ruptured tendon on the middle finger of his right hand, and the Seahawks don’t have a clear timetable for his return. According to ESPN, Wilson is expected to be out somewhere between four to six weeks. If it turns out to be only four weeks, Wilson will only miss three games since Seattle has a bye week in week nine.

Until then, Geno Smith is the starting quarterback for the Seahawks. Smith has only played two games for the Seahawks in the last two years as Wilson’s backup. Before that, he has been with the Chargers, Giants, and Jets. His last full season as a starting quarterback was with the 2014 Jets. Smith has a 57.9% completion rate for his career with thirty touchdowns, thirty-seven interceptions, eighty-two sacks, and eleven fumbles over a forty-two-game career. He did look good moving the ball down the field for two possessions last week while replacing Wilson and the interception he threw was due to the receiver tripping while running the route.

The good news for Seahawks fans is that the Pittsburgh Steelers are a mess this season. Ben Roethlisberger now thirty-nine, is in his eighteenth season for the Steelers and is showing signs of slowing down. So far this season, he has more turnovers than touchdowns. Through his first five games of the season, he has six touchdowns, four interceptions, and three fumbles. He’s also been sacked eleven times already this season. Last year he was sacked only thirteen times for the season.

Perhaps some of Roethlisberger’s issues arise from all of the injuries Pittsburgh has at wide receiver. All of Pittsburgh’s top wide receivers have missed at least one game to injury. After last week’s game, they found out they would be losing Juju Smith-Schuster for the rest of the season. He needs surgery to repair a dislocated shoulder he suffered last week against Denver.

Pittsburgh’s primary running back is Najee Harris. Harris was great last week against the Broncos, running for one hundred twenty-two yards on twenty-three attempts. His status for this week is questionable as he left last week’s game with cramps and did not return. Without Harris, the Steelers only have sixty-one yards total rushing as a team. They would have to turn to Benny Snell Jr., who has twenty-one rushing yards in eight attempts.

On defense, Pittsburgh is one of the better teams, allowing an average of 100.4 yards per game which is ninth in the league. The Seahawks allow 145.2 yards per game. Pittsburgh is tenth in the league, allowing 22.4 points per game, and the Seahawks have been allowing an average of 25.2 points per game. Despite Pittsburgh being the favorite at home, this is definitely a winnable game for Seattle. Whichever team loses this game will have a tough time making the playoffs.