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The Opposing View: An Insider's Look At The Seahawks' Week 2 Opponent, The Pittsburgh Steelers

Q: Obviously one of the big storylines this week will be DK Metcalf facing the Seahawks for the first time after six seasons in Seattle, in addition to his four catches for 84 yards last week, what has he brought to the Steelers since the trade? And if he has said anything about it this week, what are his thoughts about facing his former team?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Brian Batko: DK Metcalf has brought an adult to the room. For all of his issues with temper flaring in-game and incurring costly penalties, Metcalf has shown to be far more professional and dependable on a day-to-day basis than the likes of George Pickens, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool or even going back further to Martavis Bryant and Antonio Brown. JuJu Smith-Schuster had his moments of immaturity here, too. Metcalf is setting the tone for a somewhat young, but even more inexperienced and unproven receiver group. As for facing his former team, he is invoking Mike Tomlin's "nameless, gray faces" mentality. While he didn't use that Tomlin-ism, he referred to it as just another game, the Seahawks are the next team on the schedule, and he actually got a bit exasperated at the line of questioning.

Read more from the opposing view here

What To Watch In The Seahawks' Week 2 Game At Pittsburgh

Can the Seahawks defensive front turn pressure into more sacks?

Both in real time, and particularly if you dive into the game film, it was evident that the Seahawks' defensive front was making life difficult on the 49ers. The Seahawks held the 49ers to just 3.3 yards per rush attempt, and that unit also put a lot of pressure on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy in the passing game. While Seattle's defensive front did not record a sack—Seattle's only sack came on a Julian Love safety blitz—the front was able to make Purdy uncomfortable, generating pressure with four rushers on 51.7 percent of the quarterback's dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats, and the defense's overall pressure rate of 60.5 percent was the team's highest in a game since 2018. The Seahawks also had eight quarterback hits, seven of them from the defensive front, with Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Murphy II and Derick Hall all getting in on the action, while Boye Mafe was able to generate multiple pressures going against All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams.

But while all those pressures can affect a quarterback—one, by linebacker Drake Thomas, helped set up an Ernest Jones IV interception—the Seahawks want to see that pressure turn into more sacks this week.

"We looked at it as a front, and the only sack we got was on a pressure from Julian Love," Williams said. "We're a prideful front that wants to make all the sacks. We want to get all the pressures and all those types of things. We have goals in our room. But from watching, they did a good job disguising when they were going to pass, play-actioning, chipping and double teaming. It's a credit to the guys that we have in the room. But at the same time, we know that we're going to receive that from offenses, so we have to figure out ways to pass rush on first and second down and learn how to beat chip blocks and double teams."

The Steelers, meanwhile, struggled with pass protection at times in Week 1, allowing four sacks on Rodgers as well as seven quarterback hits, something the Seahawks will hope to make a trend starting in Week 2.