The Pittsburgh Steelers won their season opener last week, but it wasn’t pretty. Perhaps the ugliest part of their game was their inability to stop the run. It’s something some members of the defense believe will improve this week, but former NFL quarterback David Carr isn’t so sure. In a bold prediction piece posted to NFL.com on Friday, Carr predicted the Seahawks would rush for 200 yards.
“The Seahawks rushed for just 84 yards against the 49ers in Week 1, led by Zach Charbonnet’s 47 yards on 12 carries,” Carr wrote. “But now they face a Steelers team that was gashed by the Jets to the tune of 182 yards on the ground. Seattle leans into the run and rushes for 200 yards in a road win.”
The Seahawks’ offense was quite an interesting one during their Week 1 win over the 49ers. The passing game relied almost entirely on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and they really struggled to run the ball. Zach Charbonnet was alright, with 47 yards on the ground on 12 carries, coming out to 3.9 per attempt. The other half of their backfield, Kenneth Walker III, was much worse. He ran the ball 10 times for just 20 yards.
The Seahawks’ offensive line has shown some promise, but the run just wasn’t working that well for them in Week 1. Fortunately for the Seahawks, the Steelers might have been the worst team in the league last week on both sides of the run game. Defending it, things were ugly. Breece Hall tore them up, running 19 times for 107 yards, an average of 5.6 yards. In total, the defense gave up 182 yards on the ground.
The issue wasn’t all on one player, either. The Jets made an effort to run away from T.J. Watt, and the rest of the defense didn’t step up. Just a day after reworking his contract, Cam Heyward failed to make any real impact. Keeanu Benton was forced out of his gap early and often. The entire line being pushed back only made things harder for Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen as well. Making matters worse, the Steelers lost DeShon Elliott for a couple of weeks during that game as well.
They did sign Jabrill Peppers this week, who brings a lot of skill against the run. However, it’s still hard to feel confident in this unit. It was a problem throughout the 2024 season, and despite their new additions things don’t seem to have improved yet. The Seahawks may not rush for 200 yards on the Steelers, but they could have a solid day with the poor form the defense is currently in.
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