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PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 14: Derion Kendrick #1 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates after an interception in the second half during the NFL 2025 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on September 14, 2025 in Pittsburgh, (Lauren Leigh Bacho / Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks overcame early miscues of their own before thoroughly outplaying the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second half for a 31-17 victory for their first win of the season.
Seattle's defense held strong as a pair of Sam Darnold interceptions and a missed field goal from Jason Myers stunted the offensive attack in the first half. But a pair of interceptions of Aaron Rodgers by Derion Kendrick and Coby Bryant, a shocking special teams touchdown by George Holani on a total blunder by Pittsburgh, and three second half scoring drives by the offense allowed the Seahawks to avoid an 0-2 start to the year.
Playing without Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori in the secondary, the Seahawks still managed to shut down Rodgers and the Steelers' passing attack. Former Seahawk DK Metcalf finished with just three catches for 20 yards and a touchdown. If not for a 65-yard catch-and-run from running back Jaylen Warren that featured multiple missed tackles, Rodgers would have finished well under 200 yards passing.
The Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers also won on Sunday, so getting in the win column and not falling two games back in the division race two weeks into the season was a big deal for Seattle.
"I'm most excited about where we're going," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "I've seen us execute throughout the offseason, I saw us be disappointed after last week, and I've seen us have resolve and bounce back and be determined about getting better and committed to this team. It's easy to kind of lose hope after you get that iniital feedback that it may not be working, but our guys are trusting the process and we're sticking to it."
Here are the takeaways from victory No. 1 of the season for the Seahawks.
It helps to know the rules.
Quite literally, the difference in the game came down to one team knowing the rules while the other did not.
After Jason Myers' 54-yard field goal gave Seattle a 17-14 lead, the Seahawks scored a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff as the Steelers bungled the play. Caleb Johnson let Myers' kickoff bounce by him into the Steelers' end zone. That alone isn't a disaster, as the return team can still retreat and touch the ball down in the end zone for a touchback.
However, it seemed as though no member of the Steelers' return team knew that.
Instead, the Seahawks raced for the loose ball with George Holani recovering the ball for a touchdown while Johnson and the Steelers were left stunned.
"You have to talk rules. You have to know the rules of the game and play by them better than anybody else," Macdonald said.
"It's a heck of play by George, understanding the situation, and then staying in bounds and recovering it."
While many aspects of the kickoff rule have changed in the last two seasons, the fundamental need to field a kickoff is still the same as it was before the changes. Punts are dead (assuming they're not touched) when the ball crosses into the end zone. Kickoffs are live ball situations and have to be actively downed by the receiving team.
"Any ball on the ground, we're picking up no matter the situation. Let it play out," Macdonald said.
The touchdown for Seattle turned a tight, one-score game for over 45 minutes into a 10-point Seattle lead.
While Pittsburgh was able to trim the lead to seven with 7:54 left to play, the Seahawks controlled the rest of the contest before Walker's touchdown run fully put the game away with 3:41 remaining.
It's the first Seahawks touchdown as the kicking team since November 29, 1981. Rodell Thomas recovered a forced fumble of Arthur Whittington by Mike Tice for a 5-yard touchdown return.
Defense delivers despite a shorthanded secondary.
In the first half, the Seattle defense held the Steelers to 69 total yards and six first downs, and yet the Seahawks trailed 14-7 due to the early offensive issues.
While Pittsburgh gained more yards in the second half, it resulted in two Aaron Rodgers interceptions as well.
Jaylen Warren was the only receiver for the Steelers to have more than 31 yards, with his 65-yard catch-and-run being one of just three plays to gain more than 15 yards for Pittsburgh in the contest. A 22-yard pass to Calvin Austin and a 20-yard catch from Pat Freiermuth were the only other explosive plays for the Steelers.
Ten of the Steelers' 17 points came directly as a result of Darnold's interceptions. Pittsburgh took control at the Seattle 44- and 21-yard lines on their scoring drives and gained just 35 total yards on the two drives.
It was a stout defensive showing for Seattle as they've allowed just 17 points in both games they've played this season.
"Our coaches deserve a lot of credit getting Derion ready to go and D-Bell (D'Anthony Bell)," Macdonald said. "It's hard to learn our system in two weeks and D.K. I thought played a really good game. Obviously, had the interception, which was a tremendous play, a game-changing play. And the rest of the defense, I just think we're playing really, really hard. I think the details came to life more this game."
Byron Murphy II had 1.5 sacks as part of perhaps his best game as a pro early in his second season as well. The Seahawks managed eight total hits on Rodgers throughout the afternoon with three sacks.
Riq Woolen rebounds with a key play to save a Pittsburgh touchdown.
Cornerback Riq Woolen took the brunt of criticism last week after two plays he allowed on the final defensive series against the San Francisco 49ers led to the game-winning score. Even Macdonald left the possibility of a change at the position up in the air this week before Devon Witherspoon was ruled out with a knee injury.
But against the Steelers on Sunday, he came up with a big play that ultimately helped shift the game in Seattle's favor.
On Jaylen Warren's 65-yard catch-and run, Warren broke through tackle attempts from Ernest Jones IV, Tyrice Knight, Julian Love and Josh Jobe as he narly took the ball into the end zone. However, Woolen was able to run Warren down from behind at the 5-yard line.
Three plays later, a Rodgers pass deflected off the hands of Calvin Austin and was picked off by Derion Kendrick in the end zone as Seattle kept the Steelers from taking the lead.
"Riq had a tough week. I thought he played a tremdnous football game," Macdonald said. "And what people don't realize is we missed a ton of tackles – C.P. (linebackers coach Chris Partridge) is going to have a field day tomorrow with the tape – but Riq is the guy who chased him down from the backside. We're talking about ultimate effort, committed to the process, having your teammate's back, playing with shocking effort, he does that and he got him down and we ended up leaving that drive with no points.
"We defended a blade of grass and Riq is the guy who deserves a ton of credit on that front and helped us win the football game. I'm really proud of Riq. He's done a great job this week."
Seahawks overcame first half mistakes.
Before the second half surge, it felt like miscues in the first half may ultimately thwart the team's chances of a win.
Sam Darnold had a pair of interceptions, Jason Myers clanged a 36-yard field goal off the left upright, and Derion Kendrick had an interception go straight through his hands.
With the Steelers turning those interceptions into 10 points in a game they were otherwise accomplishing very little, it was the type of recipe that could easily have resulted in the Seahawks giving away a win.
Darnold rebounded by going 9-for-13 for 158 yards and a touchdown in the second half, combined with 79 second half yards and a touchdown from Walker.
"The guy is stone cold out there and just keeps playing. We finally closed it out there at the end, you saw the emotion, saw the excitement, and he deserves it. I thought he played a really good game.
Darnold was picked off by Jalen Ramsey trying to get a pass to Cooper Kupp on the first play of a drive. Later in the half, a fourth down play-action didn't fool Cam Heyward as he immediately got in Darnold's face and forced a deflection that was picked off by linebacker Nick Herbig with a 41-yard return into Seattle territory.
Darnold said the team wasn't discouraged at halftime and knew they had been productive if not for the mistakes.
"If we don't turn the ball over, we're marching right down the field, kicking field goals or scoring touchdowns," Darnold said. "Obviously, we would like to score touchdowns, but I felt like we were driving the football really well, and there were just a couple bad plays on my end that obviously I'm going to clean up, watch the tape and get better from, but I felt like there was a lot to go into the second half optimistic about."
The miscues turned in Seattle's favor in the second half with Rodgers the one to throw two interceptions, and the Steelers gaffe on special teams.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba gets help this week on offense.
In Week 1, the Seahawks' offense was essentially Jaxon Smith-Njigba and no one else.
While Smith-Njigba still led Seattle with 103 yards and eight receptions on Sunday, he had a helping hand from the rest of the offense.
Cooper Kupp had seven catches for 90 yards, including a few key third down catches. Tory Horton caught two passes for 32 yards, which included the first touchdown of his career on his first ever catch in the NFL, and Ken Walker III rushed for 105 yards on 13 carries.
"This offense is designed to get the ball to everybody," Macdonald said. "I felt like it did that today and we're on our way on that front."
After a quiet debut in Seattle last week, Kupp had a real impact on Sunday. His two third down grabs helped keep drives alive that led to 10 points on A.J. Barner's touchdown catch and Jason Myers' 54-yard field goal.
Meanwhile, Horton didn't get a catch in his debut in Week 1, but capped Seattle's opening drive with a 21-yard touchdown catch.
"We said we needed to make a big jump from Week 1 to Week 2, and I feel like we did. But we're not satisfied. We need to keep growing and keep getting better as a team," Macdonald said.
"The timing of the pass game was really good. I felt like our protection plan was awesome. Situational football, I felt like the third down plan was awesome. The guys really executed. … Had some critical third downs, especially on the first drive. To go down on the first drive, execute the third down, keep the drive going and go punch it in, starting with a lead is really nice. We need to do that more often."
As Macdonald hinted at, it was Seattle's first opening drive touchdown in 23 games dating back to December 2023 against the San Francisco 49ers.
And Smith-Njigba was still terrific as well. His 43-yard catch over Jalen Ramsey in the fourth quarter helped set up Walker's clinching 19-yard touchdown run.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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