By the time Sunday’s game ended, one of the key storylines — former Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf going against his former team — was almost forgotten.
Metcalf had just three receptions for 20 yards — the eighth-fewest of his career — though he did haul in a 2-yard touchdown pass late in the first half that put the Steelers ahead 14-7 at the break.
Metcalf reportedly didn’t say much to Pittsburgh reporters afterward other than to note he’d enjoyed catching up with some of his former Seahawks friends.
Some had thought the Seahawks’ secondary might be at a disadvantage with starting cornerback Devon Witherspoon out with a knee injury, requiring them to start Josh Jobe alongside Riq Woolen and use Derion Kendrick — who was seeing his first action on defense as a Seahawk — as the nickel.
Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers, held to just 203 yards on 18 completions on 33 attempts — 65 coming on a short pass that running back Jaylen Warren turned into a big gain — said the difficulty getting the ball to his receivers was mostly a case of the Seahawks’ secondary playing well.
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“I mean, they’re sticky on the outside,” Rodgers said. “Good coverage guys and played a lot of two shell (meaning, two safeties deep, one on either side of the field) and we just couldn’t run it effectively enough to kind of get them out of it.”
Rodgers said that the Seahawks appeared to simplify things and play more conservatively in the back end then they usually do.
“With (Witherspoon) being out, they played less different groupings, (brought) less pressure. Much less pressure and more two-high.”
Seahawks safety Julian Love said the Seahawks didn’t do anything specific for Metcalf but noted that they know him better than any other defense he’ll face from years of going against him in practice.
“We’ve banked a lot of reps on him,” Love said. “Josh Jobe was super sticky in coverage when he was guarding him. Riq played his butt off guarding him. We’ve seen him. We know what he does and what he’s good at and we just played ball.”
Woolen said there wasn’t much chatter between Metcalf and the Seahawks during the game.
“But after the game we chopped it up a little bit,” Woolen said. “Just cool brother stuff, cool family stuff. But though the game it was just cool competing and having fun.”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.