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Seattle Gets Worked by the Steel Show

Chris Stout |Oct 08,2007

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Seattle Gets Worked by the Steel Show

Ask any Seattle Seahawks fan and they’ll tell ya – Seattle deserved to win Super Bowl XL. Poor officiating took it away. Big Ben never crossed the goal line. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t deserve to win. Comments like this are commonplace. One way or another, most Seattle fans feel like their team should’ve won the big game on February 5, 2006.

So Hasselbeck backers must’ve welcomed the opportunity for the Hawks to prove that they’re better than the Steelers. The only problem -- Pittsburgh kicked the Seahawks in the face on Sunday. Mike Holmgren had to feel extra grumpy about this one.

The revenge game was a completely one-sided affair. Pittsburgh seemed to have the ball the entire game. The Steelers doubled up the Seahawks in time of possession (40:45 to 19:15).The former champs put 21 points on the Seahawks. Seattle’s offense scored a grand total of zero. It waws the first time Seattle was shutout since the 2000 season.

The Seahawks D was able to contain Pittsburgh’s running attack early on, but once Ben Roethlisberger got hot and once Najeh Davenport jumpstarted the run game, the Steelers couldn’t be stopped.

With Casey Hampton, Troy Polamalu, Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes out of the mix, the Steelers needed their role players to step in a big way. The role players responded with huge contributions.

Davenport’s 45-yard run near the end of the second quarter was the opening salvo. Big Ben found Heath Miller in the endzone for the first score of the game. Cedrick Wilson and Nate Washington tallied eight receptions, and Davenport finished the day with two touchdowns.

Big Ben looked impressive. He completed 18 of 22 passes for 206 yards and touchdown. By the time he called it a day, Roethlisberger had completed 13 consecutive passes.

On the flipside, the Seahawks couldn’t get anything going on offense. Matt Hasselbeck completed less than 50 percent of his passes. Shaun Alexander averaged 2.3 yards per carry. He posted a whopping 25 yards on 11 carries. Alexander also caught a team-high three passes (for seven yards). On three separate occasions, Hasselbeck tired to complete passes to Ike Taylor, but the Pittsburgh corner only reeled in one interception.

Will this beating be enough to quiet whiney Seahawks fans for good?

Unlikely.

Did the resounding victory reestablish the Steelers as a force to be reckoned with this season?

Without question yes.

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