An extraordinary confluence of events

Kenneth Walker rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time since Week 1 in 2024.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished with more than 100 yards receiving for the second consercutive week.

Still, that did not exactly feel like a 14-point win as Seattle overcame two interceptions and a missed field goal in the first half thanks in part to a Pittsburgh special-teams gaffe.

More on that in a second, but if you want to find out what we learned on Sunday in Pittsburgh as well as a list of things we’re still trying to figure out, here you go: Three Things We Learned.

If you’re looking for the single most incorrect prediction that was made this week, well, that would be former NFL defensive lineman Gerald McCoy proclaiming that D.K. Metcalf would set a “revenge game” receiving record, whatever that means:

(Narrator’s voice) D.K. Metcalf did not, in fact, have 236 or more yards.

He did not have 23 or more yards.

He finished with three catches for 20 yards.

If you’re looking for the Seattle Mariners, they are alone in first place having bludgeoned the California Angels of Los Angeles playing in Anaheim or whatever the hell that franchise is calling itself these days.

The Mariners beat the Angels 11-2 on Sunday, Cal Raleigh hit his 54th home run to tie Mickey Mantle for most home runs by a switch-hitter.

The Mariners have won nine in a row, they lead the Astros by a game in the American League West.

Now let’s get back to the bad bounce in the Seahawks’ game.

With 12:46 left in the fourth quarter, Jason Myers kicked a 54-yard field goal to give Seattle a 17-14 lead.

The ensuing kickoff turned out to be the single most decisive play of the game and one the announcers did an exceptionally poor job of explaining:

Myers’ kickoff landed at the 10-yard line, bounced to the 5 where it skipped up and over Pittsburgh rookie Kaleb Johnson.

Johnson ran toward the Pittsburgh sideline, believing two things:

1. He had not touched the ball;

2. It had gone into the end zone, thereby making it a touchback.

That’s how it would work in college. Once the ball enters the end zone, it’s a touchback.

However, in the NFL, it is a live ball. It has always been a live ball.¹

It did not matter if Johnson touched the ball or not.

I’ve heard a lot of people chalk this confusion up to the new rules, what is being called the dynamic kickoff. That’s not true either. If that play had occurred five years ago, it would have been a touchdown, too.

Here are the current rules:

If the ball lands in front of the opponent’s 20-yard line, the play is dead and the opponent gets the ball at its own 40.

If the kick lands in the opponent’s end zone, the receiving team gets the ball at its 30 unless the returner opts to run out of the end zone with the ball.

If the kick lands beyond the opponent’s end zone, the receiving team gets the ball at its 30.

If the kick lands between the opponent’s 20-yard line and its goal line (what is being called “the landing zone”) the receiving is required to return it (i.e. no fair catches).

If the kick lands between the opponent’s 20-yard line and its goal line, it is a live ball and while it can not be returned by the kicking team, it can be recovered, which is exactly what happened.

Had the ball gone out of the end zone — which it nearly did — Pittsburgh would have gotten the ball at its own 20.

🔨 My favorite play of Sunday’s game 🔨 

The fullback is a position that has been dying for a solid 20 years now. At least that’s what people say.

That’s not entirely true. There’s just fewer teams that use it.

Those teams that still use fullbacks, however, are providing a prime opportunity to create cult heroes. Here’s why.

The Seahawks have the ball first-and-10 at its own 41. It is the second play of the fourth quarter, the score is tied 14-14 and Cooper Kupp has just caught a 13-yard pass to give the Seahawks a first down.

Seattle lines up in a very unsubtle formation.

See those four guys to the right of the center with their hands in the dirt? The Seahawks are heavily hinting that’s the way they’re going to run the ball.

The Steelers have nine guys “in the box” which is the phrase football people use to indicate defenders who are in position to defend the run.

Six of the nine box defenders are to the right of Seattle’s center, which makes sense. The pair of tight ends outside right tackle Abe Lucas give Seattle two extra blockers on that side of the line.

The play, however, is going to the left, and fullback Robbie Ouzts is the key.

For this play to work, left tackle Charles Cross and left guard Gray Zabel need to open a lane at the line of scrimmage and Ouzts must keep the outside linebacker from filling that hole.

(Narrator’s voice): Ouzts was indeed able keep Pittsburgh’s Payton Wilson from filling the hole. In fact, he was able to turn Wilson into a bowling pin he then drove into another Pittsburgh linebacker, Patrick Queen.

The result: a 20-yard rush against a nine-man box.

1  Seventeen years ago the Seahawks failed to recover an opponent’s kickoff, resulting in a turnover. It was a wild-card game against Washington in January 2008 (meaning the 2007 season), and during Seattle’s wild-card playoff game against Washington, a the Seahawks failed to field a kickoff, which Washington recovered on the bounce and ran into the end zone. Now, you can not advance a kickoff recovery, which negated the touchdown, but Washington did get the ball.