Well, that was interesting. The Seahawks came out playing sharper, with a better gameplan, and yet we lead at halftime, 7-3? Football is weird like that.
The defense so far is bending without breaking, and without some help from the Seahawks with penalties, we could easily be down in this game.
Meanwhile, on offense, we came out -far- too conservatively, but have since gotten in to a better groove. I hate to say it, but I'm disappointed in Bill Cowher so far. The Steelers are reverting to the "old" Bill Ball. Too conservative. Not confident in what you want to execute. Playing too much -NOT- to lose instead of playing TO WIN.
Fortunately, we escaped the first half. Not only are we not down, but we managed to grab a lead. Did you read my preview? Maybe it really is the team of destiny... Goodness, we could easily be down by two scores.
The key for Pittsburgh is to build on the positive momentum of the 2nd quarter. Despite being largely outplayed, Pittsburgh finally seemed to relax and get comfortable a bit at the end of the half. They're capable of playing much better than they have so far, though we need to give Seattle credit.
Here's the bottom line of how I'm feeling. Seattle played A or A-minus football for the first half, while Pittsburgh came out too conservative and not comfortable, perhaps their B-minus game. But we lead by four points.
Seattle has impressed me plenty in this first half. But I think Pittsburgh's only going to improve. Steelers survive the scary first half and roll to victory...
GO STEELERS!!!
BEAT THE SEAHAWKS!!!
--PB--