December 26, 1993
Seahawks Literally “Run Over” Steelers
Seahawks 16 – Steelers 6
1993 was really a rocky season filled with fantastic highs, but dramatic lows for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coming off of a magical 1992 season that saw them go 11-5, win the A.F.C. Central for the 1st time since 1984, and earn the top seed in the A.F.C., the groundwork for further success in 1993 seemed imminent. However, perception isn’t always reality. And after an 0-2 start where they were waxed by the 49ers on Opening Day, and Jerome Bettis and Cleveland Gary ran roughshod over the Defense in Week 2 the season seemed doomed. However, by late December the team stood at 8-6 and still in playoff contention heading into Seattle to play the 5-9 Seahawks who were riding a 4 game losing streak, and were led by their Rookie QB and 2nd overall pick of the 1993 Draft Rick Mirer. While the game wouldn’t be a cinch, the Steelers had a playoff berth on the line and a win against a very beatable opponent would all but secure it. Sadly the Seahawks were ready to play that day and handed the Steelers a humiliating loss.
The Seahawks came out firing and proved they wanted this game right from the start. Trying to help their Rookie QB, Seattle’s running game was in top gear as well and remained that way all day long. What made this fact even more frustrating for Steelers fans was that Seattle’s leading rusher and future Pro Bowler Chris Warren missed the entire game with an injury and the running game would be led by pass catching FB and future Steeler John L. Williams and Jon Vaughn who had only 6 carries all season to that point. This made even better news for the Steelers who at that point in the season had the N.F.L.’s top ranked Defense against the run.
By the end of the 1st Quarter, Seattle had built a 7-0 lead after a Paul Green 2 yard TD catch from Mirer and the Steelers had already dug themselves in a hole. The 2nd Quarter didn’t go so well for the Steelers either as each team traded Field Goals as John Kasay made a 32 yarder and Gary Anderson booted one from 42 yards out. While down the Steelers were not out and still found themselves at a 10-3 disadvantage despite their run Defense playing like complete and total crap. Probably the only defender playing well all day was Kevin Greene who was able to sack Mirer 3 times that day. Yet as I stated before ,the lack of stopping the run killed the Steelers chances to win that day.
In the 3rd Quarter Seattle went back to the run, and the Seahawks were able to control the clock nicely. The only scoring play was a 48 yard Field Goal by Kasay which made the score 13-3. Down by 10 in the 4th Quarter, the Steelers came out throwing the football. O’Donnell had a bad day in terms of accuracy 20 for 43 for 285 yards, but Dwight “Hands Of” Stone and Eric “Fatty Arbuckle” Green (who had a costly fumble in this game near midfield) both went over the 100 yard receiving mark due to the Steelers needing to rack up quick yards through the air in the 2nd Half.
The Steelers managed to claw their way back into the game as Anderson booted a 43 yard Field Goal in the 4th Quarter and the Seattle lead was cut to 13-6. While down, the Steelers just needed a stop and score to tie the game and possibly play for O.T.. Sadly the run Defense and Defense in general couldn’t show up enough and the Steelers’ Offense was unable to capitalize when they did make a stop. Seattle added another Kasay Field Goal to make the score 16-6 late in the 4th Quarter, and by that time the game was wrapped up and the Steelers lost by that margin.
While Mirer’s stats were pedestrian and borderline crappy 12 for 29 for 117 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT, this game proved that at times in the N.F.L., a team can hide it’s QB behind a strong running game. In a crazy twist of fate, Seattle got Jon Vaughn’s best statistical day ever as a pro as he rushed for 131 yards on 26 carries and had himself a nifty 37 yard rush to boot. To add insult to injury, Williams had 100 yards combined of rushing and receiving (86 rush on a day where he gashed the Steelers all day long and 14 rec.), and even Mirer had 44 yards on 4 carries. When the day ended, the Steelers supposedly vaunted rush Defense had given up 267 yards on the ground to a team that didn’t even have its Pro Bowl RB in the game!
If this game represented anything, it represented the close yet so far nature of the 1993 season. Needing a win, the Steelers didn’t get it and this loss just illustrated how awful the 1993 team really was at rising to the occasion when the chips were on the table. While they were able to wrap up the final playoff spot the next week with a win over Cleveland, they lost the following week in the Wild Card Round to Kansas City. It was a 27-24 O.T. loss where the Steelers were ahead all day, but were soon thwarted by some Joe Montana come from behind magic.