PITTSBURGH —The Pittsburgh Steelers offense made just two trips inside the red zone against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
They scored on the first one, a touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to DK Metcalf late in the first half.
The second time, Rodgers hit Jaylen Warren for a 65-yard ramble down the to 5-yard line. Rodgers threw the ball away on first down, a botched screen with pressure in his face. On second down, Kenneth Gainwell was stopped short. On third down, Rodgers threw his first Steelers interception.
Rodgers escaped some pressure, ran to his left, and threw for Pat Freiermuth in the back of the end zone. Unfortunately, Calvin Austin III was there, too. Both Steelers receivers went for the same spot in the back corner of the end zone. The ball, intended for Freiermuth, ended up being close enough to Austin that he could get his hands on it.
Unfortunately, it wasn't close enough that he could catch it. Austin tipped the ball upward, out of range of the diving Freiermuth and into the arms of trailing cornerback Derion Kendrick , who made a game-changing play.
"Cal is the best kid ever, but he probably should have just stayed in the flat there," Rodgers said. "He knows it. He was kind of stealing it from Pat — or catch it and put it away. Score a touchdown. But Cal's the best kid and, you know, it sucks because he's such a great kid, but unfortunately that whole sequence took points off the board."
It ended up being the offense's last, best chance at pay dirt. The Steelers went three-and-out on the next possession, and after a Seattle field goal on the next drive, Kaleb Johnsons' special teams gaffe mostly put the game out of reach.
The Steelers were 3 for 3 in the red zone in Week 1, and only a finger's width away from being perfect in Week 2, so Rodgers isn't sweating the lone mistake, even after it loomed large in the Pittsburgh loss.
"It's been two weeks," he said. "Last week we were 100% in the red zone. So, this week we weren't, so. I think we need to take it easy. It's a small sample size. … So, we got to understand this is the league and things happen and we're not trying to crush anybody on our team. Just what happened, happened. Disappointing for K.J. We love K.J. Cal's trying to make a play. We love Cal. We've just got to be 100% with our assignment in order to win some of these games. It comes down to one or two plays. It could be in the first quarter. It could be this the fourth quarter."
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Aaron Rodgers Explains Costly First Steelers Interception: 'Took Points Off the Board'
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