Alejandro Villanueva #78 of the Pittsburgh Steelers sits on the bench in front of the cooling fans. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham

The home opener for Pittsburgh started with an opponent most Steelers fans have good memories of — the Seattle Seahawks.

As a kid, I drove to Detroit with my mom in 2006 to be a part of the Super Bowl festivities. We didn’t have tickets to the game, but that didn’t keep us from enjoying everything else about it, especially the 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

A much different team these days with Russell Wilson at the helm, the Steelers had a number of chances to pull out the win, but between Ben Roethlisberger giving the ball to backup quarterback Mason Rudolph for the entire second half due to injury, and the defense not able to contain the mobile quarterback on the other sideline, the team simply ran out of time for a comeback resulting in a 26-28 loss.

Pittsburgh plays at San Francisco for a 4:25 p.m. EST game next Sunday before returning home to play the Bengals for an ESPN Monday Night Football game.

Fans cheer through the smoke. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
JuJu Smith-Schuster takes the field during introductions. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
James Conner carries the ball while being followed by the Seattle defense. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
JuJu catches a pass from Rudolph in the second half. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
JuJu had to hand fight his way through a tackle. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Ben Roethlisberger was stuck on the sideline following a first half injury. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Rudolph made some plays with his feet in the second half. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Vance McDonald celebrates the first of his two touchdowns. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
A bobbled ball by DK Metcalf resulted in a touchdown by the Seahawks. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Devin Bush recovers a fumble late that resulted in a Steelers touchdown. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Russell Wilson willed his way to a first down late in the fourth quarter. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Rudolph and Wilson share a moment following the game. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Rudolph leaves the field following the 26-28 loss to the Seahawks. Credit: CP Photo: Jared Wickerham

This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2019.

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