A Connection & A Prediction

Good afternoon from Seattle, where it is morning,

James Harrison is back after missing one game with a knee injury. That’s important for the Steelers defense today and not so much because of his pass-rushing ability, but the way he sets the edge of the defense against the run. He does it well and with a quarterback like Russell Wilson and a back like rookie Thomas Rawls, it is vital.

Rawls is an amazing case. One of the best high school players in Michigan, he signed on with the University of Michigan and after a promising start, played less and less and finally transferred to Central Michigan University for his senior season in 2014.

He played in only seven games as a senior but topped 1,000 yards rushing, yet he went undrafted this year. Part of the reason may have been the fact pled to a deal after he was charged with stealing a woman’s purse at a casino in 2014, which prompted a two-game suspension that season.

Nevertheless, he looks to be the kind of bargain fellow CMU product Antonio Brown was as a sixth-round choice. Rawls has 604 yards rushing an an average of 6.0 per carry. It was a godsend for Seattle after the Seahawks lost Marshawn Lynch with an abdominal injury. Rawls ran all over the 49ers last week here with 209 yards on 30 carries. He caught three passes for another 46 yards. He scored two touchdowns.

So the Steelers not having to face Lynch does not look to be much of a break for them because of the 5-9, 220-pound Rawls who was nicknamed The Train in high school.

Onto some other Stuff before today’s game:

--- Rawls played behind a more senior back for three seasons at Michigan – Fitzgerald Toussaint, who was signed to the Steelers’ 53-man roster Friday after spending the season on their practice squad since Sept. 7.

Toussaint signed with Baltimore in 2014 after he went undrafted and spent last season with the Ravens. The Steelers signed him two days after the Ravens released him Sept. 5.

The Steelers list him as 5-9, 204. Like his former teammate Rawls, Toussaint also got into some legal trouble when he was convicted of DUI in 2012.

--- The Seahawks allow nearly 70 yards fewer than the Steelers do yet Seattle has given up one more point than them after 10 games.

 --- That Legion of Boom defense has been a bust when it comes to picking off passes. They have just four. The Steelers have nine. Richards Sherman has no interceptions.

 --- Gerry Dulac came up with this gem: The Seahawks’ famed 12th Man was copyrighted by Texas A&M, which had it at least 50 years before the Seahawks were born in 1976. The Seahawks purchased the rights to use it in 2006 and those rights are up next year. Buffalo also has an agreement with A&M to use the 12th Man. Former Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill took it a step further when he left the Panthers to coach Texas A&M in 1982. He held tryouts for students to form the Aggies’ kickoff team, 11 truly 12th Men.

 --- Seattle was enveloped in a fog this morning but it is clearing up. This is an open-air stadium. The high temperature will be in the 40s today but it’s supposed to be dry.

 --- Day 24 of the Dri Archer Watch and still he remains unsigned since the Steelers released him Nov. 5. He reportedly turned down offers from 10 teams to join their practice squads, including the Steelers. That’s three weeks of lost pay at nearly $20,000. And, of course, the opportunity to be in a team’s system in case someone gets hurt or he impresses them enough in practice to join the 53-man roster.

 --- Today’s Prediction: The chance of the Steelers winning the AFC North is so remote it’s not worth talking about. They do lead the run for the first wildcard berth in the AFC though. There are so many others in the running that it’s important they keep winning.

 However, it says here they will not do that today, that they will fall to 6-5.

Seattle 24, Steelers 17.

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