Seattle has its Legion of Boom defense, a home field considered second to none for noise and coffee that you can curl up to on a rainy day, of which there are many.
The Steelers? They have had little but gloom and doom in that city, even though not one of them has played there wearing the black and gold.
To start, the Steelers are 1-6 in Seattle and have lost to the Seahawks in three stadiums there — the old Kingdome, the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium and the current one, now called CenturyLink Field. They lost in Seattle when they were in the AFC and lost to them as an NFC team.
The Seahawks have a statue outside the stadium for their mythical “12th Man” representing their fans. If Seattle wins again Sunday, it should build one that looks like a Steelers player.
The Steelers’ only victory there came in 1983 and, as luck would have it, their current defensive coordinator, Keith Butler, was on the losing side then as a Seahawks starting inside linebacker. He had seven tackles that day. The Steelers have lost their past four games in Seattle since then.
Besides that poor record on the field, it has not been much better off it.
In 1981, after a tough loss, the Steelers charter flight could not take off until the next day because of fog. That night, a few of the players went out to a local establishment and the backup quarterback, Cliff Stoudt, broke his right arm when he missed an arcade punching bag and hit a pipe.
A sadder moment occurred Nov. 28, 1982, when the Steelers received word at halftime of their game in Seattle that Kass Rooney, matriarch of the family and wife of Art Rooney Sr., had died in a Pittsburgh hospital.
Yes, there has been little good news for the Steelers when they travel to Seattle.
But then, none of their current players knows any of it, or that their only victory in Seattle was 32 years ago.
“I wasn’t here for that,” said linebacker Arthur Moats, who at 27 means he was not here for that. “We have to make sure we win this week.”
Ben Roethlisberger missed playing in Seattle by one season when the Steelers played in what was then a 1-year-old stadium in 2003. It’s the only NFL city where Roethlisberger has not yet played.
“We expect it to be incredibly loud,” he said. “But a lot of us have never been there, so you don’t know what to expect. Other than what you see on TV and hear about, that’s kind of what you have to prepare for.”
Two of their defensive backs have played there — safety Mike Mitchell in the preseason with the Oakland Raiders, and cornerback William Gay in his one season with Arizona. Mike Vick also played there with Atlanta.
It’s loud, but the Steelers are more concerned with the talent the Seahawks will throw at them than the crowd noise.
“They’re very aggressive, physical,” Mitchell said. “A good football team that’s similar to us in a way in that they’re still trying to keep their playoff hopes alive and are desperate for a win.”
At 5-5, the Seahawks are off to a second consecutive mediocre start after appearing in the Super Bowl. They won the championship after the 2013 season, then started 2014 3-3 before they won 9 of 10 and reached Super Bowl 49.
There, they had a second consecutive victory nearly in hand before coach Pete Carroll pulled one of the biggest blunders in Super Bowl history. He allowed Russell Wilson to throw a pass on second down at New England’s goal line with 26 seconds left instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch. The pass for Ricardo Lockette was intercepted and the Patriots prevailed, 28-24.
Perhaps it’s not so much a Super Bowl hangover the Seahawks have fought this year, but a long-standing headache from that ill-fated play that cost them another ring and a special place in history with a chance to become the first team to win three in a row.
“I understand how close every game is in this league and how much the talent is spread across this league,” Moats noted. “It’s a game of inches. You think about the Super Bowl, for example, if he catches it, they’re Super Bowl champions and they’re back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
“But it’s a game of inches, and they end up losing. From that sense, it doesn’t surprise me their record is 5-5. They’re still a good team that has a lot of talent.”
And against the Steelers, a lot of historic success in Seattle to go with it.
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.
First Published: November 26, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
