SEATTLE — They made no attempt to hide it.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were going to win or lose Sunday’s NFL game on the right arm of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and their stellar receiving corps.
It was bombs away from the first series until the very end, and they piled up some bodacious statistics along the way.
In fact, Roethlisberger’s 456 passing yards were the most ever against the Seattle Seahawks.
But the Seattle defense made enough big plays in return, and when the smoke cleared the Seahawks walked away from a wild shootout with a 39-30 victory at CenturyLink Field.
“We feel like we got a win over a very, very good football team,” Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said. “They were on it today, and hard to stop. Their quarterback, Ben, was fantastic and their catchers were great.
“They challenged us to the max,” Carroll said. “(But) we had what we needed.”
What they got was a season-high four interceptions, and they held Roethlisberger to one touchdown pass. Twice in the second half the Seahawks (6-5) held the Steelers (6-5) to a field goal inside the 10-yard line.
The turnovers and the hard-nosed play in the red zone made the difference.
“To get those yards, they had to put it up and take some chances, and our guys came through with the big plays that’s just been missing in our game,” Carroll said. “It gave us opportunities for field position and stopped some drives and momentum. It was really important to feel that during the game.”
It didn’t take long to figure out the Steelers’ game plan as Roethlisberger was in the shotgun formation with an empty backfield on the first two plays of the game. He threw passes on Pittsburgh’s first seven offensive snaps.
And that was just warming up.
The Steelers also started the second half with seven straight pass plays, and the last time Roethlisberger handed off was with seven and half minutes left in the third quarter.
Incredibly, the Steelers’ last 28 offensive play calls were passes, although two of them became runs on the stat sheet because Roethlisberger scrambled for positive yardage.
When all was said and done, Roethlisberger threw 55 passes, and backup quarterback Landry Jones threw four, one of them on a fake punt and three more after Roethlisberger left the game in the final minutes with a possible concussion.
Altogether, they completed 37 of 59 passes for 490 yards.
“I knew they were going to throw a lot,” Seattle safety Kam Chancellor said. “I expected them to throw the ball a lot and put the ball in (Roethlisberger’s) hands for him to try to win the game for them.”
The stars seemed perfectly aligned for Roethlisberger to have a big day.
The Steelers are a big-play team anyway, and Seattle was giving DeShawn Shead his first career start at cornerback.
Shead is a career safety, but he was pressed into duty at cornerback because Cary Williams has been ineffective.
“We knew that they were going to try and attack us because of the matchup,” Seattle safety Earl Thomas said. “It’s a good matchup in their hands, but I think we did a good job of guys stepping in.”
Cornerback Richard Sherman agreed.
“We expected that,” he said. “Big Ben was very effective today, so why go away from it? That’s what we expected. Their receiving corps is the strength of their team.”
Sherman covered Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown all day and held him to a modest six receptions for 51 yards.
Meanwhile, Steelers wide receiver Markus Wheaton had a career-best day with nine receptions for 201 yards and a 69-yard touchdown reception, mostly against Shead.
But the consensus in the locker room was that Shead held up well on a day when Roethlisberger was given the keys to the Ferrari and told to drive it hard.
“That was a tough task for him,” Thomas said of Shead. “We all understood the matchup, and he held his own. They tried him a couple times, and he was there to contest the ball every time. Hats off to him.”
“It was a great battle out there,” Shead said. “You’ve just got to stay locked in. You have to have short-term memory as a defensive back. Short-term memory. Whether they catch a pass or score, regardless, you have to step back out there and line up again.”
The Seahawks also got a huge — and unexpected — lift from Jeremy Lane, who was in uniform for the first time this season and saw extensive duty as the nickel defensive back after Marcus Burley went out with an ankle injury early in the second half.
Lane had one of Seattle’s interceptions on a fake punt on the first play of the second quarter and returned it 54 yards to set up Seattle’s first touchdown.
Sherman and defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin also set up short touchdown drives with interceptions, and Chancellor sealed the victory by picking off a deep pass that Shead deflected with 1:37 left in the game.
The Seahawks said they foresaw an opportunity for interceptions as they anticipated an all-out passing attack from the Steelers. Sherman and Chancellor got theirs on long balls.
“We knew they were going to go deep, so we’re going to get chances,” Thomas said.
Sherman was every more definitive.
“They were throwing fades all day,” he said. “I knew I’d get one.”
It was an epic battle between Pittsburgh’s passing game and Seattle’s defense, and both had their moments.
“We obviously don’t want to give up that many yards,” Sherman said. “Some of the plays there’s really not much you can do. When (Roethlisberger) gets out of the pocket like that the receivers can run wherever they want.”
But in the end, the Seahawks got the better of it, barely.
“They’ve got their stars and we’ve got ours,” Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “And we came up with the win.”
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