Let's get the injury stuff out of the way first.
As we already knew, Troy Polamalu, Shamarko Thomas and Ryan Shazier will not play in this game for the Steelers. You can now add Ross Ventrone to that list as well, which leaves the Steelers very thin at safety going into this game.
Will Allen will start next to Mike Mitchell, with only Robert Golden currently on the roster as a backup. William Gay could play safety in a pinch, but the Steelers could also activate Jordan Dangerfield, signed earlier this week, from the practice squad.
As for the game itself, the Steelers are 5-point favorites, which shows that those guys in Vegas are looking at what Pittsburgh has done on the road this season and aren't necessarily buying just yet.
To that point, outside of a big game at Carolina, the Steelers have scored 6, 17 and 10 points in their other road games this season.
But that was then and this is now.
This team is playing with a lot more confidence than the one that scored two combined offensive touchdowns at Jacksonville and Cleveland a month ago.
Ben Roethlisberger is on fire and rookie Martavis Bryant and Lance Moore weren't really in the mix at wide receiver, with Justin Brown still getting the majority of the snaps.
All Moore and Bryant have done is catch seven TD passes in the past four games.
Defensively, the Steelers also are playing a little different. They're attacking more. Part of that is because the score of the games has allowed for that, but the Steelers are attacking from the opening kickoff.
The Jets are as dangerous a 1-8 team as I've seen in the NFL. They have some very good players and some dangerous offensive weapons.
But they're also a team that has allowed their quarterbacks to be sacked 25 times, including 10 on new starter Michael Vick in just over 80 pass attempts.
The matchup of Roethlisberger and company against New York's secondary is also not a good one for the Jets, who have allowed 24 touchdown passes, six more than the next closest team.
As long as Pittsburgh controls the Jets' running game - and by control, I mean not allowing New York to go for 200 yards - and doesn't turn the ball over against a defense that has forced just three turnovers, it should win this game.
I like the Steelers, 27-17
@ The NFL handed out fines to five players from last week's win over Baltimore, and not surprisingly, four of the fines went to the Ravens.
Courtney Upshaw drew a $20,000 fine for his late hit on Roethlisberger, while guard Jeremy Zuttah, Albert McClellan and, yes, Terrell Suggs were each fined $8,268 for late or unnecessary hits.
The fine for Suggs was for his much-talked-about hit on LeGarrette Blount.
The NFL uses a system for its fines, hence the bigger fine for Upshaw, who obviously has had other incidents in his recent past.
It's a one-size-fits-all mentality rather than looking at each hit on its own.
For the Steelers, Vince Williams was fined $8,268 for taunting, which in the grand scheme of things, seems either excessive or makes the other fines look small.
How is yelling at another player even on the same scale as hitting them late or, in the case of the Suggs, hit, taking a chance at ending their career?
Then again, maybe he told somebody that their mother was a hamster and their father smells of elderberries. Oh, the humanity.
No other Steelers were fined, including Steve McLendon, who was flagged for what the game officials ruled was a heavy hit on Joe Flacco.
Apparently, the NFL, when looking at the hit, saw that Flacco was already in the air when hit by McLendon, who was jumping over another player himself to get to the quarterback. It looked ugly in regular time, but once it was slowed down, it was easy to see that it wasn't a malicious hit.
8 comments:
if the steelers think they just need to walk on the field to win, then this will be a bad game. if they come with the fire they showed for 3 quarters last week, they should win easily. I guess we'll see.
I hope they keep miller involved. it's just too much for a defense when they've got miller in the middle, AB all over the place, bell against the LB'ers, Bryant down the field and the other WR's chipping in.
my gut says steelers by 13 and possible rex getting canned.
Steelers should be able to keep Miller involved. 11 of the 24 TD passes allowed by the Jets have gone to tight ends - there's a fantasy football tip for you guys.
I am still upset about the Upshaw hit. It was a dirty and deliberate attempt to hurt Ben. I've gone back and looked at the play and i don't get it. He took at least four steps after Ben released the football WTF!!! Neither Collinsworth or Micheals hardly commented on the the hit. He should have been ejected and fined much more in my opinion.
I think you hit it on the head Dale. The Jets game plan should be to run the ball on offense to keep it away from Ben or at least limit his opportunities to score. On defense, whenever the Jets get close to Ben, go for the ball rather than the sack. A turnover or two would keep the game close. As much as I’d like to see the Steelers win by 20, I think this game will be close, so 24-21 Steelers.
What I find interesting and maybe it’s human nature, is that most people look at the last game played (or the current streak of games) and think that’s how the current game will be. After beating Carolina handily, very few people thought the Steelers would lose to Tampa Bay. Conversely, after a dismal TB-Jack-Cleve streak, very few people were imagining a three game home sweep. Even after beating Houston, not many people had confidence to pick the Steelers over Indy. The Baltimore series is slightly different, throw the records out because anyway you cut it, the rivalry is like a heavy weight fight. Point is that the Steelers have been on a streak and it’s usually pretty difficult to maintain that level of intensity. If they continue like this, it bodes well for the post season.
Steelers - 23 Jets - 19 (William Gay picks off Vick in the end zone in the final minute.)
steelers will win this by 3 or 4 points with the jets scoring a late td to make us all nervous.
Love the Monty Python reference Dale! Made my day!
When the Steelers beat Baltimore I felt they would lose to either NY or Tenn. The Jets have a good run defense and can put pressure on the QB. True,they have just 1 interception all year and Ben has thrown just 3. But the law of averages and hidden vigorish comes into play. Ben is bound to come back to earth at some point.The Jets have a good ground attack and they can use play action fakes with Vick,which gives Pittsburgh trouble. Harvin can make big plays.The Steeler defense has injuries.
Factor in the recent history of losing to bad teams and with that in mind,Jets24-20
Post a Comment