Steel74

In responding to Patriots fan BadMoFo on another thread regarding Troy Polamalu's availability on Sunday, I outlined the two things I think we need to do to beat New England.

If the Steelers can keep Brady off the field, pressure him when he's on it, and prevent Ben from getting creamed the way he was before last week's game against Cincinnati, I believe we have a good chance to win. If the two following scenarios play out, however, I think we're screwed.

Anyway, here's part of the thread. Productive feedback is welcome.

Originally Posted by BadMoFo:

"Troy may help against the run and maybe be a better blitzer, but I think he is more of a liability on pass defense. He'd be better served rotating in with whoever else is there."

Steel74:

"Trust me, he's no more of a liability in pass coverage than the clowns we already have in our secondary. The only way the Steelers win is to keep Tom Brady off the field.

End of story.

Don't get me wrong, fortunately for us Steelers defensive coordinator Dick Le Beau is a genius, one of the true innovators in league history, and he'll have a scheme prepared for our defense that will at least mitigate what is for us a terrible mismatch.

But you can't polish a turd, and if Brady is able to get the football off without our LBs and DLs taking him down or at least disrupting his passing lanes, we're totally ****ed, because our secondary cannot hang with New England's receivers the way Philly's and B-More's secondaries could.

Since Rod Woodson left Pittsburgh, really, it hasn't exactly been a secret around the league that you can't beat Pittsburgh by running the football, you beat Pittsburgh by throwing. Early and often. New England just happens to have had a throwing offense since the advent of Brady in 2001, which is why we usually match up poorly with the Pats.

On offense (for us, I mean), I'm sure Belichek has the Steelers-Jets game on a permanent loop and will attempt to test the right side of our OL, which is weak, and attach a spy to Ben the way Mangini did, as described in this article:

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/200...lever_spy.html

QBs have tendencies, and just as Brady likes to step up into the pocket and throw, Ben loves to roll out and throw, usually to one side. I can see New England double-rushing Thomas behind Wilfork through the gap between our RG and Center, forcing Ben to roll out and sticking someone on him -- Seymour or Harrison -- and doing what the Jets did: forcing him to make a bad throw or taking him down. Of course, Ben is really hard to take down, but when he's fighting off tacklers he has less attention to pay to open receivers.

And, unfortunately again for us, Bruce Arians, our offensive coordinator, is a total ******* idiot, and will be hard-pressed to adjust to Belichik's schemes. Belichick is playing chess, while Bruce is playing checkers."

PATRIOT64

The main way that Pittsburgh can beat New England

Dominate the Line of scrimmage on BOTH sides,not one,you have to dominate both - end of story

If Pittsburgh's OL can find a way to open holes for Parker and block for Roethlisberger well giving him time to find Ward or Holmes, then the Patriots will be in a shootout and anything could happen at that point,If not the steelers may get blown out

On the other hand on the DL for Pittsburgh must get in Brady's face,If Brady's OL dominates then Brady will have time to throw long to Moss and mix it with some long yards running from Maroney and thus once again a blowout.

Your team needs to do both and well against this team.
Plus controlling the clock

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Steel74

Both of my keys to victory, so to speak, involve maintaining both sides of the line of scrimmage.

My keys to victory EVERY week involve maintaining the line of scrimmage, and if you look at the three losses Pittsburgh has this year, two things have happened in every game: one, our OL has collapsed, always on the right side, and two, our defense has failed to get pressure on the QB before he was able to pick apart our jobber secondary.

My overall key to victory for the Steelers against New England is one Belichik should be familiar with, since the Giants used it in the Super Bowl they won against Buffalo: if you can't stop a high-powered offense, keep it the **** off the field.

Baltimore had that going for a while Monday night; I remember the Ravens offense converting 3rd downs like crazy at one point, and the camera panning to Brady, who looked helpless on the sideline. But ultimately they couldn't sustain. They let up, Brady got back on the field in the fourth quarter and did what he does: he engineered a clutch game-winning drive. I hate to say it, but it was like watching Montana again.

If we convert third downs, eat a lot of clock, and score TOUCHDOWNS, not field goals, in the red zone, I think we have a good chance to win, provided Pittsburgh's defense can stem the tide somewhat.

New England is going to score their points. If we get into a shootout, we lose. Period.

mesoslo

Your Oline cant protect benroth that well, so how do you expect to eat up the clock? Steelers sure dont run like the Vikings.

Is Benroth not a mobile qb? How come he got sacked 35 times?

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fgssand

Football is really not that hard to figure when one understands that what you point out is 100% right for every team and every game. Control the LOS and you control the game.

You will have trouble getting to Brady once we adjust to your zone blitzes....you also should have success if you pound the ball, relentlessly and patiently, down our throats. Hearing that your OL on the right side is prone to breakdowns, may not be conducive to your success against us. Is this only against pass rushers or is it during runs as well??

Watch out throwing against us - seems that our secondary, for once is developing to be the strength of our "D" - Sanders a a beast and Asante is Pro bowl. Harrison is playing at a high level and our nickle and dime packages are really talented Gay, Baker & Meriwether. Weakness at the moment is Hobbs, he played well VS Baltimore though.

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Season ticket holder since 1971, first in section 209 and now in 134.

LOVE New England sports....10 years SEVEN championships!!!

ClevTrev

Score more points.

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shmessy

Great stuff, man. Thanks for coming on here.

Question: If the Pittsburgh secondary is so awful, why are they making like Muhammad Ali (or better, Freddie Mitchell) during this week?

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"They (Patriots) may be the greatest team ever" - Chris Mortenson, January 18, 2005 on espn.com

JimmyCrackCorn

I'm going to have go ahead and disagree with both of you about Troy as a player. Troy Palamalu is an asset in our pass defense. He can cover tons of ground and closes like no one. In addition, he does a good job of knowing when to play the ball and when to make the big hit. Tyrone Carter is slow and a liability when we are in cover 2 as he can't cover the ground necessary. Carter will be a bigger liability this week as Ike will need help covering Moss over the top. While Troy could cover the ground and hit Moss in the ribs when he goes up for the ball, Carter will be no where to be found.

Carter is actually more reliable than Troy in supporting the run. People who do not watch the Steelers every week see Troy on sports center making plays in the backfield in the running game. He is very capable of making these big plays; however, he is an AWFUL open field tackler. He has poor technique and misses frequently.

DrLev

Wow, this is a really great thread. It's nice to see intelligence from fans of both teams without it devolving into a troll-fest!

Thank you all for your thoughts!

MoLewisrocks

Because Tomlin is allowing them to. All players have egos that in most cases don't match their talent. DB's and WR's historically have among the largest egos. In Pittsburgh you didn't used to hear much from them since Joey did most of the chest thumping on defense and Ward is not prone to it. Joey is now somewhat muzzled in Miami though. And Polamalu, even if he were playing, is beyond the quiet man. So the media is left with the JAGish DB's to bait this week, and they are taking it as JAGish players will...

This is the only Steelers fan to visit here who seems to see his team for what it is. Good by 2007 NFL standards, but not nearly elite. Ben is inconsistent, and Ariens is feeding his ego which wants to be the guy. Cowher had to walk a fine line between not wanting to crush that ego and knowing he needed to manage it, knowing in small controlled doses like in the 2005 playoffs as a WC he could be a useful weapon. Because he and Whisenhut also knew that SB Ben was the flip side he had to guard against exposing and he needed to stay committed to a ball control run to high percentage pass offense most of the time. Ben isn't big on honest self assessment so he bristled at the notion of being manageable. He's another gunslinger at heart. He's eager to take chances because he believes he can make plays and if he screws up he believes he can redeem himself. I really think that is why Cowher left and why Whisenhut didn't get the nod - they knew the battles would be heating up between a HC and that QB who needed to be managed. Tomlin and Ariens have turned the offense over to him, and we have seen the mixed results. They could just as easily be 7-5 heading to Foxboro having faced an extremely weak schedule.

The Steelers never needed an elite QB. They were built for years under Cowher to just need consistently functional. Ben can be that, but he doesn't really want to. He wants to be the man in the Steel City. And they aren't built to cover the man's miscues when facing an elite offense or a competent D. If Ben or Fast Willie turn the ball over on Sunday like they did against Cincy last Sunday, they are toast. They've gotten away with it a lot against mediocrity - they survived 4 turnovers against Cincy last week, we haven't turned the ball over hardly at all facing some pretty tough defenses and more explosive offenses than Pittsburgh has matched up against all season.

We have twice as many INTS as their vaunted D, our 80 year old LB has more INTS than any of their DB's, we have twice as many rushing TD's and each of our RB's has as many or more rushing TD's than old Fast Willie. The Steelers are one of those teams who aren't quite as good as their record might indicate, and Tomlin knows that even if some of his players and his secondary don't. Had they played our schedule in 2007, they'd probably be clawing for a WC and possibly a .500 team.