Steelers can't run on the Pats, they can't win

[mesoslo]

The steelers seem to lose against teams that they cant establish the run on, well except for basement dweller like the bengals.

I was skimming through box scores and I noticed that when ever the patriots loose, the opponent would have +95 yards rushing. Well except for the lost to the colts due to the penalty by thomas and the drop pass by gaffney, the colts only had 47 yards rushing.

Now, a few weeks back against the Jets, who is ranked 3rd best in rush defense the patriots put up about 125 yards rushing. Even though the Steelers are 1st at rush defense, I think the patriots can still rush productively and move the chains especially on key situations and convert on 3rd downs. Mean while,the patriots sit about 10th-12th in rush defense, so Iam guessing the steelers probally wont be able to establish the run against the patriots, this might prevent the steelers from converting 3rd downs and move the chains, or even lead to Ben Rottenburger to throw picks.

Looking back on the patriots lost against the colts, the patriots racked up about 130 yards rushing but still end up loosing, more of it due to the penalty on thomas and the drop by gaffney, so as long as Cassel can put up about +200 yards passing, just like against the colts, and the patriots can establish the run +120 yards rushing just like against the colts, and hoping that the patriots WR dont get butter fingers and drop balls, the patriots will most likely come out with a win.

 

[ClosingTime]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Pats will not be able to run. They rarely even try and that's when they acutally had a couple decent running backs. Whether the Steelers can run remais a mystery. Parker is hurting as is the OL. They struggled to run against the lowly Bengals.

Pats have a decent rush defense and are probably better than the numbers suggest due to having to cover for a weak secondary.

This really comes down to Cassel vs Ben. Steelers have the better D and Ben, while not having a great year, has still proven he can get it done. For all the hype after playing two good games, Cassel is an unproven commodity.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Although I see where you're going with this, the notion that the Steelers "can't win" against the Patriots isn't going to appease anyone.

That's an excellent defense they have and if the Patriots have half as many yards and half as many points on Sunday I'll view that as a pretty significant accomplishment by our offense.

The Steelers Offense isn't exactly lighting it up but with their defense they won't really need to either. Bottom line is that Cassell and the Patriots offense are facing one of their biggest tests this Sunday and will have their work cut out for them, regardless of whether the Steelers can run.

Frankly, if I were the Steelers OC, this is one game where I'd probably favor the pass over the run, taking advantage of a injury plagued secondary, making the running game that less relevant.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Although I see where you're going with this, the notion that the Steelers "can't win" against the Patriots isn't going to appease anyone.

That's an excellent defense they have and if the Patriots have half as many yards and half as many points on Sunday I'll view that as a pretty significant accomplishment by our offense.

The Steelers Offense isn't exactly lighting it up but with their defense they won't really need to either. Bottom line is that Cassell and the Patriots offense are facing one of their biggest tests this Sunday and will have their work cut out for them, regardless of whether the Steelers can run.

Frankly, if I were the Steelers OC, this is one game where I'd probably favor the pass over the run, taking advantage of a injury plagued secondary, making the running game that less relevant.

Well said. I have a feeling that this game will be closer then we think. I just hope that we can keep the momentum running and continue our campaign of winning!!

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Having no run game might be a blesing when you go against our defense.

Miami couldn't run last week and they had no real problems scoring.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Pats will not be able to run. They rarely even try and that's when they acutally had a couple decent running backs. Whether the Steelers can run remais a mystery. Parker is hurting as is the OL. They struggled to run against the lowly Bengals.

The only problem with this analysis is that the Patriots often won't even really bother to try (see 2007 v. Pittsburgh, 2006 @ Minnesota).

 

[MrTibbs]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Although I see where you're going with this, the notion that the Steelers "can't win" against the Patriots isn't going to appease anyone.

That's an excellent defense they have and if the Patriots have half as many yards and half as many points on Sunday I'll view that as a pretty significant accomplishment by our offense.

The Steelers Offense isn't exactly lighting it up but with their defense they won't really need to either. Bottom line is that Cassell and the Patriots offense are facing one of their biggest tests this Sunday and will have their work cut out for them, regardless of whether the Steelers can run.

Frankly, if I were the Steelers OC, this is one game where I'd probably favor the pass over the run, taking advantage of a injury plagued secondary, making the running game that less relevant.

Sounds good but when your QB has 11 td passes, 11 picks and has been sacked almost 40 times that might not be the best way to attack any team let alone the Patriots even with a weak secondary.

 

[fgssand]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Cassel is an unproven commodity.

Hey Closing Time, always nice to hear from you - I do hope all is well.

Have you been watching our young phenom lately?? At this point, he is really close to being just what yuo say he is now - a proven commodity.

Will be very interesting to see how he fares against this edition of the Steel curtain.

If NE can spread you guys out once again and he (and the "O" line) can handle the rush, you may be in for trouble. Then again, we can't stop passers on third down or any down over the middle, so, this game may end up being higher scoring than most think.

Should be fun.....

 

[Triggerfish]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Pats will not be able to run. They rarely even try and that's when they acutally had a couple decent running backs. Whether the Steelers can run remais a mystery. Parker is hurting as is the OL. They struggled to run against the lowly Bengals.

Pats have a decent rush defense and are probably better than the numbers suggest due to having to cover for a weak secondary.

This really comes down to Cassel vs Ben. Steelers have the better D and Ben, while not having a great year, has still proven he can get it done. For all the hype after playing two good games, Cassel is an unproven commodity.

The running game wasn't exactly pretty against Cincy, but the Steelers were able to get over 120 yards and 2 TDs on the ground in that game. Obviously Parker is still hurting, the weather was ugly, and Cincy seems to have improved a bit against the run (allowing only 68 yards rushing to Philly and the Jags the previous 2 weeks). I actually hope they go with Moore against you this week. He's been filling in admirably, and Parker just isn't himself yet. Take away his speed to the outside, and he's just an average RB at best, mostly due to his small stature.

Should be a great game this week though. Can't wait.

 

[mgteich]

The poster seems to think we have a great advantage when we depend on our secondary. ??????????????????

Having no run game might be a blesing when you go against our defense.

Miami couldn't run last week and they had no real problems scoring.

 

[dhamz]

The poster seems to think we have a great advantage when we depend on our secondary. ??????????????????

No. He thinks it is a great advantage for Pitt if they make us depend on our secondary.

 

[Steel74]

The steelers seem to lose against teams that they cant establish the run on, well except for basement dweller like the bengals.

I was skimming through box scores and I noticed that when ever the patriots loose, the opponent would have +95 yards rushing. Well except for the lost to the colts due to the penalty by thomas and the drop pass by gaffney, the colts only had 47 yards rushing.

Now, a few weeks back against the Jets, who is ranked 3rd best in rush defense the patriots put up about 125 yards rushing. Even though the Steelers are 1st at rush defense, I think the patriots can still rush productively and move the chains especially on key situations and convert on 3rd downs. Mean while,the patriots sit about 10th-12th in rush defense, so Iam guessing the steelers probally wont be able to establish the run against the patriots, this might prevent the steelers from converting 3rd downs and move the chains, or even lead to Ben Rottenburger to throw picks.

Looking back on the patriots lost against the colts, the patriots racked up about 130 yards rushing but still end up loosing, more of it due to the penalty on thomas and the drop by gaffney, so as long as Cassel can put up about +200 yards passing, just like against the colts, and the patriots can establish the run +120 yards rushing just like against the colts, and hoping that the patriots WR dont get butter fingers and drop balls, the patriots will most likely come out with a win.

The Patriots won't rush for 120 yards against the Steelers. Unless key personnel are hurt (i.e., Aaron Smith end of last season), Pittsburgh doesn't give up 100 yards on the ground very often.

The Patriots could very well throw for over 200 yards, however -- maybe even 300. It'll depend on how well New England's OL can handle LeBeau's blitz schemes and how well Cassell performs under pressure. The Patriots receivers are more than a match for Pittsburgh's underwhelming secondary.

In fact, both secondaries stink. If either offensive coordinator calls more than 35 percent run plays, he should have his head dunked in one of the men's room toilets at Gillette Stadium.

Considering the fact that our OC is a moron and yours isn't, I'd bet our guy's likelier to board the team bus after the game with wet hair.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Yeah, and our pass D has been lights out this year.

As in "turn out the lights so we don't have to watch them"

 

[Pats726]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

This really comes down to Cassel vs Ben. Steelers have the better D and Ben, while not having a great year, has still proven he can get it done. For all the hype after playing two good games, Cassel is an unproven commodity.

Good games?? Unfortunately you do not know football history..makes the resy of what you say worth nothing..

 

[billdog3484]

huge game. i dont want to say we are eliminated with a loss, but the tiebreaker situation will become a major problem

 

[PittPatriot]

Having no run game might be a blesing when you go against our defense.

Miami couldn't run last week and they had no real problems scoring.

Holmes, Ward, and company can get behind any defense easily...and Ben has the arm to make tough over the top throws.
I don't think stopping the run = victory for the Pats. In previous years it may have, but we are a different team now.

 

[ClosingTime]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Good games?? Unfortunately you do not know football history..makes the resy of what you say worth nothing..

OK. I guess I will tuck my tail between my legs and go home.

 

[ClosingTime]

Re: Steelers cant run on the pats, they cant win

Hey Closing Time, always nice to hear from you - I do hope all is well.

Have you been watching our young phenom lately?? At this point, he is really close to being just what yuo say he is now - a proven commodity.

Will be very interesting to see how he fares against this edition of the Steel curtain.

If NE can spread you guys out once again and he (and the "O" line) can handle the rush, you may be in for trouble. Then again, we can't stop passers on third down or any down over the middle, so, this game may end up being higher scoring than most think.

Should be fun.....

hey fgssand. things are good other than/including my wife popping out babis like they were Pez.

If Cassel is able to run the spread then my hats off to him and I will believe he has the makings of a solid QB. that is certainly the way to beat the Steelers D. He is on a great roll but Miami and he Jets are extremly weak against the pass and he is not too far removed from some horrendous games.

Any given Sunday, (plus homefield for NE) but I just see this game comign down to Ben vs the Pats secondary and CAssel vs the Steelers secondary. I trust ben more than Cassel and I sure as hell like the Steelers pass defense over the Pats.

Wish I could be there but can't make it up this time.

 

[mesoslo]

Steelers defense.
number one in the nfl against the run
number one in the nfl against the pass
Have fun with that.

Well the eagles beat the steelers. The eagles beat the steelers with a really bad running game, 26th in the league? Also the Eagles are ranked higher than the patriots in both rushing and passing defense. so just because the steelers are higher ranked in defense doesnt mean much. Look at the eagles, raiders and packers, they're top 10 in the league when it comes to pass defense but they're not going to the playoffs. If the eagles, raiders, and packers actually have a chance at making the playoffs then I would value the steelers #1 rush and pass defense more, but the fact that 3 of the top 10 teams in pass defense wont be going to the playoffs just doesnt make steeler's steel defense shine.

 

[smg93]

I have a feeling that our #1 Rush option against the Steelers will be Matt Cassel himself. I think he'll have a lot of opportunity to scramble and make plays with his feet in this game.