Steelers escape another Patriots hurdle to the Super Bowl?

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

O.K. You can give the Steelers credit for an amazing season against what was arguably the toughest schedule in the league but something that some people miss is the fact that this season is like 2005 when the Pats lost to the Broncos in the divisional round and Pittsburgh was able to avoid Belichick and his Patriots who are the Steelers kryptonite in the playoffs

2001 - Pittsburgh loses to New England in AFC Championship game

2004 - Pittsburgh loses to New England in AFC Championship game

2005 - Pittsburgh avoids having to face their playoffs daddy,the Patriots who lost to Denver in the previous week and goes on to win the AFC title and eventually the Super Bowl

2008 - Pittsburgh avoids having to face their daddy the Patriots who missed the playoffs and (???? TBD)

As we can clearly see the Steelers have taken advantage of avoiding having to play a Belichick led team in the playoffs and have capitalized on them to win one and probably two SB titles this decade

God,I wish we would have had a shot had we made the playoffs to see if our domination would have continued - I truly think we would have handled them again in a win or go home situation

 

[tombonneau]

If they win, they should be sure to send a ring to Bernard Pollard.

 

[Dagg]

The day he went down, I knew Pitt would be the favorite to go to the SB.

 

[signbabybrady]

The frustrating part to this though is that they wooped on us in the regular season this year and if we bring this up that will be thrown back in our face.

But I know if we played them again that same outcome would not be the case. I am not saying we would definitely beat them but that game was close in the first half and all hell broke lose to give them the lead and all hell broke lose to prevent us from trynig to make a comeback. And likely that perfect storm would not mix again but that only leaves wondering what if.


Too bad our boys had their heads up their asses on that rainy day because we could have been the ones heading to Tampa.

 

[the Patriot]

The frustrating part to this though is that they wooped on us in the regular season this year and if we bring this up that will be thrown back in our face.

But I know if we played them again that same outcome would not be the case. I am not saying we would definitely beat them but that game was close in the first half and all hell broke lose to give them the lead and all hell broke lose to prevent us from trynig to make a comeback. And likely that perfect storm would not mix again but that only leaves wondering what if.


Too bad our boys had their heads up their asses on that rainy day because we could have been the ones heading to Tampa.

Come on, now we're just dreaming. We've never seen Cassel in the playoffs. Did you see Polamalu yesterday!?! Because I didn't! He was too quick. There's not a doubt in my mind that Cassel would have succumbed to pressure and thrown him the ball at least once. A Brady-led team could pick apart this Steelers defense but Cassel, I'm skeptical.

 

[PatsSox363804]

That's the most annoying part to me, especially the one in 05 because I know we would have beat them in Foxborough. It's like the 80's Redskins never having to play the dynastic 49ers in their Superbowl runs.

 

[swheeler23]

Come on, now we're just dreaming. We've never seen Cassel in the playoffs. Did you see Polamalu yesterday!?! Because I didn't! He was too quick. There's not a doubt in my mind that Cassel would have succumbed to pressure and thrown him the ball at least once. A Brady-led team could pick apart this Steelers defense but Cassel, I'm skeptical.

The entire nfl season changed when Brady went down. Its not just me. Read Polamalu's comments about Brady in the Herald.

 

[ScottieC]

If they win, they should be sure to send a ring to Bernard Pollard.

Any team that wins should send the guy a ring.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Any team that wins should send the guy a ring.

To be honest,The way our OL was playing early in the season it could have been ANY defensive player down the line to do the same thing to Brady,it was eventually going to happen sometime in Bradys career especially when we face those fierce pass rushing teams that our OL fails to execute to stop in many an instance in the past

Its rare when a starting player avoids the IR or an injury that sidelines a player several weeks when hes been in the league many years,It was going to happen,Brady was going to get hurt - We just did not know when.

The pass protection was terrible till the OL got it together around the midway point of the season when they settled down and played like a cohesive unit,If they played as well back in week 1 we very well might have been heading to Tampa

Now back to my original focus of this thread.....

 

[LasVegasPatsFan]

The only difference will be that the Cards will beat the Squelers. Better pray for the refs help like last time.

 

[stinkypete]

I don't believe the Patriots would have been able to play Pittsburgh any better than Baltimore did. The Steelers are a better team than the Patriots in 2008, period. Wasn't the late November butt whooping proof enough of that?

I think we would have been able to beat Baltimore in a round 1 matchup at home, but the Steelers are a bad matchup for us this year.

Look at all of the Patriots games this year against the big AFC contenders: Indy, San Diego and Pittsburgh. This team was good, but clearly not in the same league as the class of the conference. Brady was the difference, IMO. No offense to Cassel, I think he is a top 10 QB, but he is not great. Great QB's beat teams like Pittsburgh.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I don't believe the Patriots would have been able to play Pittsburgh any better than Baltimore did. The Steelers are a better team than the Patriots in 2008, period. Wasn't the late November butt whooping proof enough of that?

I think we would have been able to beat Baltimore in a round 1 matchup at home, but the Steelers are a bad matchup for us this year.

Look at all of the Patriots games this year against the big AFC contenders: Indy, San Diego and Pittsburgh. This team was good, but clearly not in the same league as the class of the conference. Brady was the difference, IMO. No offense to Cassel, I think he is a top 10 QB, but he is not great. Great QB's beat teams like Pittsburgh.

You could say the same as in 2001 - The Steelers were far and clear the AFCs best team until they hit the wall against NE who was clearly less talented across the board at that time and had lost 5 regular season games before that AFC title clash,but everything just came into synch in that game - Any given sunday as they say

Maybe our team just has what it takes to knock the black and gold out of the playoffs,no matter who really has the better talent

Until I see Pittsburgh actually send a Belichick team home in the playoffs I will feel that way - its a mystique

 

[signbabybrady]

Come on, now we're just dreaming. We've never seen Cassel in the playoffs. Did you see Polamalu yesterday!?! Because I didn't! He was too quick. There's not a doubt in my mind that Cassel would have succumbed to pressure and thrown him the ball at least once. A Brady-led team could pick apart this Steelers defense but Cassel, I'm skeptical.

OH I am dreaming you got that right....but I wasn't saying we would be in Tampa just that I would have liked a second chance at them because we pissed away the first match-up. And who knows as we have gotten the better of them in Pitt maybe we could have been going to Tampa.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

The entire AFC got a break when Tom Brady went down. The only reason the Steelers are in the superbowl is because of Bernard Pollard. No way the Steelers beat the Pats with a healthy Tom Brady. The Steelers schemes do not fool Brady.

 

[Topher]

Kind of on the same idea:

While Pitt is a great team, they did benefit from the Ravens having beat the Titans (thus avoiding the Titans and getting the AFC championship at home). They will also get to play a Cardinals team in the Super Bowl that was mediocre during the regular season (although they admittadly played well against Carolina, essentially their one big test of the post season).

The same thing happened for Indy 2 years ago when the Pats knocked off San Diego.

I know it happens all the time (Pats got the same benefit during the 96 super bowl run), but the years the Pats won it all (and even the year they lost to Indy) they've never got that benefit / always had to play the top teams, and many times on the road.

Not taking anything away from other teams, but it just makes you appreciate even more what those past Pats teams did.

 

[Lansdowne]

If only the Patriots didn't fade heading into halftime and lose the game, they would have had the #2 seed instead of Pittsburgh. That one game was the difference between a first round bye and not making the playoffs at all.

Incredibly, emphatically frustrating.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Look at all of the Patriots games this year against the big AFC contenders: Indy, San Diego and Pittsburgh. This team was good, but clearly not in the same league as the class of the conference. Brady was the difference,.

18-15 loss to Indy, one dropped pass away from potential victory might disagree........Pats were in Indy's league
I'll cede you Pittsburgh and SD played their Super Bowl versus NE and for once, they showed up....Could they do it a second time had they met in the playoffs? Not likely especially since Matt Cassel developed by leaps and bounds after that game......

 

[Deus Irae]

If only the Patriots didn't fade heading into halftime and lose the game, they would have had the #2 seed instead of Pittsburgh. That one game was the difference between a first round bye and not making the playoffs at all.

Incredibly, emphatically frustrating.

Oddly enough, for all the problems with the defense and with Brady going down, one could make the argument that the biggest blow to the Patriots' Super Bowl chances this year was Moss' dropping that would-be touchdown against the Steelers.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

They could never get past us and they know it. But for me it's whatever, let them enjoy their junior titles. Consider their path to a pending ring this year - 8-8, 11-5, and 9-7 teams. The other thing that sucks is the refs pretty much handed them the win against Seattle in '05 or else I could've seen them losing that game. They also took out Palmer in order to get past Cincy.

It's really annoying especially when I live in western PA and have to deal with their fans on a regular but on the other hand they've had so many great teams since the early 90's coming inches away and so far only 1 ring to show for it in that whole run. We've only had elite talent since '03 yet have 3 rings in half the time so we're still very blessed in comparison. But still PLEASE Arizona PLEASE beat those towel waiving jerks!

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

They could never get past us and they know it. But for me it's whatever, let them enjoy their junior titles. Consider their path to a pending ring this year - 8-8, 11-5, and 9-7 teams. The other thing that sucks is the refs pretty much handed them the win against Seattle in '05 or else I could've seen them losing that game. They also took out Palmer in order to get past Cincy.

It's really annoying especially when I live in western PA and have to deal with their fans on a regular but on the other hand they've had so many great teams since the early 90's coming inches away and so far only 1 ring to show for it in that whole run. We've only had elite talent since '03 yet have 3 rings in half the time so we're still very blessed in comparison. But still PLEASE Arizona PLEASE beat those towel waiving jerks!

You think YOU got it tough out there? - HAH!!

I live 2 hours north of Philly and there are EQUAL amount of azzwipe fans for the Steelers and Eagles in my area - This year was purely unbearable and the worst may be yet to come!