Just a cautionary note here. When the Pats were getting ready to play the Cardinals on JG's first start, the mood on this board wasn't a whole lot better. It was safe to say most of us were hoping we could keep it competitive throughout the game, but few honestly expected a win, let alone watch a game the pats controlled and would have dominated except for 2 TO's.....and THAT was in AZ.
So here we have a situation where Jones has had several starts and some wins. He has the advantage of a very good home field advantage, and some of the best offensive skill players in the league will be available to him. The Steelers are also getting back a couple of defensive starters this week including Ryan Shazier, who is very interesting since he is exactly the hybrid LB/S who has both the size and speed to POTENTIALLY cause some problems with our TE's
Clearly, given the situation, the #1 threat is going to be LBell, but even with Jones, you can't entirely try to shut down the run when they have 3 excellent receivers to threaten your perimeter, including the best in the league.
That being said, I fully expect the Pats to win this game, even though its on the road, but those who think it won't be a competitive game are fooling themselves. Before Rothlessberger's injury the Steelers looked like the most dangerous opponent the Pats could face in getting to the Superbowl. You would think by now that we would understand that football is NOT a one man game. That Steeler team is certainly weakened by Rothlessberger's injury, but they didn't just suddenly become the Browns overnight.
You would have thought that we might have learned the lesson of just how good EVERY NFL team is, with what we saw in the first 36 minutes of last Sunday's game, and that one was in our stadium. I will be pleasantly surprised if the game next Sunday doesn't go in a similar fashion, with the Pats fighting for their lives for the better part of 3 quarters before pulling away in the 4th.
And if the Pats somehow decide that this is the game they will play their B game with a few TO's and some sloppy play.......