Steelers 2005 vs. 2004

[shakadave]

What's the conventional wisdom on why the Steelers did so much better last year than this year? They will probably make the playoffs, but just barely. Was it losing Plaxico Burress? I never thought he was so great on Pitt, but he's doing well with NYG. Are they aging on the O-line and D-line? Wouldn't you think the Rothlesburger's 2nd year should have been better than his first? Nobody's talking much about the Steelers as the playoffs approach.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

What's the conventional wisdom on why the Steelers did so much better last year than this year? They will probably make the playoffs, but just barely. Was it losing Plaxico Burress? I never thought he was so great on Pitt, but he's doing well with NYG. Are they aging on the O-line and D-line? Wouldn't you think the Rothlesburger's 2nd year should have been better than his first? Nobody's talking much about the Steelers as the playoffs approach.

Maybe they're peaking at the right time this year vs. last.

 

[mosi]

Pitt is a dark horse. I think they will beat Cinci and play the colts. I even give them a shot against Indy.

 

[skri65]

I never thought pitt was THAT good last year. Sure, they had a few good games, but I knew that they were no competition for the pats. I still continue this thought process.

They are a good team, an above average team. I just dont think they're good enough to do any serious damage when it comes to january.

 

[CTPatsFan]

Clearly they were, and are, flukes.

 

[dryheat44]

Defenses got film on Roethlisberger. That simple.

 

[pats1]

Last year they seemed much better, IMO.

(They always seem better in their home jerseys on January nights - just an outgoing feeling)

 

[nukin]

i hate the steelers - my least favorite team... their qb and rb's compleatly suck, except for bettis a few years ago. their defense is okay i guess... but i honostly dont see them deserving of the playoffs

 

[Michael]

What's the conventional wisdom on why the Steelers did so much better last year than this year?

Same reason the Colts did so good this year. Comfy schedule including their bye week before playing the Pats.

 

[njpatsfan]

Defenses got film on Roethlisberger. That simple.

Yeah - film of the Patriots 2nd game against them.

R

 

[shakadave]

Request for data

Yeah - film of the Patriots 2nd game against them.

R

It would sort of need to be that game. Surely teams get film on people during the season? So last year they also had film on Rothlesburger. Granted he only threw 4 passes a game so there wasn't much to learn from film.

I would seriously love to see data --- has anyone seen this sort of data? --- on how Patriots opponents do the week AFTER playing the Pats (where their next opponent gets to learn from how the Pats just recently beat them). I'll bet our opponents do terrible the week after facing the Pats!

 

[alamo]

A lot of it is simply Roethlisberger's injuries -- they started the season 7 - 2 losing only to NE and JAX, but in their 8th game Ben got hurt and they have been shaky since then. While many of the other factors mentioned have made some difference, don't get caught up in looking for complciated explanations when an obvious one (Ben's injuries) can explain a lot of it.

 

[dryheat44]

It would sort of need to be that game. Surely teams get film on people during the season? So last year they also had film on Rothlesburger. Granted he only threw 4 passes a game so there wasn't much to learn from film.

And if you remember, Ben was terrible in December and January, once defenses caught up to him, and he wasn't able to adjust his game.