ok, I've watched about 3/4 of their games, here's my observations.
That game against the Ravens, almost all the catches were completed in blown coverage while Ben was scrambling. Notice other then those passes, how much offense did they have, not much of a running game against Denver. Their offensive line isn't that good and Ben has made some dumb plays, I don't think he's really that smart. Also, their schedule is a joke, most of the teams they played and beat had no offense before they got to the game, to me, this explains their #1 Defense.
Here's the clincher, the Steelers ( Ward, Ben and Tomlin ) all had something to say after spygate, Toothlessburger and Ward both claimed that's how the Pats beat them in both the AFC Championship games. Although they're both too stupid to realize that the Pats were accused of stealing defensive signals and accused our defense of knowing what plays they were gonna run on offense.The fact they made those comments has recently been brought up in SI and ESPN, a nice fresh reminder for the Pats players.
Bottom line, no matter how well the Steelers plays, the Patriots players will play this game with more heart then any game except maybe the Chargers game.
Its my opinion that when the Steelers come to Gillette, they'd best bring a few wheelchairs just in case. I honestly believe the Pats dislike these guys almost as much as the Jets because of the comments about spygate.
JMTC
You don't watch football and you haven't watched 3/4 of the Steelers games, as illustrated by your brutal non-football analysis. Either that or you don't know what you're watching.
The Ravens applied heavy pressure up front. Hopefully you understand that 5 or 6 cannot block 8 or 9. Pitt took what the defense gave them and passed all over their secondary. With Ed Reed in bracket coverage. As for scrambling and throwing on the run, that's what Ben does better than anyone, so it's a strength not a weakness. Something the Pats had better gameplan for. And even then, the two TDs to Holmes on MNF were strikes from the pocket. I hope Belichick shares your lowly opinion and thinks Ben is too dumb to dissect a secondary. This is a much different Ben from the rookie you confused in the 04 AFCCG.
As for the Pit losses - as I'd stated in another thread, both were road losses after travelling cross country. The ARZ game had a special teams debacle (punt return for TD) and Pitt lost their Pro Bowl NT (Hampton), his backup (Hoke), and Polamalu for the entire 2nd half, when they lost the lead. Chalk that loss up to being Whisenhunt's Super Bowl, much like Gruden vs Raiders.
The Denver loss was less forgivable, the o-line was tooled that entire game. Still Ben brought the team back with two 4th quarter TD drives to tie. With Shanahan & co coming off the brutal loss to the Chargers, they had the better gameplan and execution in the 1st half (You Pats fans may be familiar with this.)
Ward's comments about Spygate were dumb. The Steelers got outcoached and outplayed in those 2 AFFCG games. But somehow I highly doubt that (a) those one or two Steeler comments have any impact on the game itself (b) some nobody on a message board has his finger on the pulse of the team's emotional state coming up to the game.
As for the wheelchair smack-talk, I would say coming off the short week after you play the Ravens, it's the Pats medic team that should be on call from the sidelines. Remember that in all the Pats-Steelers contests of the recent past, regardless of the score, the Pats have been the more brittle team... think Ty Law, Rodney, Matt Light, etc.
It will be an interesting game nonetheless.
