Steelers are the team no one wants to play down the stretch

[supafly]

We ended up facing the 2nd best AFC team in the divisional round last year. It served us well in the end.

Sure, because coming back from 14-0 and 28-14 point deficits in the same game happen all the time in the postseason

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Nobody wants to face (fill in the blank). (Fill in the blank) is scary. (Fill in the blank) will be tough for anyone to beat.

Fyi,'Fill in the blank' doesn't equal the Steelers, it equals the Patriots. Outside of the refs virtually handing Denver the game and a 24 point non offensive points gift to Philly, a starkly depleted Patriot team has continued to largely separate themselves from their opposition if not outright bully them. So provided the Patriots win 2 out of the next 3/get the Bye, ummm yea bring on the "scary" Dumb and Dumber (MT and BR). And just in case they get lucky, we'll have a vast mesh network of radio jamming equipment in place to steel(sic) the win from them...

 

[XLIX]

It's the media's job to latch onto such teams to drum up interest in watching them. Yes the Steelers have won 4 of their last 5: beating Oakland, Cleveland, Indy at home and an injured Bengals team on the road.

BFD.

 

[supafly]

The things that concern me about facing Pittsburgh:

1) The "vow" to earn a rematch in the playoffs after a pissed off week one loss that coincidentally, started off the NFL season. They likely would come in pumped up, and that concerns me a la 2009 Ravens, 2010 Jets, and 2012 Ravens. All of those teams got hot at the right time and had some swagger to them, and I think Pittsburgh fits into this category perfectly.

2) The fact that their defense has held the opposition to 20 or below in 8/11 contests removing their two bad games (victory over Oakland 38-35, loss at Seattle 39-30), and is basically giving up the same PPG average as we are (half point per game difference). This tends to give them the best balance out of DEN, CIN, etc--as they are both a top 5 offense and a top 10 defense.

3) The return of Bryant, and the addition of Wheaton (201 yards receiving a couple of weeks ago) to their WR corps. Add in the always reliable TE Heath Miller, and that gives you 4 very capable receiving options. I don't see any other team which poses such a threat.

4) The fact that neither team in this matchup has won during the regular season, then gone on to win again in the postseason rematch. While it's got to be a limited sample size, it's something that gets brought up when these two teams are set to face off, so it's worth noting.

5) Our injury losses and lack of a running game tend to even things out a bit. Losing Lewis from week one is the biggest loss, hands down, and it changes our offense a lot in my opinion. Yes, we're definitely still very potent and that isn't up for debate, but the running game needs to get going and soon.

6) Their fan base is loving the idea of returning the favor by winning in Foxborough, just as we've done in Pittsburgh a couple of times during the month of January.



The things that make me rather confident about facing Pittsburgh:

1) Brady/Belichick have done historically well vs. this team.

2) Much like almost any team, they can be susceptible to the short, quick timing passing game. The return of Edelman is crucial to this factor.

3) Butler would be seeing Brown for a second time, after building some additional confidence throughout the season. Hopefully, this would lead to an improvement in his assignment, even if that means allowing Ryan + safety help on Brown, and covering Martavius Bryant, which is what I think would happen.

4) We'd be at home. That always helps.

 

[meatface]

Watch them miss the playoffs

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

 

[supafly]

Watch them miss the playoffs

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

If Denver somehow beats them on Sunday and the Jets sweep their last 3 games, it would happen; otherwise, it's doubtful that they lose to the Mallet-led Ravens or the hapless Browns.

 

[Jackson 2]

It's the media's job to latch onto such teams to drum up interest in watching them. Yes the Steelers have won 4 of their last 5: beating Oakland, Cleveland, Indy at home and an injured Bengals team on the road.

BFD.

Absolutely correct. The media people are looking around and now they see a suddenly faltering Denver and a Dalton-less Cincy and they can't bear to think or say that NE is back in the driver' s seat in the AFC. So, they've latched onto the Steelers as this suddenly unstoppable force that no one wants to play. Bring 'em on...

 

[XLIX]

4) The fact that neither team in this matchup has won during the regular season, then gone on to win again in the postseason rematch. While it's got to be a limited sample size, it's something that gets brought up when these two teams are set to face off, so it's worth noting.

If you're talking about the Brady/Belichick era, then the above has happened once. So yes, I would consider that a limited sample size.

If you're talking about beyond the Brady/Belichick era, then the statement isn't even accurate, as ****tsburgh beat us in the '97 regular season than again in the playoffs.

 

[meatface]

If Denver somehow beats them on Sunday and the Jets sweep their last 3 games, it would happen; otherwise, it's doubtful that they lose to the Mallet-led Ravens or the hapless Browns.

oh yeah of little faith in Johnny Football

 

[supafly]

If you're talking about beyond the Brady/Belichick era, then the statement isn't even accurate, as ****tsburgh beat us in the '97 regular season than again in the playoffs.

Yes, the 2 close games (OT, and a 1 point victory) in 1997 definitely ruin that theory, huh? I suppose it's a popular misconception here in Pittsburgh, but you'd be surprised how often I've heard it over the years. Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated.

 

[aluminum seats]

Slightly OT, but it's sort of interesting how few teams the Pats have lost to in the playoffs under Brady...Broncos/Manning*, NY teams, and the Ravens. Pretty small club.


(*with the Colts, of course, but by making it "Manning" I can list one fewer team. I suppose it could be changed to Mannings, and NY teams could just be the Jets.)

 

[TommyD4207]

It's the media's job to latch onto such teams to drum up interest in watching them. Yes the Steelers have won 4 of their last 5: beating Oakland, Cleveland, Indy at home and an injured Bengals team on the road.

BFD.

This, this a thousand times this. They needed a miracle to win the Oakland game at home, and Andy Dalton got hurt in the 1st quarter.

Forgive me if I don't find that murderer's row of opponents all that impressive. They are currently 31st against the pass.

31st.

There are 32 teams in the league.

Pittsburgh no more scares me than any other team with no defense.

Yawn.

It seems some people in this thread put an awful lot of stock into a garbage time drive with a minute to go, Week 1. They were down 14 until there were 2 seconds to go. Brown had 6 catches for 65 yards going into that drive.

I'm so tired of hearing about how that somehow means Butler sucks, or that the Steelers "almost won", when in fact, they got their **** pushed in.

The thing about that? The Steelers know they got handled. They're under no delusion that it was competitive in the second half.

 

[supafly]

Pittsburgh no more scares me than any other team with no defense. Yawn.

And yet you continue to ignore the fact that they had a higher ranked defense (points allowed--the important stat) than we did going into last weekend's game? For a team with "no defense," they were ranked 7th in the entire NFL last week, and even now are giving up 0.5 pts per game more than we are.

Are you suggesting that our defense sucks as well, then? As mentioned before, they had 2 bad games, one where they won and one where they lost. Since we enjoy cherry picking stats so much around here, that means that 8/11 remaining games have seen points allowed that were less than 20. That's nothing close to a sign of a team with "no defense," although I do agree with you that Pittsburgh can be attacked through the air, especially if Edelman is healthy and our pass protection holds up. I wouldn't get caught up in thinking that Pittsburgh's defense sucks, though. They've played much better than expected this year.

It seems some people in this thread put an awful lot of stock into a garbage time drive with a minute to go, Week 1. They were down 14 until there were 2 seconds to go. Brown had 6 catches for 65 yards going into that drive.

That isn't even close to being true. Brown caught a total of 2 balls on the last drive. One was for 13 yards, and one was for 11 yards (TD). That's a total of 24 yards on the final drive, whereas Brown had 133 on the night. In other words, he clearly was over 100 yards, and also was even over his 105 yard per game average (currently #2 in the NFL for wide receivers).

I'm so tired of hearing about how that somehow means Butler sucks

No one even came close to suggesting that "Butler sucks," but when you allow 9/11 attempts for 133 yards and a touchdown, most people aren't going to say that "Butler pretty much locked down Brown," which is borderline ridiculous. He didn't "lock" anyone down.

He was simply near and around the ball, as he should've been, and we were happy to see that kind of effort in week one. In what world does allowing 9/11 attempts for 133 yards equate to stopping someone?

 

[aluminum seats]

And yet you continue to ignore the fact that they had a higher ranked defense (points allowed--the important stat) than we did going into last weekend's game? For a team with "no defense," they were ranked 7th in the entire NFL last week, and even now are giving up 0.5 pts per game more than we are.

Are you suggesting that our defense sucks as well, then? As mentioned before, they had 2 bad games, one where they won and one where they lost. Since we enjoy cherry picking stats so much around here, that means that 8/11 remaining games have seen points allowed that were less than 20. That's nothing close to a sign of a team with "no defense," although I do agree with you that Pittsburgh can be attacked through the air, especially if Edelman is healthy and our pass protection holds up. I wouldn't get caught up in thinking that Pittsburgh's defense sucks, though. They've played much better than expected this year.



That isn't even close to being true. Brown caught a total of 2 balls on the last drive. One was for 13 yards, and one was for 11 yards (TD). That's a total of 24 yards on the final drive, whereas Brown had 133 on the night. In other words, he clearly was over 100 yards, and also was even over his 105 yard per game average (currently #2 in the NFL for wide receivers).



No one even came close to suggesting that "Butler sucks," but when you allow 9/11 attempts for 133 yards and a touchdown, most people aren't going to say that "Butler pretty much locked down Brown," which is borderline ridiculous. He didn't "lock" anyone down.

He was simply near and around the ball, as he should've been, and we were happy to see that kind of effort in week one. In what world does allowing 9/11 attempts for 133 yards equate to stopping someone?

Mostly agree with your overall point that Pittsburgh's defense hasn't been as bad as advertised (although the secondary is very shaky), but you are missing a Brown reception on the last drive for 29 yards. So he had 3 for 53 on that drive, 80 before.

Butler didn't shut him down, but he did a pretty nice job.

 

[supafly]

Mostly agree with your overall point that Pittsburgh's defense hasn't been as bad as advertised (although the secondary is very shaky), but you are missing a Brown reception on the last drive for 29 yards. So he had 3 for 53 on that drive, 80 before.

Butler didn't shut him down, but he did a pretty nice job.

That play was called back due to a penalty on Pittsburgh for illegal use of hands on Kelvin Beachem. It did not count.

Watch Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots [09/10/2015] - NFL.com

 

[Tom meets Kaepernick]

And yet you continue to ignore the fact that they had a higher ranked defense (points allowed--the important stat) than we did going into last weekend's game? For a team with "no defense," they were ranked 7th in the entire NFL last week, and even now are giving up 0.5 pts per game more than we are.

Are you suggesting that our defense sucks as well, then? As mentioned before, they had 2 bad games, one where they won and one where they lost. Since we enjoy cherry picking stats so much around here, that means that 8/11 remaining games have seen points allowed that were less than 20. That's nothing close to a sign of a team with "no defense," although I do agree with you that Pittsburgh can be attacked through the air, especially if Edelman is healthy and our pass protection holds up. I wouldn't get caught up in thinking that Pittsburgh's defense sucks, though. They've played much better than expected this year.



That isn't even close to being true. Brown caught a total of 2 balls on the last drive. One was for 13 yards, and one was for 11 yards (TD). That's a total of 24 yards on the final drive, whereas Brown had 133 on the night. In other words, he clearly was over 100 yards, and also was even over his 105 yard per game average (currently #2 in the NFL for wide receivers).



No one even came close to suggesting that "Butler sucks," but when you allow 9/11 attempts for 133 yards and a touchdown, most people aren't going to say that "Butler pretty much locked down Brown," which is borderline ridiculous. He didn't "lock" anyone down.

He was simply near and around the ball, as he should've been, and we were happy to see that kind of effort in week one. In what world does allowing 9/11 attempts for 133 yards equate to stopping someone?

I would just stop trying to argue with him, supafly. He just doesn't think the Steelers are a threat. I agree with you that the Steelers shouldn't be taken lightly, just like any team we meet in the playoffs(except the Colts). We've lost games I thought we would have won. Some people just think other teams are gonna bend over, take it AND bring the lube when they come to Foxboro. Patriots have come out flatfooted in the Divisional Round in recent memory. All it takes is the Pats going down any amount and the chicken littles will be out in full force. With this offensive line, I have no idea what will happen unless they solve their issues.

Regarding Bulter, I also agree. There is this assumption that Butler somehow shut Brown down when in actuality, he outplayed him by a decent margin. The catches were contested, but Brown still made the plays. 25 of his yards came when the game was considered over but even still he gave up over 100 yards. Now, that was his first game of the season in the CB1 role so I have no doubts that he would try to play better as he has adjusted and gotten better over the season. He still bites on double moves, however, and against a WR as skilled a route runner as Brown, that can't be tolerable.

We'll see what happens between now and then but the Steelers shouldn't be dismissed so easily as most teams are on this site.

 

[aluminum seats]

That play was called back due to a penalty on Pittsburgh for illegal use of hands on Kelvin Beachem. It did not count.

Watch Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots [09/10/2015] - NFL.com

Huh, whaddya know. My recollection was he got a lot of yards on that drive. My bad.

 

[TB_Helmet]

Worth noting is Big Ben has had to leave games three different times this year. Let's wait until the 4 games he'll have to play at a minimum before we might have to play the Steelers.

50/50 chance we're going against Landry Jones or whoever.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

The things that concern me about facing Pittsburgh:

1) The "vow" to earn a rematch in the playoffs after a pissed off week one loss that coincidentally, started off the NFL season. They likely would come in pumped up, and that concerns me a la 2009 Ravens, 2010 Jets, and 2012 Ravens. All of those teams got hot at the right time and had some swagger to them, and I think Pittsburgh fits into this category perfectly.

2) The fact that their defense has held the opposition to 20 or below in 8/11 contests removing their two bad games (victory over Oakland 38-35, loss at Seattle 39-30), and is basically giving up the same PPG average as we are (half point per game difference). This tends to give them the best balance out of DEN, CIN, etc--as they are both a top 5 offense and a top 10 defense.

3) The return of Bryant, and the addition of Wheaton (201 yards receiving a couple of weeks ago) to their WR corps. Add in the always reliable TE Heath Miller, and that gives you 4 very capable receiving options. I don't see any other team which poses such a threat.

4) The fact that neither team in this matchup has won during the regular season, then gone on to win again in the postseason rematch. While it's got to be a limited sample size, it's something that gets brought up when these two teams are set to face off, so it's worth noting.

5) Our injury losses and lack of a running game tend to even things out a bit. Losing Lewis from week one is the biggest loss, hands down, and it changes our offense a lot in my opinion. Yes, we're definitely still very potent and that isn't up for debate, but the running game needs to get going and soon.

6) Their fan base is loving the idea of returning the favor by winning in Foxborough, just as we've done in Pittsburgh a couple of times during the month of January.



The things that make me rather confident about facing Pittsburgh:

1) Brady/Belichick have done historically well vs. this team.

2) Much like almost any team, they can be susceptible to the short, quick timing passing game. The return of Edelman is crucial to this factor.

3) Butler would be seeing Brown for a second time, after building some additional confidence throughout the season. Hopefully, this would lead to an improvement in his assignment, even if that means allowing Ryan + safety help on Brown, and covering Martavius Bryant, which is what I think would happen.

4) We'd be at home. That always helps.

That's the problem with living in western PA.

You start using Steeler fan logic.

In September, the same clowns made a "vow" to come into Foxboro and take care of business.

The only question concerning the Steeler's defense is if BB let's up and doesn't put 50 on them.

 

[denverpatsfan]

They have to make the playoffs first. They will have their hands full with the Denver defense this Sunday. That game is no gimme.