The Steelers game now becomes huge

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Tomlin's talking a lot. That lost in Miami just made this game a must win now. Gotta win the game.

 

[Pats1989]

Pending a Patriots loss, it would be mathematically impossible to get the 1 seed. Because even if the Pats won out and Steelers lost out after that game, both would have four losses and Steelers own the tie breaker. At worst, Pittsburgh is assured the 2 seed with a win.

The question would then be, will the Pats be the 2 or 3 seed. I believe they can win the SB by being the 2 ( winning the AFCCG in Jax or Pittsburgh). I think it's unlikely they will win four straight games (health etc), with the three seed.

 

[Uptown]

I WANT HFA but....

Why Getting Home-Field Advantage Not Important For Patriots

 

[Uptown]

Wow!!! The guy’s amazing. 10,000 yards already??
(8 seasons). Sure fire HOF. That being said, Go Pats!

 

[rich2342]

Why does everyone assume the steelers defense will play us in typical zone fashion?

Why will they not copycat Atlanta or Miami in the defensive plan. Please don't say its not what they do..

 

[Mack Herron]

Signing Francois and no Branch today is not reassuring for our interior line Sunday.

 

[supafly]

Pending a Patriots loss, it would be mathematically impossible to get the 1 seed. Because even if the Pats won out and Steelers lost out after that game, both would have four losses and Steelers own the tie breaker. At worst, Pittsburgh is assured the 2 seed with a win.

The question would then be, will the Pats be the 2 or 3 seed. I believe they can win the SB by being the 2 ( winning the AFCCG in Jax or Pittsburgh). I think it's unlikely they will win four straight games (health etc), with the three seed.

I think we’d all agree that there would still be a shot with the 3 seed, but they would then automatically have to play @ the 2 seed the next week, and potentially on the road again @ the 1 seed, should the Steelers win their one home game.

While the seedings weren’t exactly the same, NE attempted to beat a divisional rival at home in the WC round, then went on the road @ SD and @ IND, back in 2006, where they obviously fell short.

Being forced into the 3 seed isn’t the end of the world, but it most certainly lowers the odds significantly. It removes the week of rest, forces them on the road, and adds in the need for a 4th victory in a row versus the elite teams in the league.

 

[supafly]

Signing Francois and no Branch today is not reassuring for our interior line Sunday.

Fingers crossed for Van Noy and Flowers added to the front seven.

 

[luuked]

Why does everyone assume the steelers defense will play us in typical zone fashion?

Why will they not copycat Atlanta or Miami in the defensive plan. Please don't say its not what they do..

Because if you build your roster a certain way, give said players hundreds of reps within a certain system and then change things up for a specific game there is a good chance that you will have communication issues once the other team starts doing presnap motions or more general formation shenanigans and you will be caught again with your pants down.

And even if you kinda contain the number of breakdowns it is still something you are not running often so after a series or two the other team will start finding weak points in your defense and attack them specifically. And then what ? Usually then you have to convert back to what you are comfortable running which in this case is your zone again.

 

[Wordsmyth]

Mack, I love how you and the naysayers know more than BB.

 

[supafly]

Check out this crap that popped up in my newsfeed from USA Today this morning. It links to the Steelers Wire blog and their bold predictions as to the kind of production that they’ll have against our D:

Patriots vs. Steelers: Stat predictions calling for lots of offensive firepower - USA TODAY Patriots vs. Steelers: Stat predictions calling for lots of offensive firepower — Steelers Wire

 

[Mack Herron]

Deleted

 

[Kontradiction]

Why does everyone assume the steelers defense will play us in typical zone fashion?

Why will they not copycat Atlanta or Miami in the defensive plan. Please don't say its not what they do..

I think they'll try it until they realize that they don't have the personnel to man up with the Patriots and begin to allow play after play of chunk yardage.*








*This assumes Brady is able to hit those plays downfield and isn't way off the mark like he was in Miami.

 

[XLIX]

To all the people convinced Jacksonville would win out who I said you are just repeating the same mistake everyone makes this time of year and they wouldn’t win out.... I hate to say I told you so but uh....

Merry Christmas!!

 

[Bruins29]

To all the people convinced Jacksonville would win out who I said you are just repeating the same mistake everyone makes this time of year and they wouldn’t win out.... I hate to say I told you so but uh....

Merry Christmas!!

Well in all fairness, look at the QB they had to go against.

 

[supafly]

Why does everyone assume the steelers defense will play us in typical zone fashion?

Why will they not copycat Atlanta or Miami in the defensive plan. Please don't say its not what they do..

They believed this since PIT had only played man to man in 12% of their previous situations this year. Much like you, I wasn’t buying into the theory that they were mainly sticking with the same zones, and they ended up playing man coverage against us about 2/3 of the snaps.