I think a lot of people need to understand.....

[The Big Tease]

one very important thing.

I hear everyone saying that Ben is going to choke and he has no chance of winning this game on Sunday. Too young, too inexperienced, etc, etc. etc.

REMEMBER THIS: Ben Roethlisberger has not WON ANY game all year!!!! He hasnt lost one either.....although he almost did this past week. Ben will not be asked to anything more than he has been asked to do all year....and that is hand the ball off, be a leader, and when asked, make high percentage throws to his capable receivers. As long as Ben doesnt make mistakes.......he wont be ANY factor in who wins this game....

It will be who controls the line of scrimmage, and who plays more physical. And special teams more than likely will play a big part in this game.

A lot of people are putting a lot of stock into what the Steelers did this past week. If you watched the game.....you will know that Bettis fumbled on a drive where they would have scored.....Ben threw an interception for a TD that happened on the Jets side of the field, and they gave up a punt return for a TD.....that game could have easily been 24 or 27 to 3!!!!!

The Patriots are in for a different kind of game this week......the Colts are the anti-Steelers.

I think I who who I like......

 

[Sun Tzu]

hmm is Bill Cowher still coaching SUnday?

 

[gjn23]

you are correct...ben has NOT won any games this year, he's been barely above average most of the time and bad other times (to me the offensive rookie of the year award should have gone to michael clayton from TB). Now, what happens when he HAS to win a game???

The Steelers got the luckiest break in the world by having to face the Jets in round two and NOT NE, SD, or Indy, ALL would have beaten them in that game. The guy showed me that he WILL NOT handle the pressure of having to win a game....and I've seen Cower WAYYYYYY to many times in these games stray FAR...FAR away from the game plan of running the ball. That combo will lead to a small deficit that turns into a large deficit because of turnovers,. Throw in Bilicheck and NE defense, and I see a DD victroy by NE.

 

[The Big Tease]

I am no Steeler fan by a LONG shot, but I have to comment again.....

The Steelers got a LUCKY BREAK by facing the Jets???? That was a "break" they earned by beating the Pats earlier in the season.

Who says that Ben will have to win this game?? If the Steelers control the line of scrimmage like they have all year long.....he wont have to. No one....including the Pats have been able to match Pittsburgh on the line of scrimmage.

Also...you are predicting turnovers?? How can you do that?? If you are handicapping with turnovers.....you are really reaching and should probably lay off.

 

[gjn23]

predicting turnovers???? yes
did you watch that game last week? he was throwing the ball right to Jet defenders, they could have had 4 int's...now here comes the patriots defense.....yes turnovers..INT's

As for getting lucky, yes they did. they clearly earned the #1 seed but were going to get beat in their first round game if they had to play ne-indy-sd who could all take advantage of pit defense backfield....they jets were the BEST matchup for PIT and they STILL almost lost.

 

[SourDoughJoe]

Ben will not be asked to anything more than he has been asked to do all year....and that is hand the ball off, be a leader, and when asked, make high percentage throws to his capable receivers.

That's a good point you made but he wasn't throwing high % passes in the Jets game. He is best at throwing under 15yds for first downs instead of down the field and on the run. Pitt will be running the ball more against NE and may win the time possession battle but NE will be passing more and Pitt won't be able to keep up. Don't think that Pitt will just run down the Pats throat.
I like NE to win this game 20-13. JMHO

GL,
SDJ

 

[The Big Tease]

That is exactly what I mean.......it is amazing how people lock onto one game, and hold it true. Yea....Ben looked like chit this past week.....but he looked like chit against the Jets in the first game too. They won both games. Bottom line is that Ben was one of the most effective quarterbacks this year as far as yards per attempt and efficiency.

The Patriots can throw the ball around all day....but at the end of the day, they will have about as many points as all the rest of the teams that played the Steelers this year got......between 13-24.

You can scheme all you want, but there is no defending a team that is tougher, and a team that is stronger......and Pittsburgh is both.

 

[THE KOD]

BT

No one is giving the Steelers any chance
to win this game.

I know one thing and that is I lost money twice going against Big Ben this year.

And anything can happen in the NFL.

 

[gambinoshark]

gjn, if you are predicting turnovers by looking at one game, why not look back at the first meeting between these two teams when BRADY not ben threw two picks, everyone talks about having dillon for that game, well when you are playing cath up the WHOLE game you aren't running that much anyway....pittburgh's o-line is just to dominating right now, i would much rather prefer duce running then fatazz bettis but hey, we'll see.....

 

[puckfan]

To beat New Engalnd, your quarterback has to do more that just "not lose the game". He'll be forced to make plays wither throwing ont he run or throwing deep and trying to stretch the defense. My money is on the Pats..GL

 

[danmurphy jr]

I think a lot of people need to understand.....
Sounds like GW
The Brady Bunch - B&B
Steeler - Falcon SB - nagh - would cost $Bs in revenue

 

[DoubleDown]

Ben WAY outplayed Brady in the first game!

Passing
CP/ATT YDS TD INT
T. Brady 25/43 271 2 2

Passing
CP/ATT YDS TD INT
B. Roethlisberger 18/24 196 2 0


Ben didn't win OR lose that game , BRADY DID!!!

Pitt has a WAY better defense than INDY, or anyone else the PATS have played.

And if anything happens to the QB's, I'll take Maddox over Davey ANY day!!!

 

[ocelot]

Lets consider what NE just did to THE high-powered offense in the NFL...THREE POINTS!

How can anyone NOT think they can shut down Pittsburgh? They will be able to beef up against the run and go man-to-man on the outside. As for the Patriots on offense, they won't make mistakes, they'll make big plays when they need them largely due to outcoaching Pittsburgh. If the Steelers bring up safeties to stop the run, Brady WILL exploit them.

New England's experience should prevail here. They should win the game and at 3 or less should at least push.

 

[DoubleDown]

Recent Meetings New England Pittsburgh
Date Away/Home Line ATS
Tot Rus Pas Tot Rus Pas
10/31/2004 NE 20 - PIT 34

PITTSBURGH

Tot Rus Pas
417 221 196



New England

Tot Rus Pas
248 5 243

You can speculate/imagine scenarios all day. The FACT is: They HAVE played , and this IS what happened the last time.

PITT had 221 rushing yards!! Stack that!
They held the vanilla PITT offense to a MEAGER 34 points!!

In 17 weeks NO ONE has scored more points against New England than PITTSBURGH.
When you rush for 221, the passing takes care of itself!!

 

[gjn23]

ne gave up on the run from the get go because they had no dillion adn pit didn't have to respect the run at all in that game....i guarantee you both of those things change in this game starting from the first possession......a balanced offense (or the threat) of a balanced offense by NE will open up that defense to play-action passing.

as for ne on defense....they got worked in the first game, because of poor execution from their offense and turnover....i expect that to change.

it as easy as this:

do you trust tom brady and charlie weiss to make the necessary changes on offense to limit mistakes and move the ball? YES
do you trust bill bilicheck and romeo cronell to make amazing changes on defense to confuse pit and ben? ABSOLUTELY
when the game is on the line in the 4th quarter in the AFC TITLE GAME...who do you want making decisions...brady/bilicheck or ben/cower??

I'll take NE

 

[gambinoshark]

i'll take ******/steeler defense, over brady/bilicheck.....

 

[gambinoshark]

it doesnt' like our def coord. name

 

[Hindsite]

Lets consider what NE just did to THE high-powered offense in the NFL...THREE POINTS!

How can anyone NOT think they can shut down Pittsburgh? They will be able to beef up against the run and go man-to-man on the outside. As for the Patriots on offense, they won't make mistakes, they'll make big plays when they need them largely due to outcoaching Pittsburgh. If the Steelers bring up safeties to stop the run, Brady WILL exploit them.

New England's experience should prevail here. They should win the game and at 3 or less should at least push.

There is a big difference between disrupting the timing of the Indy passing game, vs stopping a power running game. The NE linebackers are great at pursuing and covering, but are weak at the point of attack. Did you notice how the Indy stretch play and screens didn't work? That is because those plays play to the strength of NE's defense. However, Indy did have some success running up the middle, but they were too impatient and gave up on the run... The Steelers dominated the line of scrimmage last time vs NE's goal line defense....

Here is the drive:

1-10-PIT28 (10:29) D.Staley up the middle to PIT 34 for 6 yards (T.Johnson, R.Harrison).
2-4-PIT34 (9:57) H.Ward pushed ob at PIT 45 for 11 yards (E.Wilson). Backward pass from Roethlisberger
1-10-PIT45 (9:28) D.Staley right guard to NE 49 for 6 yards (T.Warren, D.Reid).
2-4-NE49 (8:48) D.Staley right tackle to NE 46 for 3 yards (M.Vrabel, D.Reid).
3-1-NE46 (8:04) D.Staley right tackle to NE 36 for 10 yards (T.Bruschi, V.Wilfork).
1-10-NE36 (7:19) D.Staley right tackle to NE 30 for 6 yards (R.Harrison).
2-4-NE30 (7:19) D.Staley right guard to NE 26 for 4 yards (V.Wilfork, R.Harrison).
1-10-NE26 (5:53) J.Bettis left tackle to NE 26 for no gain (R.Harrison, R.Seymour).
2-10-NE26 (4:56) J.Bettis left tackle to NE 17 for 9 yards (R.Gay, R.Colvin).
3-1-NE17 (4:24) J.Bettis right guard to NE 13 for 4 yards (V.Wilfork, R.Seymour).
1-10-NE13 (3:40) J.Bettis up the middle to NE 14 for -1 yards (R.Seymour, T.Bruschi).
2-11-NE14 (2:58) J.Bettis up the middle to NE 11 for 3 yards (K.Traylor).

If you can't stop the run with 8 guys, all the scheming in the world won't help... Basically, the Pats will have to bring 8 guys to the line to stop the run (didn't work last time) and leave Plax and Ward 1 on one... The corners for NE, may have some trouble... You won't see a 5 yard slant from Plax, it will be a 40 yard snag... The fact that Seymour is not a 100pct only magnifies the problem.......

 

[The Big Tease]

Hindsite, FINALLY someone understands how this game is going to work. Now the fact that you seem to be a Steeler fan may not support my theory any, LOL. But, that is the way it is!!!

And the Colts DID play into the strength of the Pats, but the Steelers wont...it isnt their game. And that drive is EXACTLY my point.

No big plays....just steady, and a few yards here and there. Picking up first downs.....wearing down the defense. There is no scheming against that.

Lots of irrevalent facts being brought into the fold. Yea Congrats, you stopped the Colts cold.....pretty tough to do, but try to stop a train coming right at your gut......that is something totally different. The Pats couldnt do it the first time, what makes you think they will do it this time???

 

[gjn23]

you blindsided steeler fans are forgetting who is coaching your team.....THE CHIN ALWAYS PANICS AND DEVIATES FROM THE SRENGTH OF HIS TEAM COME GUT CHECK TIME IN THE TITLE GAMES.

Fall behind early and then watch Ben throw 30+ times....then come tell me how great your power running game is.