Steelers-Raiders
This weekend�s game against the Raiders could be a disaster. Then again, the Raiders are living on borrowed time. They are not, as their record suggests, a Super Bowl caliber team. The Steelers will have a chance at winning this game.
Prediction?
An Upset.
The Steelers routine of Jeckl and Hyde will continue this weekend as they stun the Raiders and pull out a victory.
Why?
No reason except at some point, the Steelers must play well for an entire game against a quality opponent. I believe it will be this weekend. There is a large group of teams in this league that are even. The Steelers may be at the bottom of this group, but they can still compete with anyone.
The Raiders may be more towards the top of this group because of the year Rich Gannon is having. Remember that the Raiders were very close to being a playoff team last year and the only players they added are a rookie kicker and a rookie punter. These guys have not made much difference this year. So, the same team that struggles at times last year is the same team "Dominating" the AFC this year. Such is the way of parody in the NFL these days
Furthermore, the Raiders will have trouble with the Steelers running game. The Bus has been under-utilized in recent weeks, but should get plenty of opportunity to run Sunday. At least let�s hope so. The Steelers defense, on the other hand, has seemed to have found itself in the second half of last week�s game against the Bengals. This defense didn�t go 21 quarters without giving up TD in the National Football league and suddenly forget how to play defense.
They will be back on Sunday.
Of course, the big question is Kordell Stewart. Could it be that both QBs this year were playing poorly because the starting wide receivers refused to make routine catches? Could this have eroded the fragile confidence of Stewart and Graham?
Who knows, but it does look like our receiver core � minus Burress and Edwards � is ready to play like professional football players. This could be a big difference in the Steeler passing game from here on out.
I hope a bit of Wisdom is learned from this � NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE should ever be handed a starting position on a NFL football team.
Steelers win 27-24.
Steel Tank.