Bills at Steelers Preview�� (Game #2)
By
CK Stiller
Line-ups
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Buffalo Bills |
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Pittsburgh Steelers |
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Offense |
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Offense |
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QB - J.P. Losman RB - Marshawn Lynch FB - Ryan Neufield WR - Lee Evans WR - Peerless Price TE - Robert Royal LT - Jason Peters LG - Derrick Dockery OC - Melvin Fowler RG - Brad Butler RT - Langston Walker TE2 - Michael Gaines WR3 - Roscoe Parrish WR4 - Josh Reed |
PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT ------ PIT PIT PIT |
QB - Ben Roethlisberger RB - Willie Parker FB - Carey Davis WR - Hines Ward WR - Santonio Holmes TE - Heath Miller LT - Marvel Smith LG - Alan Faneca OC - Sean Mahan RG - Kendall Simmons RT - Willie Colon TE2 - Matt Spaeth WR3 - Nate Washington WR4 - Cedric Wilson |
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Defense |
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Defense |
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LDE - Chris Kelsay LDT - Larry Tripplett RDT - Kyle Williams RDE - Aaron Schobel SLB - Angelo Crowell MLB - Paul Posluszny WLB - John DiGiorgio CB - Terrence McGee CB - Ashton Youboty SS - Donte Whitner FS - Jim Leonhard CB3 - Kiawukee Thomas CB4 - ---- |
PIT PIT PIT BUF PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT PIT |
LDE - Aaron Smith NT - Casey Hampton RDE - Brett Keisel LOLB - Clark Haggans ILB - James Farrior ILB - Larry Foote ROLB - James Harrison CB - Ike Taylor CB - Deshea Townsend SS - Troy Polamalu FS - Ryan Clark/Anthony Smith CB3 - Bryant McFadden CB4 - Randall Gay |
The Bills match-up terribly against the
Steelers across the board. There�s really nothing they have the edge in.
A lot of people are concerned about the
Bills coming out fired up with the Everett injury. It brought Losman to tears
when he met with the media this week and they�ve dedicated the season to him.
The Bills are just completely outmatched, though. This is the home opener for
the Steelers, which should take some of the energy away from them.
Steelers Pass Game
First, there�s a lot of talk about the Bills
playing cover 2. �That�s inaccurate. �The Bills are very aggressive with their LB�s
and their SS, Donte Whitner. They play a good deal of cover 1 and blitz a LB on
a regular basis. They even brought their nickel back on a few occasions against
Denver.
They may play more cautiously this week. The
Bills will be missing two starters from their secondary, plus a LB. Ko Simpson
and Jason Webster both look to be done for the season. Webster isn�t much of a
loss. �It looks like he�ll be replaced
by the second year corner Ashton Youboty. Coming out, this guy had insane
measurable. Just a rare combination of size and speed. �He doesn�t have much experience in the league
yet. It�s similar to the situation with Eric Wright last week. The Steelers are
likely to test him. Frankly, I�m not sure how much of a downgrade this is for
the Bills�if at all. Webster was slow. The Broncos targeted him early and he
was a weakness for the Falcons last year. �Steelers are most likely going to test him early and often, no
matter who ends up on him. He may have actually been their best cover guy,
though�says more about the Bills secondary than it does Webster.
Terrence McGee doesn�t concern me much. He�s
not an athlete, that�s for sure. He gives pretty large cushions. Only the
Steelers have given them this big�this frequently from what I�ve seen. �There�s reason for that. The Broncos feasted
on the Bills with slants. I don�t care much who gets on who, they should be
able to get open.
Donte Whitner is looking good at this point.
The Bills play him up in the box a lot. He doesn�t lay the wood like Sean
Taylor, but he makes the tackle and gets the job done. They line him up on the
edge and let him make plays. He�s a threat to blitz or play the run. They use
him a bit like how the Colts use Sanders, but he�s not the threat Sanders is. �They�ll trust him to cover man-up as a third
corner on occasion, and with the injuries they�ve sustained, they may be doing
that a bit more often.
The Steelers should be able to run or throw
all over the Bills. I expect big plays this week. Holmes/anyone deep. Miller
down the seam. There aren�t too many negative match-ups for the Steelers. With
a young corner playing, a slow starter across from him in McGee, and a back-up
FS stepping in the Steelers are going to test them deep.
The Bills have two relentless pass rushers.
Both ends are high motor guys. Schobel is a smart player. He falls just short
of being an elite edge rusher, though. He lacks the top end athleticism. Smith
is going to have to battle with him every play. Strip away his athleticism, and
that�s pretty much what you have on the other side of the field. Colon did a
fine job with Peek last week and with just about everyone he�s faced. That
shouldn�t change this week. Their DT�s are small and liabilities against the
run, but do a good job of getting up field. They can apply pressure if allowed
to. Teams tend to just run down their throats and use a ton of misdirection to
slow them down, though.
Steelers Run Game
Their run defense is a joke. The left side
should absolutely dominate this game. Schobel is a weakness against the run. It
isn�t so much that he catches himself out of position, as he looks to be a
pretty smart player with a high motor. He just gets driven off the ball. He�s
�complimented� by DT Kyle Williams, who is a complete disgrace. Faneca, like
Smith, should have a field day with him in the run game. It only gets slightly
better for the Bills on the right side.
Parker could gain 200 yards. That�s not out
of the question, given the issues in the secondary and this front 7.
Posluszny looks solid in the middle. He
takes good angles in the run game. He came up a bit too much to play the run
against the Broncos, but he can�t be blamed much for that considering how much
misdirection they used and how often they did actually run the ball. He needs
to get around blocks from lineman, because he doesn�t do a good job fighting
through them at this point. �And with
this DL, he�s going to get a blocker on him regularly.
DiGiorgio at WLB is small and slow, at least
by 40 time. �He didn�t replace Wire last
week when he went down, but he�s been practicing in the spot this week.
Steelers interior is at its best when they get matched up on a backer. This
isn�t a good game to be starting a UDFA. That doesn�t really need to be said.
Steelers Pass Defense
Losman does just about one thing well, and
that�s throw the deep ball. They didn�t test the Broncos much in that regard.
One play stands out. With the Bills trying to ice the game, Lee Evans was able
to out run Baily. �Was wide-open going
into the endzone. Losman was hit upon release and missed him, however. Against
the Steelers, you know you can�t run. �The
Bills have to test Pittsburgh deep. It�s going to be a matter of whether the OL
allows them to.
The Bills really struggle to identify and
pick up the blitz. Routinely they misread what Denver was doing. And if they found
that confusing, they stand no chance against Pittsburgh. The Broncos showed and
came early with the pressure. From the first blitz they looked lost, allowing a
backer to come in through the middle to be picked up by Lynch. �Lynch, by the way, is an awful blocker. He�ll
try, but he�ll fail. Later in the game the Broncos began showing blitzes and
dropping back. �The Bills, would slide
in while the Broncos dropped back and let guys walk into the backfield from the
outside. I think I made my point. Losman shouldn�t have much time.
Langston Walker and Jason Peters both move
pretty well at their respective spots. �Haggans/Woodley
has the better match-up, as Walker will make some mental mistakes. He got
beaten by Dumervil on two key occasions, forcing Losman to scramble once and
stopping him from completing the deep bomb to end the game. Both times Walker
lunged at him and got beat outside. I don�t like either match-up overall. The
tackles are, in fact, the strength of this OL. �I think Keisel and Smith may have a chance to apply some pressure
right up the gut. I try to get Keisel on the overpaid Dockery on an interior
rush. �You can bull rush him or you can
pull a move on him, whichever you prefer. One embarrassing play in particular
stands out from their third pre-season game against the Titans. �The DT put a swim move on him and walked
right into the backfield.
The Bills should max protect and try to hit
the deep ball. �That�s their only
chance.
The Everett injury has received a lot of
attention, for obvious reasons. �Its
implications on the field have been ignored. The Bills run a good deal of two
TE sets. Everett played a significant number of snaps, usually only coming off
the field for a third receiver. �He�s
backed up by Michael Gaines. The Steelers saw him last year, as he was the
back-up in Carolina. The Bills should trust him enough to use him.� While no threat in the passing game, Gaines
is a very nice blocker. He could give the Steelers OLB�s problems.
Peerless Price shouldn�t be much of an
issue. Townsend matches up well against him. Neither is a burner. Price isn�t
physical, big, or shifty. Rosco Parrish is a guy who can make a play or two in
the open field, and they�ll try to get the ball to him on a few occasions in
space. Same with Evans. Steelers are used to the hitches and should bottle them
up.
Evans deep is the obvious concern. I was
favoring playing more two deep safeties this week, but then I saw the Bills OL
struggle horribly with Denver�s blitz packages. �Cheat over to give Taylor help on occasion. �Otherwise, it should just be a matter of
LeBeau dialing up his blitzes.
Blitz, and undercut routes. Losman will
throw into coverage. This should be a nice day to be a corner. 2+ INT�s for a
second week in a row.
Steelers Run Defense
The Bills are dirty up front. Well, all
over. They like to go at the knees, especially when trying to make their blocks
at the second level. The TE�s and receivers get in on the act, as well. It�s
pretty noticeable and something to look out for.
Derrick Dockery is a signing I liked at
first. �Then I saw him play and realized
he�s a bum. I don�t know what they saw in him. He got knocked into the
backfield repeatedly in the three games of the Bills I saw. �He doesn�t move well. �They�ll pull him some. He doesn�t make good
contact at the second level and backers can usually slip right off. Overpaid is
an understatement. �I would want more
money, too, if I was Faneca and saw this bum getting paid.
It doesn�t get much better across the rest
of the interior. Hampton will have his way, as usual. Walker and Peters, as I
said above, are the strengths of this line. They move well in pass protection. �I only saw Walker get beat once, when he
lunged out. In the run game, neither concerns me.
Lynch had a nice outing against the Broncos.
The Broncos run defense blows. Lynch has good vision. He�s a decisive runner
and hit�s the hole. That�s two things I can�t say for McGahee. He�s an upgrade
as a runner and a receiver. I would think the Bills would try to screen the
Steelers, but the Steelers are used to that and their OL doesn�t move well.
Special Teams
The strength of this Bills team is the
special teams. �Outside of Parrish being
one of the best return men in the league, they have a Pro Bowl punter. The
Bills do a nice job of winning the field position battle because they can reset
it consistently. �The Broncos spent most
of their game backed up. In the end of the day it should just mean the Steelers
have to move farther down the field.
Summary
The Steelers should be able to have their
way with this Bills defense. �Buffalo is
outmatched in nearly every facet of this game besides special teams. Not too
many surprises here. If I�m the Bills, I have to test the Steelers deep. �I max protect against the blitz and do my
best to get deep. �That worked for
Denver last year to an extent. It�s just not enough for this team, barring
massive screw-ups by the Steelers.
Final Score: Stillers 38, Bills 14