View topic - OBJECTIVE LOOK AT BRONCO GAME

[steelwest Profile]

Think about the following scenario: You hear that a wild card playoff team is playing on the road with the following problems -- starting running back gone for season; QB banged up and immobile; patchwork O-Line with two guards and center nicked up; one WR coming back from injury; two corners hurt; starting safety out; LB coming back from injury. Applied to just about any team, this is a formula for a loss. Regardless of the opponent, the wild card team is simply too beat up to win on its own. Now, we step back and try to say that the Steelers will win this week and may be candidates for the SB. How is that possible? Is there any information that Ben will be healthy anytime soon? No. Pouncey healthy? No. Will our young corner be back? Who knows. How dinged up are some others? Who knows. Can Ben throw accurately on a consistent basis? Who knows.

How is the schedule? We either play at the home field of a team that beat us twice this year or we play at the home field of a team we have never matched up well with and who has one of the better home field advantages in the league. If we beat Denver and then beat one of those, we then need to play the other on the road.

On paper, there is almost no chance. Steelers are not healthy; opponents seem much healthier; and the schedule is about the toughest Steelers have had in the playoffs.

We will root them on anyway but we are going to need some good fortune. And the defense everyone is talking about is the same D that allowed Flacco to beat us late and made Alex Smith look like a Pro Bowl player. Do not expect too much.

[isfry Profile]

A team that also happens to have a top ranked defense and will be playing against a QB whose passer rating (72.9) is among the lowest in the league (27th) and who was exposed as a one-trick pony a month ago and has lost three straight as a result on their backslide into the playoffs thanks only to the ineptitude of the rest of the AFC West.

[2$TbleDnce Profile]

Is this not the "City Of Champions"? Who are some of you people?

This team is not soft. Stop acting like the Burgh is the rest of the AFC field going up against the conference champs in 3 out of the last 6 years. Too many posts and media drivel about who or what the Steelers don't have, and not enough about what is HERE! How quickly am I supposed to forget that the PACKERS had 15 guys on IR when they won the SUPER BOWL?!? The Stillers currently have one starter (two if we include A. Smith who hasn't played a season's worth of games combined in the last 3 years), their punter, and a handful of back ups. Their semi hobbled QB will be a full month removed from an injury he was able to play through after it happened, and Pittsburgh has the only cup cake of the tournament in the first week.

The playoffs have started. It's a bit like going to the first day of school as a kid, or getting new co-workers. Everything is fresh or uncertain for everyone. The people who are the youngest are afraid of the older people. The older people are timid about younger folk. The weak minded are scared of the bullies. Nobody ever wants to be the newb who stands out. The easiest way to avoid being the biggest newb is to locate that target yourself and exploit them. Pittsburgh is in prime position to do that when it travels to Denver. Make a statement and prove a point. Remind the NFL just who they are dealing with!

[isfry Profile]

just to be clear, I was talking about the Steelers' top-ranked D and Tebow's lack of qualifications. I thought that was self-evident.

[ChumChurum Profile]

1. Denver game: pretty winnable.

2. Injuries are the problem, and we will probably be eliminated in either round 2 or round 3.

Baltimore has a good defense, and mediocre, but adequate offense. We might stand a chance to beat them healthy, but given the current injury situation, probably not.

NE has a great offense, and no defense. We will beat them if healthy, but given that the offense has a lot of injuries, it will be hard to score enough on them.