First, it is not irrational to think that we are built completely differently than the Patriots. The Patriots do not run the ball in the same fashion the Steelers run the ball. And, as far as your defense confusing the Patriots, it is not anything different than the Ravens do, who the Steelers faced this week. In fact, Ryan came from the Ravens and the DC of the Ravens uses his system. The Steelers line, even though it is average at best, is used to seeing these games. I do not expect them to completely fall apart. In addition, the Steelers have began to mix things up more to help the line. They implemented the 3-step drop a few weeks ago, something they did not use prior. As for weapons compared to the Patriots, Mendenhall is easily a bigger weapon then Green-Ellis. He has 200 more yards rushing and twice as many receiving yards. Mike Wallace has 400 yards more than Welker, the Pats best receiver. Ward has more yards than Branch. Manny Sanders is very close in yards to Brandon Tate, even though he has not played as much. The Steelers 4th/5th WRs easily trump the Patriots. The Pats TEs have more yards than Miller, but Miller has missed a ton of time to injury. The Pats have an edge with their 2nd TE and Woodhead. But, you are only going to put 5 skill players on the field at one time. The Steelers top 5 of Mendenhall, Wallace, Ward, Sanders, and Miller easily trump Green-Ellis, Welker, Branch, and the two TEs. The Patriots have more depth at certain skill positions (TE and RB). But the Steelers have had more production this season. And, the Steelers skill guys did this without Roethlisberger for 4 games.
Oh, so it is not IF you rape someone, it is how old you are and how many times people allege you do it. LMAO. Keep selling that one.
Think Steelers are better than last year's Colts team? Sorry dude, not a chance of that. How so? Care to back up your claim? That Colts offense last year was borderline unstoppable (much like the Patriots offense this year) and the Colts defense was actually pretty solid last year.
"Their corners are pretty bad but their safeties are pretty good. We should be able to do just enough on offense to win." Our corners are pretty bad? Ike Taylor basically shuts down every receiver he faces. He is not Revis, but far from pretty bad. I would say our safeties are helluva lot better than pretty good as well. Polamalu paired with a college saftey will still be pretty good, but Ryan Clark is a bad mofo in his own right.
One of my biggest concerns is the letdown factor. I know it's been touched upon, but yesterday was such a major win for the organization. It truly (finally) felt like the AFC East changing of the guard. I have faith in Rex, but even with the Super Bowl looming, it may be difficult to get that intensity level up again and maintain it. If anyone can do it, it's Rex.
Steelers have contained that "unstoppable" Colts offense in the past. And last I checked that "unstoppable" offense went into a Super Bowl against a less than vaunted defense and lost.
Are you serious? I am not talking about 2010 Colts. I said 2009 Colts. They were better than this Steelers team. This Steelers team would have had no chance against that Colts team. You know that? Forget what I said yesterday.
I must say, as a Steeler fan, that it is refreshing to read this type of thread and see mature, true fan, comments as opposed to silly name calling and BS bravado! Should be a good one!
Rex Ryan defense has changed the past few weeks. This is definitely not the defense you played when he was in Baltimore. The old Rex of sending the house blitz is gone. Btw I'm reading all this talk about how all of a sudden this Steelers offense is better than the Pats. ?!?!? Wasn't the Pats offense the most explosive in the NFL? Averaging around 30 points a game? Well we stopped them. Big Ben isn't going to be passing well against the Jets secondary who are playing lights out. Jets on the other hand will have to find ways to run the ball against a tougher defense. It will be close.
With our pass rush: we'll actually have to sack Brady. Sometimes Ellis or someone would put a finger on Brady and he would fall like he just got shot. Ben is a tough QB, unlike Brady. We actually need to tackle him. That said, we'll also hit him a lot more because he'll hold onto the ball longer. He's also comfortable holding onto the ball for a while to make a play. I think we need to blitz and hit him early and often, not to rattle him, but just because the way he holds the ball and the way we should be able to cover, and the way their OL plays, we should be able to get some pressure. We got pressure for good chunks of the Steeler game. Of course, with the way the defense has played the last two weeks, we can also throw in some of the more disguised looks. But the Steelers are different: they want to run the ball, and they can run the ball. Mendenhall was very impressive in the week 15 game. We can't just dare Pittsburgh to run, or Mendenhall will gash us again.
The Patriots OC is light years ahead of Bruce Arians but Ben is harder to rattle with pressure and the speed of Wallace will be tough. The Steelers defense can expose Sanchez in a way the Pats couldn't. Should be good...............
You need to have a good short passing game in order to beat the Steelers imo. Clark and Polamalu are good safeties that are gonna play over the top of the mediocre corners. If you can beat those corners on slants, flat routes, medium curls, etc. you don't let those safeties make a read in time to pick the ball off.
