Steelers get no help today as Jets and Ravens both win...

**Troyisabeast_43** · 11-23-2008, 05:15 PM

It would have been nice for the Steelers to get a 2 game lead back in the AFC North had the Ravens lost to the Eagles and be a game up as well on the Jets in the standings in the race for the number 2 seed but none of that worked in our favor today. The only good news today is with the Titans losing and the Steelers still having a game in hand with them the Steelers should they win out and the Titans lose one more game the rest of the season would get the tiebraker and get the number 1 seed in the AFC and have homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. The Steelers already own the tiebraker over the Jets if both teams would happen to win out because the Steelers would end up finishing with a better conference record then the Jets. The Steelers right now are 7-1 in the AFC with 4 conference games left, and the Jets are 6-3 with 3 conference games left. With all this being said the Steelers despite what happened today with the Jets,Ravens and even the Patriots all winning the Steelers still control their own destiny to win this division and get the bye week in the playoffs.

The schedule definitely does favor the Ravens next week as they play at Cincy while the Steelers have to go to New England. So it's important that the Steelers win that game in Foxborough next Sunday to keep that one game lead on the Ravens in the division and also the Jets for the bye week because the odds are while it's not for sure the Ravens probably are going to beat the Bengals in Cincy. Although the Bengals have been playing better at home it's still favors the Ravens. You dont want to have to face the Ravens in Baltimore on December 14th having the same record as they do. Although the Ravens despite their blowout win today against the Eagles still do not impress me. Their offense cannot move the ball and the only reason they scored that many points today was because the Eagles offense was so horrible and they turned the ball over 5 times today. With that being said, the Steelers just need to take care of business the next 2 weeks against the Pats and Cowboys and they should be in very good shape for the division and the bye week and possibly even homefield in 3 weeks when they do play the Ravens in Baltimore.

**Stairwayto7** · 11-23-2008, 05:32 PM

Lets Go! Its football! Lets win, and not worry about help!

**Black@Gold Forever32** · 11-23-2008, 06:03 PM

I like the fact the pressure is on the Steelers to keep winning......But playing in New England will be a tall order next week even with Marsha out for the year....Matt Cassel has played very well the past two weeks.....

**Troyisabeast_43** · 11-23-2008, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Black@Gold Forever32

I like the fact the pressure is on the Steelers to keep winning......But playing in New England will be a tall order next week even with Marsha out for the year....Matt Cassel has played very well the past two weeks.....

He has thrown for 400 yards the last 2 weeks against the Jets and Miami so he is getting better. We will see how he handles this Steelers defense who will be well rested and getting guys back like McFadden and Deshea. I dont see Cassel putting up 400 yards against the Steelers D and the Pats offense putting up 500 yards total. The Patriots defense is not very good and has been giving up a lot of yards the past few games. You know the defense is going to show up and play big so once again the outcome of this game is going to fall on Arians and Ben and this Steelers offense. If the offense and Ben play well in this game and dont make mistakes and dont turn the ball over the Steelers should be able to beat the Patriots.

--- Added 11/23/2008 at 05:39 PM ---

Getting back to the whole seeding scenario thing here the Broncos right now are losing to Oakland in Denver by 14 24-10. So that is a good scenario for next week with Denver playing the Jets seeing that if they end up losing to Oakland today which it definitely looks like right now, they are going to have to win this game to stay on top in the AFC West and hold off San Diego who is still not totally dead in that division just yet. The Broncos losing these games here at home like this to Oakland everytime they get a chance to get a cushion in this division is really going to come back to bite them at the end of the season I feel. They cannot keep letting San Diego hang around in this division like they are doing every single week. Remember the Chargers play the Broncos the last week of the season in San Diego so all the Chargers have to do is be one game behind Denver in the AFC West and have the same division record as them and they will win the tiebraker with a victory.

**AZ_Steeler** · 11-23-2008, 07:00 PM

The Steelers got a little help from the Jets... the Steelers are now 2 back of the #1 seed and still have to play the Titans!

**Stairwayto7** · 11-23-2008, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by AZ_Steeler

The Steelers got a little help from the Jets... the Steelers are now 2 back of the #1 seed and still have to play the Titans!

This is true, but we would need to win out, and hope they lost one more before then. Which I think it totally possible

**Black@Gold Forever32** · 11-23-2008, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Troyisabeast_43

He has thrown for 400 yards the last 2 weeks against the Jets and Miami so he is getting better. We will see how he handles this Steelers defense who will be well rested and getting guys back like McFadden and Deshea. I dont see Cassel putting up 400 yards against the Steelers D and the Pats offense putting up 500 yards total. The Patriots defense is not very good and has been giving up a lot of yards the past few games. You know the defense is going to show up and play big so once again the outcome of this game is going to fall on Arians and Ben and this Steelers offense. If the offense and Ben play well in this game and dont make mistakes and dont turn the ball over the Steelers should be able to beat the Patriots.

--- Added 11/23/2008 at 05:39 PM ---

Getting back to the whole seeding scenario thing here the Broncos right now are losing to Oakland in Denver by 14 24-10. So that is a good scenario for next week with Denver playing the Jets seeing that if they end up losing to Oakland today which it definitely looks like right now, they are going to have to win this game to stay on top in the AFC West and hold off San Diego who is still not totally dead in that division just yet. The Broncos losing these games here at home like this to Oakland everytime they get a chance to get a cushion in this division is really going to come back to bite them at the end of the season I feel. They cannot keep letting San Diego hang around in this division like they are doing every single week. Remember the Chargers play the Broncos the last week of the season in San Diego so all the Chargers have to do is be one game behind Denver in the AFC West and have the same division record as them and they will win the tiebraker with a victory.

The Pats defense isn't anything special except for their DL.....They still have one of the top DL in the game in my opinion....They probably will give the Steelers OL fits......I don't expect the Steelers to run very much against the Pats but Ben should be able to torch their secondary since the Pats secondary isn't very good....Hopefully the extra rest helps Ben's shoulder some.....

I don't expect Cassel to do much either against the Steelers defense....But then again I never thought he would ever throw for 400 in a game but he has done that in back to back games.....The Steelers defense must pressure and rattle Cassel......I also don't expect the Pats to run the ball much since they never do against the Steelers.....They will come out in shot gun formation with 4 wide and spread the Steelers defense out....A player like Lawrence Timmons really could be an X factor in this game since he can blitz or drop into coverage.....

I really don't know what to expect in this game.....This could be one of those crazy and weird games......How good is Matt Cassel?......I still think he is trash but he has been playing lights out football.......I just hope this defense makes him look like the bum I think he is.....

**Troyisabeast_43** · 11-23-2008, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by Clevestinks

This is true, but we would need to win out, and hope they lost one more before then. Which I think it totally possible

Here is the Titans schedule the rest of the way

Thu 11/27 at Detroit 12:30 pm
Sun 12/7 Cleveland 1:00 pm
Sun 12/14 at Houston 1:00 pm
Sun 12/21 Pittsburgh 1:00 pm
Sun 12/28 at Indianapolis 1:00 pm

Now they should win the next 3 games at Detroit,Cleveland,and at Houston. Should the Steelers beat the Titans and win out like you just said they needed to do, it would all come down to that last game of the season with Tennessee playing at Indianapolis. You know the Colts are most likely going to need to win that game to get into the playoffs, and the game is in Indy where the Colts are very tough. The Steelers play the Browns the last week of the season at Heinz Field so they clearly will have the edge in the schedule when it comes to which team plays the tougher game that week. So should the Steelers win the next 3 games against the Pats,Cowboys,and Ravens which no question will be very tough to do, and then go into Tennessee and win then I believe this scenario has a very good possiblity of coming true where the Titans could lose in Indy the last week of the season and the Steelers beat the Browns and they both finish at 13-3 and the Steelers win the head to head tiebraker and get the 1 seed.

**BlitzburghRockCity** · 11-23-2008, 08:38 PM

The Steelers always get themselves in this position every year without fail, they get a nice lead in the division and they blow it. Now the pressure is on to keep winning and not end up with AFCN crown being decided in at the end of December. It is what it is though, we have this schedule and we have to prove to ourselves and the rest of the league that we are worthy of a post season berth.

The Pats don't scare me near as much as they did before however Cassel is playing better and he does still have Welker and Moss so it will be good to get McFadden back and our DB's will be tested. Im not too worried about the Pats running game, we should be able to handle that but in general our record against NE is not good and they usually give us fits. This is one of those games, another one, that you have to step up and be counted on. Separting the pretenders from the contenders.