Next Saturday I'm driving up to Altoona to meet my brother and go to the PSU/Illinois game.  This has the making for a great game.  We are going to meet up with Swissvale72's brother, Big Tony, for a tailgate.  If my brother comes through, my wife, son (this is his birthday gift), my brother and I will get to watch this game (first white-out) from the field.  If this works out, I plan to have some great pictures to share and will post them.

Two Quotes I Liked.

From the Washington Post:

"I'm starting to like this team a little bit", Florida Coach Urban Meyer

Joe Paterno had to watch the second half of the PSU/Temple game from the box:  "My leg's okay.  It's just standing on it too long, it aches, I'm probably babying myself."

I hope if I live to 81, I can be as active as JoPa

How will the Steelers slow down Brian Westbrook?

Will the Steelers' offensive line keep Ben clean this week?

What's an unhealthy number of superstitions for a Steelers fan? 

Answers to all this and more can be found in this week's SteelerFury.com Podcast, featuring FC and Hardnosed and hosted by Bradshaw2Ben, now available on iTunes - subscribe today and never miss a podcast!

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Steelerfury.com Podcast - Steelers vs. Browns

Cleveland is a team that wants to set up a vertical passing game by getting Jamal Lewis established between the tackles.  Their  OL and scheme is set up much better for a zone style RB but they try and impose their will anyhow by getting the broken down Jamal Lewis outside the tackle box  on sweeps and designed swing passes with lead blockers.  A new wrinkle they’ve really worked on this offseason. 

In the trenches:

I think its pretty safe to say we’re going to see the DE’s crash on nearly play.  Penetration should be the first read from the 5 techniques in efforts to blow up run lanes.  Cleveland isn’t much of a threat to run outside the tackle box on this defense.  A majority of one gap calls from the DE’s will not only blow up those running lanes Cleveland will try to create,  but when they do finish on playaction or 1^st down passing calls it will push the pocket and flush the immobile Derek Anderson from his comfort zone.  Once he’s on the move,  he’s rendered ineffective.  In the middle,  its Casey being Casey.  He’ll tie up the interior until the run is no longer effective and then turn into a one gap role to pave the way for the interior blitz behind him.  

Coverage:

Cleveland has 2 main targets,  and we all know their names.  Braylon and Kellen.  Everything in the passing game starts with these two players.  Steelers usually do a pretty good job taking away an opponents #1.  Expect a 7 yard plus cushion with a man/zone look on Edwards.  CB will be in a stiff backpedal ready to jump the slant and skinny post up the seam,  a route that’s become like bread and butter in C-Town.  The CB will see strict man-over help over the top with a drifting side x side bracket from the mack who will drift to the hash to take that sightline away from the QB.  A recipe that’s worked on  Edwards in the past.  With Winslow,  I expect some man coverage from the LB/nickel/Troy when he pushes the zipper route up the seam.  In that instance we can probably expect man under from those players with a safety in robber role ready to come up and make the stick or make a play on the ball.  If Winslow works his pattern inside or out,  I’d have to expect the mad scientist will work a horizontal bracket out of a zone look with either the ILB/Troy and the CB in cover 2 look to the strong side.  The disguised coverage should go along way in taking Syndric Steptoe out of the gameplan as he’s hasn’t progressed enough to read these coverages.  One thing that could hurt this Steelers defense is a 2 TE set dragging Steve Heiden underneath as he will probably go unnoticed.  

Pressure Packages:

I fully expect the Steelers to attempt a ton of interior pressure in this game.  Cleveland does a good job of putting their tackles on a short corner in pass pro and giving Anderson time.  A lions share of one gap penetration from the 5 techniques to start it out by pushing the pocket and suffocating running lanes.  The Steelers should start with the outside blitz from Woodley/Harrison set up by sugar blitz looks from the ILB’s that will drop into coverage.  Once Cleveland adjusts to the protection,  I expect to see a lot of fire zone looks with ILB’s bringing the heat on mack blitzes and cross blitzes through the A gaps with the OLB’s dropping into coverage.  

Bradshaw2Ben, FC and myself (Hardnosed) break down the upcoming rivalry game against the Browns in the inital Steelerfury.com podcast.

Check steelerfury.com often for new analysis and original content.

Enjoy the podcast!

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Steelerfury.com Podcast - Steelers vs. Browns

The Texans are a pure Zone Blocking Team. Gary Kubiak and Alex Gibb will zone block or die trying. There is no turning back for them.

Some Keys:

1. Expect more 2 gap play in this contest from the DL. I think you'll see more slide and miiror packages with some strong side slants to string out the zone perimeter run game. The TE can be a liability in the run so they may attempt more weak side zone plays behind Bruener to slow up James Harrison. Especially when Slaton is in the game. They are a one cut run team with backs that can get skinny in a small crease. They pressure in obvious pass downs, but my belief is they dont want to flush Schaub from the inside out to keep him in the pocket to give the outside rush a chance.

2. Expect situational coverages dependant on formation. I think you'll see alot of strong side cover 2 principles to Walters side with the CB up with flats to hash assignments. He's a possession guy who doesnt get deep well. To Johsnons side, expect a 7-10 yard cushion with the ILB attempting to take away underneath sightlines and flats responsibilities. FS needs to play on his heels and and rolled to Andre Johnson. The weak side cushion will be almost a 1/2 field cover 4 look, with C2 principles on the other side. Which effectively turns it into a hybrid cover 3. Troy needs to win body position assignments on Owen Daniel up the seam

3. Pressure packages: Expcet LeBeau to bring the house at Duane Brown. Attack him from every angle. Stunts, overloads, dog blitzes. Welcome to the NFL rookie. They'll push the pocket and bring the heat from the outside. Kubiak will probably instill alot of naked bootlegs, waggles, and 5 step drops to get Schaub away from the rush by changing up his launch points and limited his reads to half field against fire zone looks. Once Schaub is on the run they will dial up the interior blitz packages early and often, especiall if a gaurd is rolled out to combat the outside rush. If the outside rush is effective, Texans could counter with some Y flex packages getting Daniel in the slot attempting to drag an OLB out of the box and limit box count.

Houston is a team that has to win by design. They like to work outside the hashes in the pass game and stretch a defense horizontally then take a kill shot or two. They arent going to control the game in the trenches and their defense isnt physical enough to go 60 minutes with the Steelers. If Im a bettin man, I take Dick Lebeau over any OC in the league in a chess match

Well, it’s the beginning of football season again, but I’ve decided to give the NFL and the Steelers a one-year suspension due to the NFL’s intellectually insulting “investigation” of the Patriots’ games and Rooney’s almost equally insulting insistence that he knows with absolute certitude that the Patriots’ cheating had no role in the outcome of the AFC Championship Games we lost to them. That’ll show them, huh? Like I’ve written before, if that is the case then why do you even bother to send in defensive hand signals or, this year, even bother to put a speaker in your defensive player’s helmet? Just spell it out in plain English in large font on large cue cards what defense you are going to run if you are so damn sure that it doesn’t matter Dan. I hope I can keep myself to the one-year suspension, but that ain’t gonna be easy because I’ve watched every game for many years. The nationally televised game next week against Cleveland will be a huge test of my resolve on this matter. I got an emotional attachment to the Steelers and football in general and I still get goose bumps like a little kid when I see the black-and-gold run out into the field. It’s been bred into me because I’ve been following them closely since ’72 and I can still remember huddling around the radio and trying to envision how the Immaculate Reception came down and I remember the following week watching the Steelers-Dolphin game in a hotel room in Erie with friends and relatives. I remember Bradshaw fumbling the ball into the end zone and Gerry Mullins recovering it for a TD, Sieple’s run and Al Young making a nice reach back grab for a TD to draw us to within 21-17.

But, regardless, I will make some predictions and some observations about 2008. Because I have already begun my emotional detachment from the Steelers, I have the advantage of being more objective than I would be otherwise.

Outlook: There are so many unknowns in a football season, such as injuries, that all I’ll do is make a conditional statement. IF the Steelers get B-level production out of their OL AND IF they pass the ball 55% of the time or greater on first down AND IF they have no debilitating injuries to Ben and the DL, this team has enough talent to win the Super Bowl IF they get great coaching.

Coaching: Tomlin is a below average NFL head coach at this point. This will be the year that many of you pro-Tomlin fans will be forced to recognize this IMO. He had never been a head coach at any level prior to this job so he’s got lots of room to grow, but I have serious doubts that he will grow much because he has maturity issues and hasn’t shown that he learned much from last year. At this point, he almost always knows what to say, sometimes knows what needs to be done, but rarely knows how to do it.

As much as I’ve been hard on Arians in the past, he is not a bad OC and I would hardly be surprised if he takes it to a higher level. His problem in the past is that he gets tight in crunch time. At some point, you would think that he’ll stop getting tight because he has already lived through failure, paid the consequences for it and he’s still breathing … so what exactly is there to fear anymore? He’s knows the words but he can’t put together a coherent sentence come crunch time. He needs to work out a flow chart of what he’ll do in certain situations so that he can remove his emotions from his play calling; he needs to come better prepared than he has in the past. If and when he does, he will make a huge step towards becoming a top-notch OC … he’s not really that far away from it. But, his success is also dependent on his players and his OL may never give him the opportunity to be as successful this year as he is capable of. He’s a better OC than Tomlin is a head coach.

Zeirlien, on the other hand, can’t even spell the words and probably has to buy a couple of vowels just to spell his name. He will be gone after this season IMO.

Offensive Keys: Spread the field, throw on first down, rediscover the swing pass, get Willie Parker in space, throw to Miller deep down the middle every once in a while, utilize the slant pass more often, realize that you can open up the running game by establishing the passing game, go no-huddle more and figure out what is wrong with our screen passes. If we don’t come out spreading the field against Cleveland you will know the coaching staff is infested with idiots. However, I don’t think that they are that stupid.

Offensive Observations:

• They screwed up by not giving Starks a chance at the RT position. They screwed up by not giving Colon a shot at the RG position. And we’re going to find out how bad they screwed up by not playing Kemo over Simmons last year. I think they gave up on Willie Reid too quickly.

• Simmons and Colon are a disaster waiting to happen. It’s like looking for your tire valve cover cap on a busy highway in the middle of the night. Whatever you think that you are going to find with them isn’t worth the risk to Ben.

• Kemo will assert himself as a well-above average guard. Unfortunately, it appears that he is not amiable to staying beyond this year. He probably has little faith in the coaching staff after sitting all last year behind a guy that he knows that he is much better than.

• Hartwig ought to be a upgrade over Mahan. If he isn’t a significant upgrade, the Steelers and Ben are in big trouble.

Defensive Observations:

• Woodley can make a lot of difference. The key to his pass rushing ability: his hands. He’s got fast hands and gets them on the blocker before they get them on him. If he can become a force, our defense could be Top-5 material.

• Timmons accelerates like a cheetah and he’ll obviously be a fun player to watch this year.

• Ike has got upside from where he is at now and he already is a damn good CB IMO. He has the physical ability to be a All-Pro corner. Just catching the ball would go a long way towards realizing that upside. How does Ike drop so many balls? They go right through his hands. Why do they go right through his hands? Because he has them too far apart. Why are they too far apart? Because he runs with his arms wide. Why does he run with his arms wide? Because Ike used to be trained by his grandfather who had him chase chickens around their backyard to train for speed and agility. What the hell does that have to do with it? When people chase chickens they keep their arms wide because they don’t know where those crazy chickens are going to go and they try to round them up into their arms. Sounds crazy, huh? You watch tapes of Jerry Rice and you’ll see that he kept his arms tight when he ran his routes which made it an easier and quicker adjustment to get his hands in position to catch the ball. Ike’s arms are flailed out and he’s got more distance to cover and coordinate to catch the ball. I suspect that he’s going to finally catch with consistency and that he will end up with 7 or 8 interceptions. If he can do that, he ought to get 2 TDs. He’ll catch a bunch early in the year, he’ll drop 2 or 3 during mid-to-late season and then he’ll start catching the ball again.

• I’m glad to see that the coaching staff finally realized that Smith is not a centerfielding safety, he’s an attacking safety. If Troy has another lackluster year, they may want to dump Troy and have Smith take his spot. Smith has the best hands in our secondary.

That’s about it for me. Good luck … I hope they do good. I think this board has some very smart people and knowledgeable football fans on it … unfortunately, I also think that many of them are smarter than what we have in our front office and coaching staff.

Z

Pre-season # 1:  The Steelers got to do a rehearsal for the September 21st game against the Eagles (the one that means something).  Pre-season # 1 is important for folks looking to make the team and we got some looks at some new faces.  The Steelers looked good and all three units faired well.  I liked the free-agency addition of Keyaron Fox but I'm not sure he'll be around for the final 53.  The running back situation is a good news story as are the wide receivers.  #1 pick, Rashard Mendenhall, got his share of looks leading the Steelers with 34 yards.  Mendenhall is going to be a welcome addition to the backfield but needs a little work.  He needs to improve on his aggressiveness hitting the holes and learning not to run upright.  He destroyed veteran Quintin Mikell on his first pro carry.  Imagine the impact that Mikell would have received if Mendenhall would have dropped his shoulders rather than standing as tall as Yao Ming.   Limas Sweed led the way with receptions as part of another solid unit.  Sweed is going to be a special player and from what I've heard from Hardnosed after watching him practice for a week, the kid has a tremendous work ethic.  I've learned over the years, it is often useless to analyze Pre-season # 1.  This game was about first contacts and individual performances.  A few thoughts:

• The defense was vanilla but that was to be expected.
• Ernster had a solid game punting.  If he continues, he will re-enforce my argument about drafting punters.
• I had hoped that we'd see more offensive looks.  Philly took advantage of this.  They had passes thrown to 15 different targets to our six.  McNabb, while in the game, made some solid use of his receivers during a game.
• I thought one of the major plusses out of this game was the lack of penalties by the Steelers in the first half.  If I recall correctly we had one and the Eagles were at six or seven.  This shows some discipline and you don't normally see that during the first Pre-season game.
• Tony Hills may be this year's wasted draft pick.  I'm sure FC can comment further on this.
• The goal of a Pre-season game is to come out injury free.  That did not happen as Batch is out with a busted collarbone.  This injury is going to make camp interesting this week.  Tomlin said that he would not go on injured reserve, but I don't see how much choice he has in that matter.  The Steelers need a quality back-up and have little choice to wait until Batch is health, most likely after the bye week.  It appears, from the Post-Gazette, that Byron Leftwich may join the team today.  There were rumors that Culpepper was also going to be inked but that is looking like a typical Internet rumor.  Dixon played a good game but with the history of Ben, we need a QB that can come in and play at the pro level.  I think this is the end for Charlie Batch.  He has been injured before, he is old and I think he is done. 
• Dixon.  The kid really surprised me.  I did not watch a great deal of him in college, but I was surprised with him looking like a QB.  I was expecting a Kordell type QB.  He is a project and I think will develop into a good NFL QB.  But what do I know?  I recall a 3rd string QB that went 15-1 a few years ago.  You never know what is going to happen.

Saddest Picture of the Week:  As many know, Hardnosed attended training camp last week and was armed with his binos and camera.  He snapped this photo of Casey Hampton after practice ridding to the dorms in a golf cart (with the punter).  His head is buried in shame while passing by the crowds.  My question is: Why is he riding to the dorm?  Is that walk too rigorous for him?  I like Casey but he is on the PUP list right now due to his physical fitness level.  Tomlin took a hard line approach with him and I appreciate that.  I have little sympathy for an athlete that is paid millions to be out of shape; that is their job.  My old friend from stillers.com, StillMill, paid an unexpected visit to my house this morning on his way to Pittsburgh.  We've disagreed on many things but we agreed that while Tomlin took the hard line, why wasn't someone monitoring him earlier?  The anchor of the defense has turned into an anchor. 

The Olympics:  I'll fully admit that I had a dilemma on Friday.  Watch the Steelers or watch the Opening Ceremonies.  The reason is that I'm an Olympic junkie.  I planned my retirement around these games so I could watch the unprecedented coverage.  Many readers will think I'm nuts for watching a parade instead of the Steelers and Bradshaw2Ben would say I'm even crazier for watching a tape-delayed parade.  Thanks to Tivo, I watched the Steelers and then watched the Opening Ceremonies.  I've watched every Olympics since 1976 (first I really recall) and China raised the bar.  I can't dance or any of that crap but the Opening Ceremonies from Beijing was phenomenal and I can't wait to see someone try top it.  London has no chance to do it.  Israel and Palestine would both agree that this was the best Opening Ceremonies in Olympic history.  If you haven't watched it, you missed out on the best parade ever performed.

NFL Network:  Horrible production.  They have some great things during the week, but their games are miserable.  There are High School kids that can produce better shows.

What is Coming Up:

• The Gospel.  Often called one of the best pre-games on the web.  FC will lay it out for you.
• We will continue to be the only fan site that I know of that gives prizes for contests.  Hardnosed has one going now to pick the Final 53 man roster:  http://www.steelerfury.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5444
• We are looking at doing some sort of PodCast during the regular season.  More details to follow but Bradshaw2Ben has some knowledge in this and like everything else here, it will be first class.
• We may be doing some things with another site.  This week, I_C did a round table with www.postgameheros.com : http://www.postgameheroes.com/?p=2582 We have some ideas out there that will make both sites better. 
• More in-depth analysis from FC, Hardnosed, I-C and Perch on our main page.  Some of the best writers out there.  Remember, we are one of the few fan sites that are not message board centric.

• 3Rivers' Fantasy football leagues.  He runs one of the most competitive on-line drafts that you will find.  http://www.steelerf ury.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=e9aa32c4fdd71b675b7355234cb8fd2e

< /ul>

Know the Enemy:  Jacksonville Jaguars

As I sat back and read each and every post on SteelerFury.com this week,  I realized that there aren’t too many Steeler fans lacking perspective this week.  Thanks to a year long education from guys like FC and Hardnosed,  its made each of us more aware of Steeler football.  Though I cant name all of you,  to select a few all star posters such as Donnie Brasco,  LockdownRandyFuller,  Gonzo,  SteelerJones,  SteelStillSlays,  Bradshaw2Ben, and SteelersQT have shown me throwing stats at you guys this week means nothing as each and every poster is already aware of where we stand.  I’d also like to thank SteelFury! for allowing me the oppurtunity to pass along my perspective each week.

Im of the notion that everyone starts the postseason 0-0,  statistics and records out the door.  This is January football gentleman,  its more about whose been there rather than whose about to be.  We all know its more about who finishes strong,  rather than who starts strong.  The Steelers wrapped up the division in week 15 allowing them the luxury to cruise through the final week and not having the opportunity for a big win to gain some momentum.   Injuries have been and will continue to be a factor,  but if your as proud of a Pittsburgh Steeler fan as I am,  you realize we don’t make excuses.  The Jags have one of the most experienced coaching staffs in all football and Im sure they realize this as well.

That brings us to opening day 2008.   We all know what happened in the first meeting. 

• 20 play drives
• 224 yards rushing
• Franchise record for opponents rushing yardage at Heinz field. 

The Steelers bring back 12 returning starters from their last playoff victory with 4 more on the roster including Marvel Smith,  Willie Parker,  Aaron Smith,  and Max Starks sitting due to injuries.  The Steelers have not lost in the wildcard round since 1993 and haven’t lost their first playoff game since 1992.  And before that,  it was 1982 for each and only the Patriots and Broncos have won playoff games in Pittsburgh in the last decade which is another reason I like our chances.  Jacksonville hasn’t fared so well.  They are a roster lacking in postseason experience and their last oppurtunity was a 28-3 drubbing at the hands of the New England Patriots.  Theres a lot to be said about playoff experience,  and the Steelers have the clear advantage.  Im not even going to get into how tough it is to beat a playoff team twice on the road in December and January.  Jacksonville came to town and beat the Steelers up physically a few weeks ago.  But after the AFCDG of ’05,  I will refuse to ever count this team out in the clutch as underdogs again.  The Steelers are the original smashmouth team that Jack DelRio has modeled squad after and even though they beat us at our game once,  they wont win in the same manner they did in December.  The Steelers must come in with a new gameplan.

Enough babble for an intro,  lets talk football..

Jacksonville showed their hand and how they want to attack the Steelers.  They’ll continue to have the same arrogance that they can put  up 200 yards on the ground again.  Garrard was able to establish playaction to take his shots downfield.  They boast an unimpressive WR corps at best to go with the 2 headed RB attack that they live and die by.  The Steelers need to come out with attitude on defense.  From the first series,  they need to keep a constant DL rotation to ensure fresh legs in the 2^nd half against the patient Jaguar run game.  First and foremost,  the defense needs to be sure tacklers and maintain gap responsibility to combat all the designed cutback runs from Fred Taylor. On 1^st and 2^nd downs,  I show a ton of cover 2 looks bringing Troy up in the box on the snap dropping into cover 3.  This is susceptible to slants and skinny posts,  but if it comes down to Big Ben vs Garrard,  I like my chances.  The front 7 needs to play first down with attitude forcing their hands on 2^nd down.  In the first meeting,  RT Tony Pashos ate up Eason and Kirchke and it may be worth it to give Chris Hoke some time on 1^st down at LDE and I also leave Clark Haggans in the game on 1^st and 2^nd downs as he is a better run stopper and bring in Lamar Woodley on 3^rd downs and go to a 4 man line including Casey Hampton and and Brett Keisel over the guards to stop those irritating draw plays on 3^rd and 13.  This will also leave meat in the game for quick snaps on 4^th down.  With Troy already up,  he needs to shadow Garrard until the back releases that they love to dump to and take MJD out of the equation on 3^rd downs.  Garrard is a pure game manager that relies on a rushing attack for success.  The Steeler secondary play has gradually decreased as the season wore on but it’s a direct correlation to inconsistent FS play and  lack of a pass rush.  I still have nightmares of everyones all American Anthony Smith doing two 360 degree spins with the ball in the air while with Dennis Northcutt walking into the endzone down the sideline.  Ty Carter needs be more disciplined this time around than the FS play was last time.

On defense,  the Jags are still without Marcus Stroud and and Mike Peterson in the front 7 coupled with 3^rd team LT Trai Essex getting the nod.  I think FC nailed it when he said Essex struggles against speed rushers and the Jags have nothing that resembles that so Im not as worried about that matchup as some. Coupled with a sloppy frozen field,  everyones timing will be off. Jacksonville has 700 lbs of meat between the guards on defense with John Henderson and Grady Jackson.  They are nearly immovable,  but don’t get much penetration.  Instead of running to them,  I make them come to me by running sprint draws on first down and wear their legs out by making them run to the ball on stretch plays and off tackle plays in the first half.  Najeh Davenpot needs to run behind his pads and keep his shoulders square,  he struggles when he tries to get cute and lose leverage.  He needs to finish every run with emphasis and low pad level to trade paint with the Jacksonville LB’s. I believe the Steelers need to stay patient in the run game as to not prolong the game. In the first meeting,  CB Rashean mathis did a nice job shadowing Santonio Holmes,  but they do get exposed by slow front 7 play and there are holes in the zone.  Heath Miller is a mismatch for everyone on the depth chart down the seam and giving him some early looks in the slot could benefit the 2^nd half run game as he would be able to get pads on SS when in the box.  Ben needs to be Ben. Poise and accuracy are the name of his game.  Feel the rush and get out of the pocket when needed.  In 4 years I could probably count on one hand how many times he’s thrown the ball away to avoid a sack,  but he’ll need to use good judgement as to not get in a hole on 2^nd and 3^rd down.  To me,  the biggest intangible coming into this game is Bens postseason experience over Garrard.  He knows how to win in the clutch and doesn’t fold when the chips are down.

Here are I_C’s keys to the game:

1. Stop the run.   Sell out with 9 in the box if you have to. Force Garrard into 30 attempts or more
2.  The offense must finish first half drives to build a lead.  Putting pts on the board and pressure on their run game is a must.  Make Garrard come out of halftime having to throw the football. 
3.  Limit penalties on offense. And that means you Kendall Simmons.  Know the snap count and keep your hands inside. Do not let penalties kill drives
4.  Finally,  its time for Troy to earn his trip to Hawaii.  Without a stellar performance from #43,  Im not sure how successful the Steelers can be.  He needs to wreak havoc at the point of attack and be a force. 

Know the Enemy:  St Louis Rams

• When:  Thursday Dec. 20^th,  2007 8:15pm
• Where:  Edward Jones Dome,  St. Louis MO
• TV:  NFL Network ,  KDKA (local)
• Series:  Rams lead all time 17-6-2,  11-0-1 road,  Steelers won 5 of last 8
• Primetime:  Steelers are 3-4 on Thursday nights,  2-1 vs NFC in 2007

Has your mouth ever written a check your ass cant cash?  Anthony Smith has,  and the defense has cosigned for the 2^nd week in a row.  Once if by air (NE),  twice if by land (Jax).  One week after taking a 400 yd aerial beatdown to the hands of the Pats,  the Jags came in and put the proverbial exclamation point down by racking up well over 200 yds of offense on the ground and the Steelers surrendered the greatest single game rushing performance by an opponent an Heinz field by allowing Fred Taylor 147 yds and a score along with outgaining the Steelers in time of possession by nearly 15 minutes. Except for a 4 play possession at the end of the half,  Jax offense controlled the ball for nearly 15 minutes of clock time including a 20 play scoring drive.  The Steelers have failed to execute on each front again and now find themselves fighting for their playoff lives.  I’ll be the first to attest that there are no moral victories in football,  QB Ben Roethlisberger hit 7 different receivers and 3 TD’s en route to becoming the Pittsburgh Steelers all time franchise leader in TD passes with 29,  a mark set by Terry Bradshaw in 1978.  Fast Willie Parker recorded hid 8^th 100 yd game of the year and still continues lead the NFL in rushing yards. 

Week 16 puts us in primetime.  NFL Network !!!!  If the league schedulers knew in advance this would be a matchup of 2 teams that have surrendered a total of 87 sacks on the year,  it may have been a different matchup.  But since the game goes on,  We’ll make the trip to STL to face the beat up Rams led by Head Coach Scott Linehan.  The Rams have a very poor showing this year and were the 31^st team to notch its first win.  Don’t be fooled though,  this team is loaded at talent at the skill positions and have been hampered by injuries like no other.  Offensive lineman (LT Pace,  LG Setterstrom,  RG Icognito,  KR Dante Hall,  CB Tye Hill, LB Pisa Tinoisamosa,  DE Leonard Little) are amongst starters this team has had to put on IR.  QB Marc Bulger and RB Steven Jackson have both missed significant time due to injury as well but both will be healthy enough for this game.  The emotions of the Rams will run high in this game as the Isaac Bruce needs only 22 REC yds to surpass James Lofton for 3^rd all time and they will retire Marshall Faulks #28 Jersey at halftime.

The Offense:  led by OC Greg Olsen

The Rams have used 9 different starting OL combinations in ’07 with 3 starters on IR and have only surrendered one more sack than the Steelers on the year.  That’s pitiful and true testament of turnover to come.  The offensive weapons run deep though, led by WR’s Torry “Big Game” Holt and Isaac Bruce,  who are the career statistical leaders for WR duos of 9 or more years in the league surpassing Steeler greats Swanny and Stallworth.  While not the greatest show on turf anymore,  they can still get the ball down field in a hurry as QB Marc Bulger has a very nice rapport with his WR’s and TE Randy McMichael.  Bulger has hit the turf 44 times this season and each time seems to outdo the display of physical agony on tape made famous by Terry Bradshaw as he roll around the turf in pain.  RB Steven Jackson is just OK,  if you like 240 RB’s with 4.5 speed that is a threat to catch 10 balls out of the backfield and take each one to the house. 

I truly believe the Steeler defense could be in trouble if they fail to execute.  If STL is able to establish any sort of run game,  and with Steven Jackson that’s not hard,  the defense could be in for a long day.  Steelers have failed to apply much pressure this year recording 33 sacks (35 was the low in the Cowher tenure),  and if you take away the CLE and BLT games they have registered just 21 sacks in 12 games.  STL has a clear cut speed advantage with their playmakers and the Steeler back 7 and another perfect opportunity to exploit the lack of coverage at the safety position.  They failed to tackle well and maintain gap responsibility against the Jags,  and Jackson is the same kind of physical type cutback runner that can gash a defense.  One thing has to change,  its time to get back to fundamentals instilled on the first day of camp.  The time for being cute is over and execute.  The injury absence of Clark Haggans will propel Lamar Woodley into the lineup possibly ensuring Haggans has played his last game at Heinz field.  The question I need to pose to the Steeler coaching staff is,  where are all the 4 man fronts you promised early on in passing situations telling us it would counter sprint draws on 3^rd and 13.????

The defense:  led by DC Jim Haslett

Cover 2,  man under,  4 man front.  Not the stoutest of units,  but they show multiple looks and and blitz the interior. They like to bring a safety down in the box setting up cover 3 looks that Ben should be able to exploit with his eyes closed if given time. The same looks that put Heath Miller on the map early in the season.   LB Will Witherspoon leads the team in sacks with 7 with the absence of pass rushing specialist Leonard Little.  Safety OJ Atogwe leads the team with 7 INTs.  Rookie Adam Carricker has become a huge addition to this line helping stabilize the middle which caused me to pose the question Sunday in the absence of Aaron Smith,  how nice would Carricker look in B & G about now?   The Rams boast the “no named” sort of OL that has mauled the Steelers in the past shutting down the run game.  No turf excuses this week as FWP needs to get the wheels in motion on a fast track.  They’ve done a nice job getting Willie to the perimeter lately,  but on paper at least,  we should be able to run between the tackles and take back the T.O.P factor.  It hurts your QB a lot more when he’s pile driven to the earth 7 times on turf much more than it does on grass so the OL needs to play with emotion and continuity coupled with quick reads to get the ball out on time. 

The Rams have nothing to lose and would relish playing the spoiler role. 

Facts that don’t really mean anything

• Hines Ward is T 1^st in the NFL in Red Zone TD’s since 2002 
• This is first time ever the Pittsburgh Steelers have traveled to St Louis to play a Rams team.   They’ve only ever been to face the Cardinals.

Know the Enemy:  New England Patriots

The immovable object vs. the irresistible force

Series:  Steelers lead 13-9, last won in Foxborough in ’97. 

Injury report:  click here

Mike Tomlin Press conference:  click here

Patriots Conference call:  click here

 9-3…Raise your hand if you gave this team even half a chance to have this record in August.  But now we’re entering a stretch run for the playoffs with 2 tough games ahead and this team needs to show more consistency on offense if it plans to make a splash in postseason.  Coming off of two less than dominating wins,  now have a 3 game division lead (including tiebreaker) and control their own destiny.  It was an ugly win Sunday night over Cincy,  the Steelers tried their best to give the game away,  but Marvin Lewis and his gang tried even harder not to take it.  The defense continued its run toward excellence as I remember a 4^th QTR Carson Palmer statline that read 13/33 at one point.

Week 14 brings the elite.  The hated New England Patriots.  The Steelers are early week 14 pt dogs heading to Foxborough and need to play with a  chip on their shoulders.  We seem to be getting healthy at the right time as it looks like Troy Polamalu,  Santonio Holmes,  and Marvel Smith all have a chance to suit up and play.  Lets Hope.  New England is coming off of 2 grind it out last minute victories that have left their bodies and psyches bruised a little and hopefully it’s the right time to catch them.  Randy Moss was quoted in an interview this as saying his body is tired and he needs Coach Belicheck to go easy on them this week,  but knows it wont happen.  His response to being called out by Ron Jaworskie of taking plays off was as eloquent as Randy has ever been,  “Man,  I play when I want to play”.  End of story.  New England is only the 5^th team since the 1970 merger to start 12-0 and the current Steelers are not unaware of what it takes to end a long Patriot winning streak as they put an end to a 21 game streak in 2004.  There isn’t a man,  woman,  or child that resides in Steeler Nation that doesn’t dispuise everything that franchise stands for as QB Tom Brady proudly wears 2 superbowl rings we handed to him on a silver platter.  I wont harp on spygate,  as I don’t believe it effects this game in anyway as new systems on both sides of the ball have changed the teams dynamics.

The Offense:  led by OC Josh McDaniel

Single back,  shotgun formation straight out of page 1 of Mack Browns Football 101 at Texas.  So simplistic Vince Young could run it,  yet so complicated noone can figure it out how to stop it.  It reinforces the fact that the game isn’t all “X”’s and “O”’s,  its “Jimmies and Joes”.  They have phenomenal athletes on offense and an arsenal of weapons.  It all starts up front with OL play.  The have been a rock.  McDaniel has changed their philosophy to pinch their splits to combat interior pressure and roll protection playside.  Its leaves the backside tackle on an island but Brady’s awareness and quick release help combat that.  The 3 interior OL are credited with a grand total of one sack b/c of this with the tackles making up the bulk of the statline.  LT Matt Light has played well this year,  but has shown to be susceptible to speed and rip moves.  If you get in his head,  he gets out of his game and the penalties and sacks start to rack up.  Silverback is just the man to do it as he has an underhook and body lean to crash the outside shoulder as well as anyone in the game right now.  I fully expect NE to show some early 2 TE sets to see if they are able to run the ball against a 7 man front.  I hope big Casey ate his Wheaties this week as he’ll be forced to go no huddle for 60 minutes.  They wont be able to run the ball and once they figure that out it will be back to 4WR sets 2X2 or 3 ‘n 1 stacked with Randy Moss alone on one side.  Brady calls the plays at the line once they come in barking bogus signals to his wideouts then calling the protections once he identifies the Mike.  He’ll then communicate with his wideouts which direction he is going.  His eyes tell the story as he stares down his playside coverage before the snap.  We all know the weapons they throw at you with Welker running underneath and Stallworth YAC he racks up.  What scares the hell out of me is the back coming out of the backfield and the TE up the seam.  5 guys in a route and all can ball,  how do you stop it?  Heath Evans is the only real goal line threat in the run game and his best and only attribute is he’s got size and body lean and always falls forward.  If Mike Vrabel or Junior Seau catch a red zone TD someone needs fired.

Its cliché and we’ve heard it all year,  but pressure the QB and hit the WR’s.  They’re starting to feel it.  Rex Ryan uncharacteristically took a page out Mr. LeBeaus play book Monday night overloading pressure to one side as they roll protection and it seemed to work.  NE didn’t have that much of an answer..  BLT is usually of the mindset of just bringing the house,  but it worked.  Im not sure if it’s a blueprint or not,  as NE could just be a in a flat 2 game lull just like the Steelers were against NYJ and MIA.  The ILB’s are a huge key in this game as they’ll need to shut down the underneath stuff early and often.  Its proven to be key to double Moss and and play 9 on 10 with them.  I sort of like the matchup of Townsend on Welker in the slot as DeShea is at his best against smaller WR’s withing 10yds of the line of scrimmage and I fully expect McFadden can play the physical game it takes to contain Stallworth.  But never put it by Bill Belichick to start in some exotic formation to get the #1 pass D on its heels.  He knows you cant spread this team out like you could when Cowher wore the headset.  Take a note from ’04 and it will tell you every time Troy is in single high,  Brady’s going deep. 

The Defense:  Led by DC Dean Pees

Standard 34 base,  single gap cover 2.  Zone dog with outside technique on the perimeter and  SS dictating underneath coverage.  All that means is they try and play the same thing we do,  they’re just not as good at it.  They’ll go a lot of single high safety looks early until they build a lead keeping Rodney Harrison up in the run game to combat screens and TE digs while rushing the passer if unassigned.  The front 3 (Warren,  Wilfork,  Seymour,  and Jarvis Green)  are immovable on paper.  The strength of the unit.  This was to be Vince Wilforks coming out year and it started just that way.  But over the last 2 weeks I watched OC’s Mike Flynn and Jamaal Jackson toss him like a rag doll which almost leaves the slightest glimmer of hope Sean Mahan stands a chance, but don’t count on it.  The key matchup here is watching Richard Seymour teeing off on Kendall Simmons when Ben takes his drop,  and it wont be pretty.  Until recent,  I would’ve said  you cant move the interior of this line and run plays to interior will go nowhere,  but they’re off their game right now.  Only zone style stretch plays have seemed to work and that could’ve been the fact the newly acquired Adalius Thomas was manning the middle until an injury forced Rosey Colvin to IR.  The inside is now manned by the ageless wonders Tedy Bruschi,  Junior Seau,  and Chad Brown.  An exploited matchup waiting to happen due to lack of interior speed at LB.  It should really hamper their underneath coverages in that alignment and force them to more nickel looks than they’d like.  Neither Marvel nor Max Starks should have much problems with Adalius Thomas coming off the edge.  He was great in BLT coming from different angles,  but straight up he’s not that vicious.  The secondary is opportunistic.  They like to jump routes and are susceptible to double moves,  especially CB Asante Samuel,  who is a very good CB.  Opposite of him is the weak link,  Ellis Hobbs who’s turning in a season much like the one Ike Taylor had last year.   The secondary also lacks ideal speed but every single one of them has ideal ball skills and route recognition,  staples of a Belicheck defense. 

The Steelers need to set the tempo and execute. Get FWP in space and let the wideouts run off safeties to exploit Hines Ward and TE matchups underneath.  Ball control is must to keep Brady on the sideline.  Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth are both mismatches for the ILB’s and a hamstring may keep SS Rodney Harrison out of the game.  Harrison isn’t the player he once was,  but is the captain of that back 7 and just seems to know where the ball is going.  [cough]signal stealing[cough].  Just as he jumped the TE route to Jerame Tuman in the 2004 AFCCG when the entire staff told the rook,  Big Ben,  that he would do exactly that and to hit the post to Hines Ward over the top. Result,  pick 6.    Its time to unleash the playbook.  Get Willie matched up on LB’s in the passing game and wide on run plays.  We have 2 Xtra large TE’s brought in for the purpose of sealing LB’s on the edge and now its time to execute.  Limit the sacks,  limit the penalties and get a hat on a hat.  It’s the simple lack of fundamentals that gets this unit in trouble.  The pieces are there,  use them. 

Special Teams

Ellis Hobbs is the return man.  While not flashy,  he gains field position and is very good at it.  He lacks breakaway speed,  but took one to the house from the back of the end zone early on this season.  The offense has been so dynamic that the NE punter hasn’t even had enough attempts to be able to register amongst league leaders. 

One thing of note a bright spot for the Steelers,  was a ST’s turnover last week against Cincy.  Hard to believe,  but Carey Davis made a play and Andre Frazier had a couple of nice tackles on returns.

A Fury.com exclusive: Heinz Field’s Head Grounds Keeper Preparing for Cincinnati.  

Know the Enemy:  New York Jets