what are two things the Steelers must do to stay competitive in this game?

Same thing everybody should do to win games; Pressure on the QB, stop the run, and execute on offense. I know that’s 3 things, but you can’t narrow it down to just two. Carson doesn’t get the respect he deserves, since he plays in the toughest division in the entire NFL. He plays well in the pocket, but not so much when flushed.

With Troy P. back and 100%, our D is the best in the league. Although it sucks that one player can make that much of a difference, there it is. With him in the line-up, the LB’s don’t need to drop into coverage as much, and therefore get better penetration, and can commit to stopping the run.

we Fans deserve it, we have waited so long

thats awesome

Panic-y Idiot = Swine flu. :)

Have a great time.

I thought the best game that you played this year was against a tough Vikings team

Interesting, since that was Ben’s WORST performance of the year (I think. Not as big stats guy, so it is only my opinion)

and your worst game was almost obviously against a Bears team that does not look to be in playoff contention after the last two weeks.

Correction: Jeff Reed’s worst game. We had them beat, just like we had your team beat, but Skippy “The Dispenser Slayer” lost us 6 points, which means we SHOULD have won by 3, instead of the other way around. I’m not even going to get into our 4th quarter melt-down in our last match-up…I’m still heated about it, btw…

What games do you think the Steelers played the best/worst in, and what factors contributed to those performances?

1. Best: I must say this last one @ Denver.

2. Worst: The last time we played you.

1. Best: Our D came to the game. Even without Ryan “Knockout” Clark, our D man-handled Denver’s offense. Our O-line showed up as well, keeping the LEAGUE LEADER IN SACKS to .5, and exposing Denver’s DB’s for the old men they are.

2. Worst: Where do I begin other than our D went back to the locker room in the 4th…’nuff said…

it will be pretty even playcalling. Although, if one aspect of our offense gets firing, I expect to see the majority of plays go that route.

Our Rushing attack has been on song the last few weeks. The Monday Night Game was a great highlight as to how well our Right Side of the line, being Trai Essex and Willie Colon, has been playing. Willie Colon, who we loved to hate in the offseason, has been pretty damn good the last few weeks.

It takes the pressure away from continually running behind Heath Miller all the time.

We will hit the field as we usually do, expecting to stuff your run game. If we keep it tit for tat, we will be running the ball alot, setting up play action. If you havent heard, Big Bens passer rating whilst using Play Action is a couple points off perfect.

It will be evenly distributed, like SteelFever says, the only question is which avenue your own defense chooses to target, either the Pass or Run. We can use either the run to set up the pass, or vice versa.

Not to discount your efforts in our second loss, but Skippy lost us that game in Chi-town, and poor execution on D lost us the first Bengals-Steelers game. They let Carson and “Don’t call me Johnson” walk all over them in the 4th quarter (I think it was Chadwick…not too sure though, as I’ve slept since then…)

but here is my two cents on your question(s) yes, the Bengals Defense has a chance to get some pressure on Big Ben, I don’t think his style of qb play allows for opposing teams not to get pressure on him. it’s bringing him down that’s the hard part. key play in the Denver game, 3rd and 10 in the red-zone, Bronco’s get good pressure, BB rolls out, pump fakes and makes it look like an easy TD to Wallace.

i think the o-line has improved game in and game out and the emergence of beetle juice has been what we were looking for when we took him in the 1st round obviously. our o-line has been together all year, the same unit starting week in and week out and you get some continuity there. much like your defesne, they’ve been playing together now for a few years and your db’s are looking better and the LB (not going to try and spell his name) from USC is tough.

does this Bengal Defense have a chance to get some pressure on Big Ben?

Any team has a chance to get to Ben and sack him. The good ones, and the bad ones have, but not for lack on the line’s side. Ben held the ball too damn long on 99% of the sacks this year, which credits the opposing DB’s for nailing their coverages.

Especially since he likes holding on to the ball for hours. But it’ll be tough because our o-line is so much better than last year. Denver got to him a few times, but for the most part we held them in check.

Mendenhall is coming along slowly but he still gets a little careless sometimes. He still doesn’t secure the ball as well as he should and he occasionally spins when he gets through a hole. Many of us on BTSC call him Spindenhall for that reason.

The most effective way to pressure Ben is to bring stunt your d-line and bring a delayed blitz off of it. Either bring the delayed blitz or spy him with a LB and come after him every time he steps up in the pocket. I’ve seen certain teams do that and it works quite often.

Coverage is key if you want to pressure Big Ben. Your DL has been playing well, but so has our OLine. Id like to note we held Jared Allen without a sack, and sack leader Dumervil mustered just half a sack

Other than a terrible blown assignment by Kemoeatu last week, nearly every sack on Ben was a coverage sack or Big Ben sack. Our OL has been doing a surprisingly good job.

You have two very talented corners, Joseph and Hall. Those two shutting down Bens number 1 and 2s (Holmes and Ward) will be the key to generating some pressure.

I really think you will need more than 4 man rushes to get the best of our OL, but thats just my opinion

Feel free to jump in. My son is extremely fussy today, and I haven’t the foggiest as to why…
So I might not be able to be on top of things here, as it were.

Please post in a question form and Steelfever will answer it… for example:

How do you think Hines ward got the reputation for being the dirtiest player in the NFL?
or…
How do you as a Steelers fan feel about Hines being voted the dirtiest player in the NFL?
or
Who do you think the dirtiest player in the NFL will sideline in this upcoming game?

Possible answers (at least my opinions).
1. He lays people out on huge hits. He hits as hard as Ray Lewis and can catch a ball and leap over pro-bowl corners in a single bound. What team wouldn’t love to have a Hines Ward on their team. Jonn Gruden said he’d love to have 7 of them on his team if he were still a coach.
2. We (at least myself and some guy on MNF holding a sign that says..) Love our Dirtiest Player #86.
3. The first guy he has a chance to hit he will. If the guy can’t take it he’ll sit out a few plays. If he has a glass jaw, he may sit out the rest of the season.

No defense is ever gonna nail Hines the way he nails everybody else. And is it a coincidence that the best teams in the league always have a player on that list? Just sayin.

what is the most important individual matchup in this game, in your opinion?

William Gay VS. whatever receiver they choose to line him up against. I know Carson will attack Gay’s side of the field. Mainly because Taylor is one of, if not the best, shut-down corner in the league.

#2. No. We didn’t have a certain #43 on the field last time, and he takes away a TON of plays, just by being on the field, making opposing QB’s take an extra second to decide where to throw. That’s all our front 7 need, for the most part.

Other than that we shut them down. I might be in the minority, but I’m just a little concerned about their running game. We did a good job Monday night against a smallish Denver o-line, but Cincy’s o-line is very big and physical. The loss of Aaron Smith hasn’t come back to bite us yet though.

Just know that they won’t be facing the same team this Sunday as they did a couple of weeks ago.