Toughest competition?

[maddog78]

The Texans are the most complete team in the AFC. The Patriots have no defense and a horizontal passing game. Denver is 2nd because of home field and their defense, Baltimore 3rd, then NE.

NE is a fraud in a weak division. Again.

[VaDave]

I agree with health being the biggest obstical to our SuperBowl aspirations. If, and this is a big if, if we are healthy, we can play with anybody.

That said, we got 4 more games to play first that will decide if we even get into the playoffs. It's a little early for playoff speculation. Fun, but a little early....

[teegre]

Originally Posted by VaDave

I agree with health being the biggest obstical to our SuperBowl aspirations. If, and this is a big if, if we are healthy, we can play with anybody.

That said, we got 4 more games to play first that will decide if we even get into the playoffs. It's a little early for playoff speculation. Fun, but a little early....

That is exactly what I meant: PITT's biggest obstacle is themselves (specifically, their ability to stay healthy). With BB back, NO ONE scares me.

I agree with the second part, too.

[steelfury02]

one thing is for sure IMO - one of the bye teams, Houston or NE, is going to get bounced right away. They, including Denver, have been riding really high for a really long stretch. I think Houston has peaked way too soon - and injuries are starting to mount for them again. New England turned to Edelman or whatever his name is, after Gronk was gone. Now, I believe Edelman is on IR now too. They are losing weapons on O left and right. Who do they have left, Welker, Hernandez - is Woodhead still there? how about Branch? Out of that entire group - Welker can do the most damage, but he'll start droppin shit once he gets popped a few times.

[Rotorhead]

NE doesnt worry me at all, Denver did until they lost McGahee, he was a big part of their offense and it is a big dropoff without him. But their Def is playing very well. Houston is well rounded so its a toss up between Denver and Houston. Indy, Cincy and Ratbirds are def a step below the top 3 and us when healthy.

[Fire Arians]

new england or houston

if ike taylor returns & is healthy NE won't scare me much. houston is a very good team in all phases and will be hard to beat, however.

[Edman]

Houston and Denver are the scariest teams in the AFC. If the Steelers aren't in the AFC Title Game/ Bowl, it's likely going to be these two. Houston can do it all and going to Denver isn't fun either. Both teams can do one important thing: Play Defense.

New England is getting bounced early. Once again punched a free ticket to the postseason thanks to their terrible division. They're the same old Pats they've always been. Riding on the arm of Brady but their Defense is still quite bad. Whoever draws New England won't face much trouble.

Baltimore isn't that good either. They're not a bad team, but they're not that impressive either. Charlie Batch exposed them Sunday. Their Defense has fallen off a cliff and they still have Bert as their QB. Houston smashed them, New England nearly beat them, The Steelers backups gave them fits and they're playing the Broncos in a few weeks.

Besides the Texans and Broncos. The only thing stopping the Steelers is the Steelers themselves, and that's the biggest thing I'm worried about since this team has shot itself in the foot and has had terrible luck with injuries.

[Steel_Bus_24]

All of em should worry us,

The Steelers took a big step last week, but there is still loads of building left to do before they're ready to take it to those teams

Lets hope that the loss to Clev set the fire off inside of them. And they maintain it.

[desertsteel]

Originally Posted by Steel_Bus_24

All of em should worry us,

Well they DON'T.

They need to be worrying about the Steelers...

[BlaZeQuietly]

I must have been trashed when I made my earlier posts on this thread because I don't remember posting and some of them don't make sense. Denver is our toughest competition especially if we have to play there. One thing I have noticed about teams "like" New England is we tend to turn it into "our kind of game" we don't let them score 45 points and it ends up being a low scoring game which ultimately ends up in our favor. The Broncos are really looking good this year. If the steelers are 100% healthy, I still think the Broncos have the edge over us. That's it though. We're getting ben back, I'd bet the farm on beating San Diego this weekend, and once we get our record up to 8-5 everyone will have us up near the top in the "power rankings" again. Seeing our favorable schedule the rest of the way I could see us 11-5 and a 5 seed going into the play offs.