BEN PASSES SHORT

[SteelDogFan]

I agree with the above, the only way to beat the Pats is ball control. That may work for a while but what if Brady and moss hit some quick scores. Me thinks the offense had better have all its cogs in line for that game. It's games like this when you need a slow methodical approach to the offense but if Brady gets on a role our offense will have to match scores.

The Steelers D matches up better than most because of our blitz sceme the only way to get Brady off his game is send pressure between guard and center so that he sees the rush as soon as the ball is snapped.

Randy moss is like Dion Sanders on offense your have to shift you hole secondary or they will go deep all day. This is the best offense I have seen since the Vikings when Moss was there and Randle Cunningham was their QB. You cannot stop them from scoring. you just hope you can hold them under 30 and score 30 or more yourself. That game we will be crowning our rookie punter as MVP. He will give thats Pats a long field all day.

[myopunger55]

To all,

I have read a few comments on the Patriot's line being superior to ours.....We are second in the league in rushing. This is only after A.Peterson went off yesterday on the Bears. Another comment was that Ben is sacked to much. He has been sacked 11 times this year. That's good enough for 15th in the league. I actually don't mind seeing Ben take the sack when his receiver's are covered this year instead of throwing picks. I would like to see him toss is out of bounds and avoid contact it possible but he is making good decisions pulling the ball down. We can run on the Patriots. We can run on anyone. But first things first. Let's roll the Broncos!

[Lord Stiller]

I think we match up well against the Pats. Ike Taylor has the athleticism to take on Moss. When McFadden and Troy are healthy we have a deep secondary to take on NE's impressive passing game.

What scares me the most is NE's defensive line especially Vince Wolfolk. He will terrorize our O-line. Mahan and Simmons have played really bad thus far. Simmons has the talent and I think he can improve but Mahan has shown nothing.

[Lord Stiller]

Originally Posted by myopunger55

Another comment was that Ben is sacked to much. He has been sacked 11 times this year. That's good enough for 15th in the league.

We would be #1 in giving up sacks if it wasn't for Ben's great ability of breaking tackles. He is just running for his life way too much back there and a team like NE will kill him

[Edman]

The Patriots have a high-octane offense, but an average (not horrible, but not dominant) defense. It wasn't the D that salvaged those 17-point victories. The Pats just scored a lot, including garbage time.

What's the best way to beat teams with a high-octane offense but an average defense? Keep the O on the sidelines.

It also seems to me that teams play too much zone on the Pats and let the WR's just run free in the open and hope you tackle them when they catch the ball. Sorry, that just will not work. Us Steeler fans should be quite familiar with the Pats' O vs Zone cushion when Brady carved up the Steelers on two previous occasions. The Steelers have to do what they did against Seattle: Play Man instead of Zone. The Pats' running game does not scare me at all. The passing game is much more dangerous. Getting pressure on Brady helps as well.

[Steeldude]

the steelers will not make it to the SB this year unless that O-line improves a lot.

but at least it's not as bad as the O-line back in 2003. that was one of the worst in decades.

[paw-n-maul-u]

Can't you just see Lebeau foaming at the mouth to one-up the so called defensive "genius"?

steelers D> cowboys D any day of the week. Better Line. Outside of Ware, their LB's are weak. Not quick enough to play in space. I'm really hoping that timmons can pick up the D enough to get in on obvious passing downs by then on every passing down. We need that speed to be able to hang with brady the way he spreads out the ball.

I was watching some halftime or postgame show, might even have been on espn i dunno. But someone said "The only team physical enough in this league to punch NE in the mouth, RIGHT NOW, and give them a close game, is the pitt. steelers"

... and then went on to talk about how he can easily see the Indy-Pats game going something like the Dallas-Pats game. High scoring, Indy D gets picked apart.

EDMAN- its easy to play man against seattle with no branch, a bum alexander, and I'm pretty sure there was either engram or hackett or someone else injured for a WR.

That's a little different than moss,welker, stallworth. Dallas Big ogre LB's didnt have the speed to play in space with them. Not to mention they were missing A henry (althought i dont think that would have affected the outcome one bit).

We got the speed and depth to hang with brady and put some pressure on him I believe. And of course Brady and _________
We just gotta get some Big plays outta the D.

[BurghZ0n3]

If Ward, Miller, & the rest of O squad healthy .....and Polamalu, Hampton, & crews on alert on Dec. 9...we might still have the chance to beat the ARMY OF DARKNESS in NFL

[Preacher]

Guys....

this is WAY to early to really be caring about this game.

And during that game.... I want a vanilla offense and defense. Why show them what we can do until the AFCCG?

[steel58]

As far as Ben and sacks go, if you watch the Patriots, Brady gets rid of it immediately if a defenswe gets near him. Most quarterbacks will get called for intentional grounding if they get rid of it the same way Brady does. The Patriots get away with a lot. I also saw numerous occasions where they hit a QB below the knees after he threw and didn't get a roughting the passet. Most teams get called for any ticky-tacky tocuh on the QB - Patriots do not