AFCN Champ: Steelers need to win out

[NYC_Steeler]

With the defeat of the Ravens by the Falcons (THANK YOU!), the Steelers will need to win out if they want to win the AFCN as the Ravens have only 2 tough games left - the Steelers and Saints. The rest are against average to downright stinker teams. Despite what the pundits (and Raheem Morris) say, I don't think TB is a great team - they've played average to mediocre teams, and as for Houston - they don't have a pass defense. We on the other hand, have the Pats, Ravens, and finish up with the Browns in Cleveland. Like I said, we can't afford to lose another game. We have sole possession of the AFCN, let's not lose it. 14-2 (and of course, winning SBXLV) would be a great way to finish up what has been a challenging season.

[steelerchad]

I don't think we need to win out. The Ravens will drop at least 1 more game other than the Steelers game. I think they lose 2 more games and finish 11-5. I also think the Steelers will lose 2 more games and finish 12-4 and win the North.

[NYC_Steeler]

Originally Posted by steelerchad

I don't think we need to win out. The Ravens will drop at least 1 more game other than the Steelers game. I think they lose 2 more games and finish 11-5. I also think the Steelers will lose 2 more games and finish 12-4 and win the North.

I hope you're right about the Ravens and wrong about the Steelers. ;-)

[MACH1]

Meh, we were 6-2 last year and we all know how that turned out. Lots of injuries last year, lots of injuries so far this year. So we'll see how it shakes out.

[bigchuck]

we dont need to win out, we just need to beat the ravens on the road, and lets worry about beating the tom bradys sunday night

[Steel_Bus_24]

I hope the coaching staff is reminding them about what happened last year and of all the haters that picked us to barely break even this year

[Merchant]

Let's just focus on one game at a time.. Talks of 14-2 are a tad premature :P

[SteelKnight]

Originally Posted by steelerchad

I don't think we need to win out. The Ravens will drop at least 1 more game other than the Steelers game. I think they lose 2 more games and finish 11-5. I also think the Steelers will lose 2 more games and finish 12-4 and win the North.

I agree with this. I see us finishing 12 and 4. I think the most important game will be the Ravens game. If we can win that and neutralize the head-head tiebreaker, we will be in better shape. If we finish in a tie, we win because Ravens also lost to the Bengals. We need to go 5-1 in the division then simply match wins and loses with no sweat.

So in summary, we need to win out the 3 division games we have left to claim the north (most likely).

We have some easy games too...Raiders, Bills, Panthers, ...and yes...Browns are easy...lol

[lionslicer]

14-2 obviously automatically secures a win in pretty much any division, but 12-4 will be enough to win, especially with the Ravens who seem to be falling apart late in the season. But it's a must win in Baltimore, that game might be the deciding factor of which team makes it into the playoffs, we really don't know how the Steelers record will look like in 3 weeks, even with games against the Raiders and Bills.

[StainlessStill]

Lots of games to be played. Honestly, both teams, whichever it may be, could lose atleast 2 more. I don't think we need to win out to win the North. I think winning IN BALTIMORE is must-win situation only for this reason:

If we lose to Balt, then they straight out win the head to head tie-breaker. If we beat Balty in Balty, then the series is tied one-one and that goes to division record (yet to be determined.) The thing is, if we go onto beat New England Sunday night, then that third option goes to Conference record and then to strength of schedule.

If we beat Balty later on in the year and if we beat N.E then that will help out the Conference and strength of schedule when talking tiebreakers.

The Ravens lost to the Patriots, Bengals AND Falcons, teams that we all beat head to head (if we beat N.E) so that could have a major say in the weeks to come. It's too early to get into it now but even though this week against N.E isn't as major as a must-win than Balty will be, but it has its significance if we do indeed drop some.