Another week, another Patriots win. It’s gonna get really hard when this franchise falls back to Earth with the rest of league. Reminds me of a great Charles Barkley quote, “When Belichick and Brady leave, y’all team is gonna f*****g suck.” This franchise is pretty safe for the next few years but you have to wonder, how will the the team transition out of the BB/Brady era into a new one. Something to ponder later, but in the meantime…
Here’s everything you need to know about the Pittsburgh Steelers, aka “The Pittsburgh (Antonio) Browns.”
Week 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers
Sunday October 23
4:25 pm EST, CBS
Low 60’s, 10% chance of rain, 11mph winds
Opponent/Patriots Stats:
Steelers: 4-2
Notable Games: The Steelers were blown out in a Week 3 loss to their next door neighbors, the Philadelphia Eagles 34-3. They came roaring back in a big way decimating the Kansas City Chiefs 43-14 the following week.
Common Opponents: Cincinnati Bengals (both teams won) and Miami Dolphins (Patriots won Steelers lost 15-30).
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Recent games vs. Pats: In Week 1 last year as the reigning Super Bowl Champs, NE won a 28-21 contest with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski playing lights out and we saw Antonio Brown go for 9 catches, 133 yards, and a TD. The Steelers were also losers in the 2013 matchup, 55-31. Both of the last two contests have been in New England but the last time the team played in Pittsburgh, the Steelers came away with a 25-17 win in 2011.
Notable Players
Landry Jones QB (In 7 games for PIT in 2015): 32/55 comp (58.2%), 513 yds, 3 TDs, 4 INTs
Le’Veon Bell RB (In 3 games for PIT in 2016): 48 carries, 263 yds, 5.5 avg, 0 TDs
DeAngelo Williams RB: 74 carries, 275 yds, 3.7 avg, 3 TDs,
Antonio Brown WR: 41 catches, 486 yds, 11.9 avg, 5 TDs
Injury Alerts
Patriots:
Jamie Collins was inactive last week against the Bengals with a hip injury. The severity isn’t certain right now and the LB depth is taking a hit with Jonathan Freeney on IR, Elandon Roberts leaving the Bengals game, and Shea Mcclellin suffering
Elandon Roberts played well this past week but left the game with a head injury, forcing Rob Ninkovich into an off the line role. You wonder if he is dealing with a concussion considering his hard hitting nature.
Brandon Bolden has been out since the Buffalo game with a knee injury. The Patriots added Tyler Gaffney back to the practice squad this week so if the team needs to call up a running back to fill the void, they won’t have to rush Bolden back.
Shea Mcclellin was inactive against the Bengals with a concussion. The league concussion protocol will keep McClellin off the field until he’s cleared. Hoping to see him back on the field this week to make sure Barkeviovs Mingo is not playing more than he should without being exposed in the run game.
Vincent Valentine left the game against Buffalo with a back injury and hasn’t been seen since. After his injury the team called up Woodrow Hamilton to fill the void. Unfortunately, the DTs keep going down.
Woodrow Hamilton suffered a shoulder injury against the Bengals and was considered questionable to return. He was brought from the practice squad in part to fill the void that appeared with Valentine’s injury so the sooner one of them gets healthy the better.
Steelers:
Ben Roethlisberger injured his knee last week and it appears he suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee. He had surgery Monday and Mike Tomlin announced today that Roethlisberger is officially out for this game. Landry Jones here we come!
Marcus Gilbert was inactive last week against the Kansas City Chiefs and as one of the Steelers better tackles he would be big help to backup Landry Jones. Look for him on the injury report this week
Ryan Shazier is an athletic young LB who was out against the Chiefs as well. He would give their defense a strong boost against the formidable NE offense.
Key Matchups:
Patriots
vs. WR1: 19th —–Malcolm Butler vs. Antonio Brown
vs. WR2: 19th—– Logan Ryan vs. Markus Wheaton
vs. other WR: 15th—– Cyrus Jones vs. Darius Heyward-Bey
vs. RB: 14th—– Pat Chung vs. Le’Veon Bell
Steelers
vs. WR1: 27th —– vs. Julian Edelman vs. Ross Cockrell
vs. WR2: 20th—– Chris Hogan vs. William Gay
vs. TE: 9th —– Rob Gronkowski vs. Mike Mitchell
vs. RB: 12th —– James White vs. Lawrence Timmons
What’s at Stake?
The Patriots are currently a game ahead in the AFC Seeding race and a win against the leaders of the AFC North would put them another step ahead of the pack. As I say every week, these games count not now, but later on when it comes time to decide who gets to stay at home for the playoffs.
Early Thoughts:
This game will be drastically different without Big Ben on the other side line. Some will see this as a bit of a layup for New England but lets not kid ourselves. Antonio Brown is the stuff legends are made of and Le’Veon Bell is not to be discounted. The weapons the Steelers have on Offense are worth being concerned about and they have the coaching to back it up. What BB does best is take away the opponent’s number one weapon but it gets tricky when the team has a few best weapons. If the Patriots can do their job on defense and the offense can make a few plays I see this as a very winnable game.