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Minrott wrote:Stats and trends aside I think the Steelers, this year have that little bit of intangible advantage, that "in the zone" bullshit, that unmeasurable momentum if you will, that will put them on top this year. They've consistently played up to whoever they had a contest with. They won at Carolina, at San Diego, at Cincinnati twice, at Indianapolis. While losing to much lesser opponents like New England and Jacksonville at home. What ever they've got, they take it with on the road.

Denver looks good, but I think the Steelers will pull another upset off.

Pittsburgh did not play Carolina this year.

Tikker wrote:I don't see where they're better on paper though

Oline's are comparable
Running backs are comparable

receivers wise, it's close, but I think Denver's a bit stronger

Defensively I think Pittsburgh is better, but not by a lot.

Sorry Tikker, but total yards are a terrible way to judge a running game. Pittsburgh tended to pile up a ton of yards on a ton of attempts as they ran out the clock after grabbing an early lead. Just take a look at the yards per carry for KC and Pitt.

I think Pitt is just too dependant on the run. The Broncos have a passing game - Pitt.... ehh... not so much.

Spliffs, did you watch the Indy game? They won it through the air.

xaoshaen wrote:

Tikker wrote:I don't see where they're better on paper though

Oline's are comparable
Running backs are comparable

receivers wise, it's close, but I think Denver's a bit stronger

Defensively I think Pittsburgh is better, but not by a lot.

Sorry Tikker, but total yards are a terrible way to judge a running game. Pittsburgh tended to pile up a ton of yards on a ton of attempts as they ran out the clock after grabbing an early lead. Just take a look at the yards per carry for KC and Pitt.

yards per carry by itself is meaningless too

I think it's ridiculous to try and say that KC was a vastly superior rushing team to the Steelers when only 10 yards per game seperated them

The steelers also were missing their QB for 4 games that allowed other teams to stack the box and stop the run exclusively


Is LJ a better back than anyone the steelers have on their roster atm?
sure, I think he'd look swell in Black and Gold next year, heh

lyion wrote:Spliffs, did you watch the Indy game? They won it through the air.

They won it through the air because they couldn't run the ball. Indy played like shit, all around. Pittsburghs passing attack was still unimpressive. They aren't going to make it through Denver.

Denver wins, 27 to 17.

i'm gonna go ahead and jump on the seahawks bandwagon now that the colts are done

Spliffs wrote:

lyion wrote:Spliffs, did you watch the Indy game? They won it through the air.

They won it through the air because they couldn't run the ball. Indy played like shit, all around. Pittsburghs passing attack was still unimpressive. They aren't going to make it through Denver.

Denver wins, 27 to 17.

No, Pitt came out throwing the ball early. They were throwing on first down and many of their early plays were vertical. They didn't even try to run the ball early on, much.

I do think Denver will beat Pitt, but don't sleight Pitt. They knew Indy would gear to stop the run and came out gunslinging. If Pitt had came out pounding, they wouldnt have gotten that quick score early, and gone up 14-0 so fast.

Pittsburgh did not play Carolina this year.

That was pre-season. My bad.

Tikker wrote:yards per carry by itself is meaningless too

It's not a great stat, but it's much better than total yardage when evaluating the success of a running game.

I think it's ridiculous to try and say that KC was a vastly superior rushing team to the Steelers when only 10 yards per game seperated them

So consider a more advanced stat. Pittsburgh had a rushing DVOA of 1.1%, which is slightly above league average, while KC's was 17.3%, good for fifth in the league.

The steelers also were missing their QB for 4 games that allowed other teams to stack the box and stop the run exclusively

Is LJ a better back than anyone the steelers have on their roster atm?
sure, I think he'd look swell in Black and Gold next year, heh

And KC had Johnson stuck on the bench behind a relatively ineffective Holmes, not to mention the Roaf injury.

lyion wrote:

Spliffs wrote:

lyion wrote:Spliffs, did you watch the Indy game? They won it through the air.

They won it through the air because they couldn't run the ball. Indy played like shit, all around. Pittsburghs passing attack was still unimpressive. They aren't going to make it through Denver.

Denver wins, 27 to 17.

No, Pitt came out throwing the ball early. They were throwing on first down and many of their early plays were vertical. They didn't even try to run the ball early on, much.

I do think Denver will beat Pitt, but don't sleight Pitt. They knew Indy would gear to stop the run and came out gunslinging. If Pitt had came out pounding, they wouldnt have gotten that quick score early, and gone up 14-0 so fast.

The passing attack was nothing special. Indianapolis gave up 197 YPG during the year. Pitt passed for... 197 yards. An average performance.

Denver has a much better pass defense when you compare it on legitimate stats, instead of just yards. Denver held opposing teams to 56.1 completion percentage (good for 3rd in the league), and a 72.2 rating. (2nd in the league)

Indianapolis was 67.4 (Worst in the league) and 83.0 (23rd)

Denvers run defense is also better than Indys. Pittsburgh will not be able to throw the ball in Denver. I will be stunned if Pittsburgh can make it to 20 points.

dude

Steelers put up 147 yards passing in the 1st half

they passed the ball only 5 times in the second half


Pitt 24-7 npnp

7 out of 10 of Pitts first plays were passes. It's how they rolled up a 14 point lead, while Indy did nothing. Once they got a lead, they made Indy play catch up while eating the clock.

They won that game on the arm of Roethlisberger. 42 rushes for 1.12 ain't gonna do it, man.

Indy played like shit, I already conceded that point. Roethlesbergers arm cant win in Denver though.

You seem to forget Denver had the 2nd best D in point per game average in the league at 16points per game. They had a much stronger schedual than Pitt, and Denver has a much more balanced offence than Indy did, I don't give a fuck what anyone says.

Denver did beat Indy in the preseason.

Er, who's saying anything bad against Denver? We were discussing the Indy/Pitt game solely, and we're pretty evenly divided with who'll win the AFC.

Ohh should have made it more clear that I think Denver is going to beat up on the Steelers.

Teams don't go into Invesco and come out with victories. Denver is 9-0 at home this year. The thin air around here is just too much. :p

and the Steelers are like 15-2 on the road the last 2 years


Both teams are pretty similar

stout against the run, pretty ok secondary with 1 big star

strong Oline, decent receivers, RB by committee, and a mobile QB with a beard

Tikker wrote:and the Steelers are like 15-2 on the road the last 2 years


Both teams are pretty similar

stout against the run, pretty ok secondary with 1 big star

strong Oline, decent receivers, RB by committee, and a mobile QB with a beard

I think thats the best arguement for the steelers ive heard yet.

The key to winning the AFC is obviously is the beard. Cleanly shaven Manning and Brady were not en vogue this year.

Jake's superior Jesus Beard makes me give him the edge over Ben's bushy Mohammed look.