Posted on 11/28/2005 5:49:37 PM PST by Teacher317
The undefeated Colts take on the other team that has had their number... the Steeler have won their last 7 against the Colts, including in the playoffs. Their last MNF meeting was a 28-10 vistory over Peyton Manning. The Steelers under Cowher are always strong on Monday Night, and Big Ben is 18-1 in the regular season, and 19-2 overall... with both losses to the Patriots.
Mediocre - Moderate to inferior in quality; ordinary. See Synonyms at average.
When I say mediocre I mean the Steelers are in the second group of teams all of which are way below the Colts in strength.
That's not what mediocre means. The Steelers and the other playoff-contending teams are not average or inferior in quality. Mediocre is going 8-8.
SD
The Bears have played Cleveland and Baltimore this year and they run a 3-4 so I am not too worried about that. Besides it is the O line which must deal with that anyway and the Bears have an excellent line since moving Tait over to left tackle. And Orton is very saavy. Our game will be similiar to that played against Tampa very conservative and close to the vest. The only team that the Bears can't match up with is the Colts any other we could beat. Not that we will but we could.
Even had the Steelers played perfectly I don't believe they would have beaten the Colts without the latter making huge mistakes. I never got the impression that the Colts let out all the stops last night. While the Steelers are pretty good they have not impressed me so far. And I have never seen Cowher look like he did last night either. He looked and acted like he was beaten.
I was speaking compared to the Colts as mediocre. But I do not believe them to be inferior so that correction is warranted. But only a little better than average.
That is what I saw too. But as far as Bettis goes it looks like your running backs are over the hill except for the young guy who can't pick up the slack against a good defense. When I saw a rook playing left tackle my confidence for the Bears was lifted significantly. If it is a vet with a bad leg or a rook I think you will be in trouble against the best defense in the league. But it should be a close hard hitting game.
They played 3 games against 3-4 defenses, lost 2 and squeeked 1 (if Baltimore actually had an offense they'd have lost that one too), that's what the 3-4 does to you. The QB has to deal with it too, the QB needs to know where the blitz is coming from to know where the open hole for an outlet pass is, the QB needs to identify if there's a blitz at all.
And you're wrong. If the Steelers had played their game they could have won. Be not impressed all you want, if they'd run the strong backs early to tire the defense and played bump coverage on the receivers through the entire game they wouuld have won. That's been the way to beat the Colts for the last 8 years and nothing about the team has changed enough to change that. I've seen Cowher look like that frequently, it happens every time he out thinks himself, he's good at realizing late in a game that his game plan sucked, now if only he could realize that Wednesday morning the Steelers would never lose a game the way they did last night.
That's different then. Normally, I would take such comments to mean across the whole league. There's no question they were inferior to the Colts last night.
SD
The Steelers can be quite impressive in their ability to win games in an unimpressive fashion.
SD
I have seen little from the Steelers to worry about but we will see next week whose perception is correct. I forgot about the Bengals but don't think the same thing would happen should we play them again. And the week after we knocked out some of the Ravens better players they beat the Steelers.
You are fooling yourself if you believe this Colts team is like those the Steeler handled in the past. This defense is much better than those. Running Bettis would not tire it out at all. He is not a force anymore just another old man hanging on to retirement. I am sure this year will be his last and maybe Staley's as well.
I have seen Cowher's faces many times but never looking shell shocked. Furious, yes; disgusted, yes; even near insane but not like he knew they were finished.
The Ravens needed OT to beat us and they were up against Tommy "hey where'd the ball go" Maddox as our QB (Tommy was OK his year as the starter, but this season he's completely sucked).
Their defense is better, but not that much better. Running Bettis and Staley certainly would have tired them out, big runningback ALWAYS tire out the opposing D if they get enough carries, that's the reason to have big running backs. Bus's stats this season say you're wrong, he's still a force to be reconned with, not as much of a force as 4 or 5 years ago to be sure but still clearly a force. He's in his 13th season in a position where the average career is 7, pretty safe bet this is his last year; pretty similar numbers for Staley. But that's not the point, the point is when you have both big RBs and a fast RB you run the big RBs early to tire out the defense for the fast RB to shine, that's the right way to do things.
I've seen Cowher's face look shell shocked on numerous occasions. The last two times they faced the Pats in the playoffs most recently, and frequently the year Maddox started and they tried to move to team in a West Coast fashion (they simply don't have the receiving core for a West Coast offense, they have great receivers for big catches and blocking for runs and screens, but they don't have good receivers for 3,5,7 timing patterns).
I don't know what rbs you are looking at but Bettis is averaging less than three yards a carry and Staley doesn't even have two hundred yards rushing according to the NFL. Facing them would not cause any one grief particularly a team like the Colts. Bettis clearly should have retired already. Running either of these guys would not have done anything for the Steelers. At least the other guy has over 700 yards on the ground. If the Steelers are counting on the first two then they will be in big trouble and may not even make the playoffs.
It was pretty funny when they showed the Indy fan with the "Cowher Spit Protector" over his face.
Staley's only played in 4 games this year, and Bus converts 3rd and short regularly, meanwhile neither has been the featured back this season so they haven't gotten the touches. Facing them would indeed cause greif, they've caused grief to every other team they faced and the Colts D isn't tackling that well. If Bus had retired they'd have had nobody the two games Parker and Staley were out so clearly you are 100% wrong on that count. Parker has 700 yards of rushing on 3 times as many caries. It's not a matter of counting on Bus and Staley it's a matter of using them correctly, you run early to tire out the defense for more successful running late, heavier backs are more fatiguing to tackle and Bus and Staley both have nearly 50 (25% of his weight) on Parker thus making them 50 pounds more tiring to tackle. The AFC is ugly but with a win against Cinci next week they have the inside track on the division and a pretty solid shot at the playoffs.
yeah that was pretty brilliant.
The Steelers should have drafted or picked up another running back rather than have to go back to Staley or Bettis. YOu will see how ineffective these two has beens are against a good defense next week. Few things are sadder than watching the great athletes hand on too long. Bettis was once a devastating runner and now is not even mediocre.
Trying to wear down a defense with someone getting less than three yds a carry sounds like a prescription for losing and I hope they try that against the Bears. These guys would not even make most NFL teams now.
I expect the Bengals will win Sunday. But the Steelers schedule after the Bears should not give a good team much of a challenge so they should get into the playoffs.
They have Parker, he's the running back of the future for them, but Bus and Staley both want to be with the team and were willing to have cap friendly salaries. They ran all over a the same good defense on the road, they aren't going to have a problem with Cinci at home. Few things are sadder than someone with an axe to grind and no facts, the Bus isn't in his prime but he hasn't hung on too long and your attempts to say otherwise are petty and annoying.
Wrong again, wearing someone down with early runs inspite of possible short gains is how running teams win games. Run early for gains late, that's the right way to play football. The more you throw around idiotic statements like saying they wouldn't make most NFL teams the more it becomes clear you know nothing about football are are just talking bad about people to see yourself type.
The Bengals will lose Sunday, the Steelers will get the inside track to winning the division, the Steelers will beat the Bears after that, and then they'll be in the playoffs.
New England was the monkey on Peyton's back, winning 7 straight
Pittsburgh had beaten them every time for 20 years, for ten straight
Cincinnati is a carbon copy of the Colts three years ago (great trio on offense and a young opportunistic D full of holes)
Seattle is the top of the NFC
San Diego took the Colts to OT in Indy last year, and is even stronger this year
Jacksonville actually has a .500 record (2-2) against the Colts in their last 4 match-ups... during a 32-8 Colts stretch. (The other six losses were to Denver (twice), the Patriots (3 times), and KC)
That's 7 top-notch opponents out of 16 games including almost every AFC playoff contender (and Baltimore and St Louis were supposed to be near the top this year, as well)... hardly a light schedule!
New England WAS the monkey on Peyton's back, but they went into that game even more devastated by injuries than last year and with the 31st ranked defense in the league. New England just wasn't up to snuff.
Pitt was a tough out, I give them that.
The Colts 3 years ago had one of the worst defenses in the league so I'm not sure how anybody with a good D would be a carbon copy of them. Cinci was a tough out.
Seattle isn't until week 15 and likely by then both teams will have their playoff position locked and will probably not be playing their starters, won't matter by that point if Seattle is a tough out or not.
San Diego will be a tough out.
Jax was and will be a tough out.
That's 5 games against 4 teams that are tough outs, that's 11 games against weak teams. It's a light schedule. Nothing wrong with that, you play the schedule you get, but don't think getting to play the NFC West gives you anything but a soft schedule.
According to fftoday.com, they have the #14 schedule. Not the bottom half of the NFL, nor "easy".
New England is still a playoff team, and a tough team (and it was in NE, for the fourth time in 5 meetings, and on Monday Night... and Bruschi's second game back, as if the emotion in Boston wasn't high enough). They still finish 10-6 (only TB will challenge them). It's interesting how quickly you dismiss that huge breakthrough victory for Indy, and a 10-6 team.
Seattle is only one game ahead of two NFC foes, and you think they'll have #1 numerically locked up with two weeks to play? You're delusional. Seattle doesn't exactly have a reputation for living up to high expectations, you know! (They beat SF by a grand total of two points, and were a completion away from OT.)
Heck, if Denver beats KC, as they are favored to do, they will likely be 12-2 after week 15, and the #1 seed won't even be a numerical certainty for the Colts in week 16!
The Steelers, by the way, are only two spots ahead of the Colts on Strength of Schedule, at #12. Do you want to say that they have an easy one, as well? The NFC North is just as weak as the NFC West, and the two "elective" games are against SD and NE... for both the Steelers and the Colts!
(Hmm, the NFL has the Steelers as the 19th toughest schedule... below average! "Easy", one might say!)
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