AFC Showdown: Pittsburgh Steelers Vs New England Patriot
As the weeks roll on, the better teams this year are beginning to edge ahead. Still it’s cluttered at the top. Just a week ago the New England Patriots stood atop of the league but now have fallen to third place behind the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons. At 6-2 the Patriots are tied with the New York Jets in the AFC East.
Sunday night the Patriots would face off against the 6-2 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are similarly tied with the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North. At least one and very likely, two of these four teams are going to the Conference finals. The Jets are heading into a relatively easier game against the Cleveland Browns. If the Ravens are defeated by the Falcons this Thursday, the Pittsburgh vs New England game would become the defining game of the AFC.
The stakes are high and both sides are in it for the win. The Steelers have their sights set high, as high as the Super Bowl and they could very well make it. Pittsburgh defence is as tough as it gets in the NFL. They stand atop the league with the least rushing yards allowed in a game. The Patriots aren’t the best team in the league when it comes to rushing but they have some solid running backs supporting them.
New York Jets LaDainian Tomlinson averages 4.9 yards per rush. He is just a yard short of 600 yards this season. Then there is BenJarvus Green-Ellis with 385 yards rushed with a 4.1 yards average. New England’s rush won’t win games but they have been known to bail out quarterback Tom Brady in tough situations. Brady doesn’t need all that much bailing out usually but facing the Steelers would be a real challenge. The comfort of "If the passing isn’t working then at least the rush would work", won’t be available when faced by the Pittsburgh rush-proof defence. Brady and his receivers have to work if the Patriots are going to win.
Brady can pick from Dejon Branch, Aaron Hernandez, Danny Woodhead, Brandon Tate and Wes Walker. Brady has been mixing things up and throwing the ball between his receivers. Between the receivers and the running backs, Patriots have been able to score more often than any other team. They average 27.4 points in each game, highest in the league, even though their rush is ranked 15th, the pass 17th, and in terms of overall yards they rank 20th in the league. What the Patriots don’t do is make mistakes. Patriots don’t force as many turnovers but they are very stingy about giving up the ball. Their turnover ratio is +5 and so far in the season that has held them afloat.
But Pittsburgh won’t just watch in silence as Brady throws the ball around. Pittsburgh has an even better turnover ratio than the Patriots, a +9. Steelers force turnovers, a lot of them and that would be their strategy against the Patriots on Sunday. Pittsburgh’s Ike Taylor, Lawrence Timmons and Troy Polamalu have all had 2 interceptions this season. Steelers are going to charge through Patriots offensive line like ‘Brady seeking surface-surface missiles’ and keep at him until he makes a mistake.
The best scoring side is facing the side that allowed the least number of points. But defence isn’t the only thing that Pittsburgh has going for itself. The offense gets overshadowed by the ferocity of the defence but the Steelers offense isn’t exactly inept. Even if it was, defence is not the Patriots’ strong suite. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can deal with New England. The Patriots won’t be able to stop the Steelers from scoring, but they can still win if they continue to score as they have been scoring since the start of the season. The Patriots have a history of strong second halves in every season since 2001. They have a second half record of 75-23, playoffs included.
New England is looking to bounce back from an upset against the Cleveland Browns while the Steelers on Sunday would be basking in the glory of having beaten the Cincinnati Bengals. Pittsburgh look like the favourites for the game but only by a slight margin. The game can still swing both ways.
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