Oakland Raiders face another tough opponent as they take on Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3 – NFL Preview
Pittsburgh Steelers enter this tie with hopes of getting another dominating victory as they go on road to face Oakland Raiders in Week 3 game on Sunday, September 23, 2012 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland.
Raiders were hoping for a change of fortune under new head coach Dennis Allen. However, that has not been the case so far as they have got to a diminishing 0-2 start to the 2012 season.
Getting his first win as a head coach looks quite a tough task for Allen as they play against strong Steelers offence who despite missing many key players displayed an amazing performance in their 27-10 thrashing of New York Jets in Week
2.
It was a strong comeback by Steelers defence after losing their way in a 31-19 loss in the season opener against Denver Broncos.
Both safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker James Harrison missed Week 2 game due to injuries and have not yet returned to practice.
Linebacker Lawrence Timmons has expressed his joy about the defence’s good performance against Jets. He said:
"It's always good to have a win. We got a win now, that's a chip off our shoulder. Now it's time to stack our chips."
They will certainly be looking to do that against Raiders’ meagre offence. Offensively, Steelers are desperate to get their running back Rashard Mendenhall back into the team.
Mendenhall has been out since January to an ACL injury. Steelers have struggled in the running game this season with average of only 2.6 yards per carry.
Meanwhile, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been phenomenal in the two games. Last week, he covered 275 yards for two touchdowns. Raiders defence will face great difficulty in stopping him.
Raiders defence has been awful throughout this season. They were unable to contain inexperienced offence of Miami Dolphins in Week 2 game.
Allen has accepted the fact that his team will have to improve in order to stand any chance of having a better season than last year. According to the Associated Press, Allen said:
"There's a lot of things we got to do better. We're obviously not where we want to be as a football team. We have to continue to work to get better, and that's exactly what we're going to do."
Raiders offence has failed to give better output even with the addition of Darren McFadden. McFadden will have to give better performance to increase his team’s chances of winning the game.
Steelers seem to have an edge in almost every part of the game over Raiders.
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