I believe after the Pats game that the Steelers were at the top of the AFC. I think that if the defense can bring more 3-and-outs out of the opponents offense and our offense can eat up clock we can beat the Titans just like the Jets did. If we steamroll over the cowboys or “cryboys” (love it when each consecutive year someone from the ‘boys cries-Romo, TO, who’s next? Hopefully Wade Phillips) we have the power to beat anybody. It’s up to our offense to win the games because as you know, each of our losses has come from offensive mistakes. I still think that the Steelers are the only team that can upset the Giants, I believe we had that game earlier with the G-Men but offensive penalties killed us.

But now I’m believeing more and agreeing with you Blitzburgh, the Steelers are now getting their full confidence back to the point where they are “scary.” The offense is improving especially the o-line and Ben is getting more comfortable in the pocket. The run is coming back to life but whats even more significant is that the flawless #1 defense we have is just getting better each game, its like a machine.

Steelers all the way, if we get Cowboys, we can easily be 13-3 or 12-4. Thanks Ryan Clark for putting the trademark steeler tackle on Welker!!!

Our defense is allowing 78.2 rushing yards per game, Tennessee is allowing 97.2 and your team (Steelers) is allowing 71.2

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=RUSHING&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2008&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=RUSHING_YARDS_PER_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1

I’d like to state that the Ravens are number 8 overall offensively in the AFC and the Steelers are 12th

I swear to god though Mr. Blitz.. if you just jinxed us.. you will be in serious serious serious trouble.. you better knock on some west coast wood right this instant mister!

We’re also first defense wise on 3rd down percentage, and 4th down percentage, your also behind us (We’re number 1) for whatever stat 1st/G means… I’m guessing 1st downs a game..

That compared to the people on Clevelands blog. You all are really nice

You do recall Indy coming into your stadium and beating you, right? And Indy’s offense is #1 in the red zone. Calling your team the best in the AFC when you lost to the Colts at home is a bit of a stretch.

In the NFL, it always comes down to which team has the deepest and healthiest squad to make a deep run in the playoffs. With Saturday, Brackett, and Sanders all banged up, the Colts are going to have problems. That being said, Peyton Manning is one of the all-time greats and can single handedly lead the Colts on a run.

Fantastic. The defense has been great, but can you honestly see Joe Flacco leading the Ravens on a long playoff run? Look at the way Ben played at home during the playoffs in his rookie year. He almost blew the game against the Jets, and then fell down 24-3 to the Pats before he could even blink. If the Ravens make the playoffs, they’re probably looking at two road games, and unless the Ravens D has a 2000-esque performance, I just can’t see them winning in January.

After about week five I sensed the potential for greatness in our season that I imagined at the beginning of they season. We were playing lights out defense despite our Offense always putting us in terrible situations. Most of the blame was on Big Ben, for he was throwing waaay too many interceptions which could be due to his injuries. Our O-line wasn’t that good but better than ESPN credited them. Now that they have more experience with the zone blocking system and Big Ben is making better decisions with better playcalling by BA, everyone thinks they are so much better.

But the fact is that they have gotten better but not in the sense that I feel ESPN thinks. The defense has been dominate of course but the biggest difference is Ben Roethlisberger and the fact that we are healing up. We have always been this good but it didnt show on the field because of the amount of injuries and poor play of our QB. Ben is playing better and so are the Steelers.

We have a great oppurtunity to win this SB as mentioned above, there are no dominate teams in the NFL this league and the door is wide open. The difference is that the league is more balanced with injuries and transactions and the teams who do not make mistakes and play defense are the successful ones. Why are the former laughing stock of the NFL, Miami Dolphins 7-5? Because they only have 10 turnovers in 12 games. NYG and TEN are right up there in that stat also. These teams are not technically better or more talented but are just playing smarter. I really do not see any time beating us if we do not commit excessive turnovers.

We have more talent than the Giants and should be able to beat them and anyone else if we meet again. Look at the previous game we played. We committed 5 turnover essentially (safety+4ints) with the giants committing none and only lost by 7. We did not have the help of a long snapper, F-dub, and Holmes and still managed to only lose by a touchdown. We had a pretty bad game and it took all five of those turnoves which 4 set up the Giants for points and 1 actually gave them points. In a rematch I do not see Ben throwing those 2 errant throws, I do not see Nate Washington dropping a pass that leads to an interception, I do not see James Harrison oversnapping and leading to a safety, and i don’t believe we will have to heave a game winning hail mary that is turned into an interception. Luck was on the giants side last time and in a rematch we will prevail.

Just like I didn’t want to get too down on our team for our losses to the Eagles, Giants, and Colts, I’m not ready to crown this team, or even say we’re the team to beat in the AFC. For one thing, after ‘94 and ’95, I’ve given up expecting the Steelers to play as well as they are capable of in championships. While I’m thankful that we’ve had great teams over the last 16-17 years, I’m not ready to think too highly of any team until they actually get that ring. That said, this is a great, great defense, and they’ve been able to accomplish great things so far this year. I have also said that this team reminds me in some ways of the ‘74 Steelers team. If we just don’t screw up on offense, our defense has proven good enough to hold most teams under 14 points. The only problem is that we’ve proven more than capable of screwing up on offense.

i agree with you wolfpacksteelers fan and fahey

first of all i am a state fan also

but yeah the offense showed it can do horrible but you have to be at least optimistic because it hasn’t really been the entire offense. The part that had been losing games for us is Big Ben and now that he is healthy and practicing I really doubt he will have anymore 3-5 INT games, that has gotta be out of the question especially with f-dub back. So thats why i have confidence in this years team to win a SB.

Fahey, I don’t want to be the team to beat because usually a team will rise up just to beat you. But I honestly think we are the best team in the league. If we aren’t then we have the tools, coaches, and players to be, or potential is great. The Giants are a great team but their D is not as suffocating and we can totally shut them down as long as we do not give them the ball in great field position like last time.

But about Tony Homo, he can be dangerous bootlegging but i think he is also a liability when he does. I have seen numerous times when he is trying to roll out and make a play but all it does is give the defense more time to get to him or he ends up throwing an INT or making a big play. Against our defense, we are too fast to let him run around in the pocket and make a play so expect some fumble from him or sacks if he tries to do that against us.

He is hit or miss but look back at their game vs. Philly and Arizona. Those come to mind immediately, he has made huge errors in those games while trying to roll out and make a play.

I meant to go back and say that Troy is way better and is no comparison even if he was on the field but i have been going back and forth responding to comments and among other things made me forget.

the team America loves to hate when not hating the Patriots! Welcome back to the ’burgh! By the time JJ adds Plaxico for next season, your work release all star team will be truly formidable. Hopefully Tank Johnson will be able to teach Plax a little bit about gun safety.

As for the game this week, I think the Steelers D can contain anyone at this point. While other posters have discussed our highly ranked defenses of past years, I can honestly say that in many of those years I never felt the overall confidence in the unit that this unit has now earned. They are truly great in a statistical sense, while carrying a fear factor for opponents that few defenses have ever acquired. Romo has shown a knack of lighting up crappy D’s, while struggling against better ones, especially in crunch time. With this essentially figuring to be a playoff game for the ’girls, he will be feeling pressure beyond that applied by silverback and Woodley, which I believe will lead to poor decisions and turnovers. He has not yet proven to be a reliable performer when the chips are down. See the last two years playoff performances as proof.

On offense, Ben and the lads seem to be finding their stride. After watching the condensed version of the Pats game for the third time, it was an amazing performance by our line, especially considering where they started the year. Every member of the line had plays where they made blocks that they seemingly have not been able to execute previously. The Stapler and Colon were amazing, and Kemo was a road grader most of the day. Hartwig was solid, and called protections almost perfectly. Big Max was not clearly beaten by Seymour, which is the best outcome we could have realistically hoped for. Heath and Mewelde were awesome in every way. Mewelde had two huge blitz pick ups that led to long completions to Heath. It seemed as if they were taking turns helping the line chip on rushers. Hopefully we can mix up our schemes so Ware will not be able to predict where help will be coming from. Max will need to try to steer him past the pocket, and let Ben step up to throw, much like last week’s plan against Seymour. Hopefully their confidence in themselves is growing, as I am sure the early struggles had to eat at a proud group of men.

It seems like we are jelling at the right time, much like 2006. The schedule has indeed been brutal, which I believe could be a positive in that we will not likely face a Super Bowl contending team that we will not have played before, or is better than the teams we have faced. I expect at least a 3-1 finish, which would be enough to win the division and get a bye, a huge plus healthwise. Whomever we would face in the playoffs would have to be not overjoyed at their draw, as I don’t know where you begin when game-planning for this defense, especially in potentially poor weather/field conditions. I fear Indy the most, but we may not have to face them until the AFC championship if we end up the two seed, as we would likely get Denver/AFC East winner, assuming one of them could beat BAL/other East team in a home game. Not a given of course, but they would likely be favored. I would take my chances against the lot of them, followed by a rematch with Indy/Ten for the AFC title. With the Cowboys the only team with enough firepower to possibly knock out the Giants, if we could survive the AFC title game, we would likely face another rematch. Please let it be so!