Steelers Defense To Get First Major Test of 2008 in Philadelphia
by Blitzburgh on Sep 17, 2008 1:30 AM EDT
14 comments
Through two weeks, the Steelers defense has faced two lackluster offenses. Or maybe that should read, through two weeks, the Steelers defense has made usually productive offenses startingly impotent. On the flip side, the Eagles have faced two fairly weak defenses. The St. Louis Rams are miserable, nobody's going to argue that. But for those who think Dallas' defense is superb, I'd counter that most all of their strenghts are in the front 7, with the secondary being the weak link in a major way. Regardless of one's take, I think it's safe to say that we'll be tested this coming Sunday in a way we haven't yet been thus far.
Let's first take a glance at his lines from the first two games.
Amazingly productive games from Donovan McNabb. A few more numbers that touch on the other aspects of the Eagles offense.
Points Per Game: 37.5 (2nd)
Yards Per Game: 429.5 (3rd)
Passing Yards Per Game: 336.5 (1st)
Quarterback Rating: 114.1 (6th) - Ben is actually leading the league at 136.3
Turnover Ratio: +1 (t-7th)
3rd Down %: 50% (4th)
Time of Possession: 33:04 (5th)
It's been all smiles so far for D-Mac in 2008.
Sure, these numbers are a small sample size. Philly won't drop nearly 40 a game for the course of the season, and even if he's healthy, McNabb's numbers will regress some. But there's no denying that Andy Reid can get that offense of his clicking when he has a healthy McNabb to lead the charge. Donovan's injury free for the time being, and all is well with the Eagles offense, despite the heartbreaking loss on MNF to hated rival Dallas.
We'll get into the particulars of the matchup between these two great units- the Eagles offense and the Steelers defense- in more depth throughout the week.
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Steelers D will handle McNabb
I believe that our D will neutralize McNabb, which is to say that the Eagles will only scor e 17 points. To me that would be the best we can do.
Now the question is whether or not Big Ben and the offense can beat 17. I think that we can.
McNabb in week 3
276 yards passing
2 TDs
38 yards rushing
1 INT
2 Sacks
1 FL
Big Ben
245 Yards passing
2 TDs
12 Yards rushing
1 INT
3 Sacks
0 FL
Westbrook
62 Yards rushing
42 Yards recieving
0 Rushing TD
1 Recieving TD
FWP
127 Yards rushing
8 Yards recieving
2 Rushing TD
0 Recieving TD
"Damnit mom! You almost ran over Greg Lloyd!"
at an autograph signing back in 95. He walked out in front of our minivan, and my mom almost hit him. He apologized.
by PA ARMY OFFICER on Sep 17, 2008 10:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Ouch. I would rather Ben give up the ball an extra time than take 3 sacks in this game. For once I would like him to keep his jersey clean. The man needs to recover.
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Sep 17, 2008 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Big Ben and sacks
The Philly D is so ‘blitz-happy’ I’d be ok with three sacks. They probably blitz more than any other team in the league and it’ll be a difficult task for the OL to pick everyone up.
by cgolden on Sep 17, 2008 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Philly
blitzes alot, but doesn’t send a ton of guys often, much like us, they just do it from a different base formation. i think this is the week we see Mewelde Moore and Willie Parker getting a chance on some screens and checkdowns. also, we’ll play alot of multiple receiver/TE sets and dare them to blitz and hit open guys……Heath Miller should have a big day
by TheMostViolentTeam on Sep 17, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I was actually just looking at that in my ProFootball Prospectus 08.
Here’s their table:
Sent How often NFL Rank
3 3.9% 20
4 58.5% 22
5 22.4% 15
6+ 15.2% 3
7+ 4.5% 2
Of course they’re going to send 4 the most often because that is a vanilla rush when you play a 4-3 like they do. Their LBs aren’t much to worry about overall, and I think that lets us attack their 4-3 much in the same way we attacked Cleveland’s 3-4 last week. We’ve got to key on 2 DEs, though, to stop the pass rush. Starter Trent Cole has 12.5 sacks last year, and reserve man Chris Clemons picked up 8 in limited duty.
Guns don't kill people. Lamar Woodley kills people.
by BostonWahoo on Sep 17, 2008 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Tight ends
They have torched us so far this year. Pretty much the only semblance of offense the Rams could muster was to their TE over the middle.
by JasonB on Sep 17, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
FWP
If he gets 127 rushing, we’ll win this game easily. In 2 weeks, the Eagles have held the likes of Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Stephen Jackson to 104 yards and 2.7 ypc. Ouch. He might break off one or 2 longer runs, but I doubt there will be much room consistently. The Eagles’ weakness is against TE’s and RB’s out of the backfield, so hopefully we’ll get those guys involved in the passing game and Ben will dominate. Hopefully there won’t be a hurricane over Philly at the time, too.
charity standing orders
by BadMaafala on Sep 17, 2008 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
shawn andrews
McNabb had some great protection in the first half, but after their right guard went down, the cowboys were able to get more pressure.
McNabb showed he could still make plays when flushed, but it should make it a little more likely to get a hit on westbrook before the line of scrimmage and prevent him from the killer 5 and 6 yards gains.
by vherub on Sep 17, 2008 3:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
the last time the Steelers won in Philly
was in 1965.
Or as old cranky Ed Bouchette said “In Philadelphia, the Steelers are known as the Browns.”
Of course anything that’s held up that long is gonna fall eventually, but I don’t think this is one of those games where any faction of the team can falter … it’ll take stellar play from offense, defense, & special teams … fewer mistakes than the iggles, & probably an early lead.
Specifically, I think the keys to this one will be Woodley & Harrison putting constant pressure on McNabb, a solid ground game that results in a lot of eaten-up clock and sevens on the scoreboard, lining up Holmes against Dawkins (who still is a great one, but is getting up there in age & much slower than he used to be), and a demoralizing run game. A brutal, cram it down their D-line run game.
And maybe give Ben a week without taking one in the shoulder. Let him keep the ol’ moneymaker healthy.
Moral of the story is, this’ll be the toughest one to date; I’m not gonna sound any alarms if we walk away 2-1, but I think this can be won, if we win the battle in the trenches.
by Fahey on Sep 17, 2008 7:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Do you happen to know what’s the lowdown on the all-time series record between the two teams? I’ve been curious.
Brandona
by PrimantisStillersNAt on Sep 18, 2008 2:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Please Blitz
The onE thing Ben needs to learn is audibling to a draw, screen, back out of the backfield or tight end. He still doesn’t get this or throwing the ball away. He’s always trying for the highlight real play.
Ben, 4 yards is a good thing my man. Live for another play.
by 72Steeler on Sep 17, 2008 7:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
One thing I’m pumped about when it comes to this year’s schedule is that we’ll get a chance to see what our team is made of before the playoffs. We’ll have to make comebacks and play under pressure and do more than run the clock out in the fourth quarter. It’s been a while since the Steelers have had do a lot of that on a consistent basis.
charity standing orders
by BadMaafala on Sep 18, 2008 1:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Noticed..
that Dallas got considerable penetration on McNabb Monday night…hopefully our guys will do the same or better. Also…maybe that receiver will drop some more TD passes just for the heck of it.
by SCSteeler on Sep 19, 2008 11:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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