:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/190223/20120923_jla_bs4_220.jpg)
The Steelers have the weekend off, and they're hopefully spending their time well, relaxing, avoiding injuries and obeying all laws.
This leaves us with the sometimes refreshing task of sitting back and watching the rest of the league do battle without any particular investment (outside of our Fantasy Football teams and other league-wide interests).
Here at BTSC HQ, outside of a serious basemental and spare roomage overhaul, we're going to be looking ahead on the schedule, and taking note of how the next few Steelers opponents are doing.
That starts with Philadelphia.
Hosting NFC East rival New York, the Eagles are looking to find a way to get quarterback Michael Vick more comfortable in the pocket. With a very thin glance at Vick and Philadelphia so far this year, the turnovers are glaring. It's amazing they're a 2-1 team with 12 turnovers and poor play at quarterback, but that's also an area of deep concern - imagine if Vick was playing well. He's got a week to get it on track before traveling to Pittsburgh.
Week 6 is a road prime time game at Tennessee - home teams are 9-2 on prime time this year after Baltimore's 23-16 win over Cleveland Thursday in Week 4. The Titans, simply put, are a complete mess on both sides of the ball, but their league-high 37.7 points per game is especially poor. They're also running the ball worse than any team in the league, averaging just 39 yards per game. That's 23 yards a game less than Oakland, who has the second worst total at 62.
The Titans are at Houston in a game that so heavily favors one team, it seems like it's primed for some kind of upset. That could be the paranoid gambler in me, but Houston and Tennessee are polar opposites right now, and on paper, the Texans should kick the hell out of their AFC South division rivals.
Week 7 is another prime time road game (three of those this year...hmm...), this one the AFC North schedule opener at Cincinnati. The Bengals are struggling quite a bit on the defensive side of the ball, which is strange, considering the amount of talent they have and how well they performed in 2011.
Cincinnati is at Jacksonville, poised to take on the modestly talented Blaine Gabbert and the grossly underpaid Maurice Jones-Drew. It's a good challenge game for the Bengals, who will likely be getting in the faces of every member of their run defense in practice this week.
Stick around BTSC this weekend though, the NFL news cycle never sleeps. We'll be covering various games in between hauling and cleaning sessions, maybe even having a beverage or two.