Steelers News: Will 9 wins be enough to get the Steelers into the playoffs?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving into Week 14 of the NFL regular season, and as the team prepares for the Arizona Cardinals we continue to provide you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over until the next game starts!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at how .

Let’s get to the news:

• The Steelers sit at 7-5 with four games remaining on their schedule. Would a 2-2 finish (9-7 overall) be good enough to punch their ticket to the postseason?

With a little help, 9 wins could get Steelers into postseason

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Nine wins weren’t enough to get the Pittsburgh Steelers into the playoffs last year, ending a run of four consecutive trips to the postseason.

Nine wins, however, could do the trick this year provided the Steelers get some help from teams playing the Tennessee Titans.

By winning for the sixth time in the past seven games Sunday, the Steelers improved to 7-5 and maintained their spot as the No. 6 seed — or second wild card — in the AFC playoff picture. Tennessee also is 7-5, but the Steelers have a better record in conference games (6-3 versus 5-4).

At 9-3, the Buffalo Bills have a two-game edge on the No. 5 seed and are one game behind the New England Patriots for the AFC East lead. They visit Heinz Field in two weeks for a game that could reshape the playoff race.

The AFC South-leading Houston Texans have an 8-4 record and lead the 7-5 Titans and 6-6 Indianapolis Colts. In the AFC West, the 6-6 Oakland Raiders are two games behind the division-leading Kansas City Chiefs.

According to various playoff predictor web sites, the Steelers’ chances for securing a postseason spot range from 55% (via the New York Times) to 40.3% (FootballOutsiders). The web site FiveThirtyEight.com gives the Steelers a 46% shot of reaching the postseason.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Bet you didn’t know the Steelers have a little known streak going against first round overall quarterbacks...

Steelers win vs. Baker Mayfield’s Browns extends home winning streak vs. No. 1 overall QBs

By: Chris Adamski, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

In beating Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers extended a long, quirky and trivial winning streak.

The Steelers’ 20-13 victory was their 12th consecutive at home against a team starting a quarterback drafted No. 1 overall. It’s the longest such streak in NFL history, and it’s lasted more than a decade.

The most recent time a No. 1-drafted quarterback won at Heinz Field was Nov. 15, 2009, when Carson Palmer’s Cincinnati Bengals won, 18-12. The year before, two top-drafted quarterbacks — who happen to be brothers — beat the Steelers twice in a 15-day span. Eli Manning’s New York Giants beat the Steelers on Oct. 26, and Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts likewise won at Heinz Field on Nov. 8.

The Steelers would get their revenge on Palmer (in 2015 while he was with the Arizona Cardinals) and Eli Manning (in 2016), but their only home win against Peyton came in 2002.

Among these 12 consecutive victories are two each against Palmer, Alex Smith and Mayfield. It covers quarterbacks drafted No. 1 overall covering an 18-year span (Vick, 2001, to Mayfield, 2018).

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Does Mike Tomlin really buy into his own praise of Devlin Hodges?

Tim Benz: Steelers’ Mike Tomlin needs to believe in own praise for ‘Duck’ Hodges

By: Tim Benz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Mike Tomlin is in on his own joke. So, let’s let him have fun with it.

To a point.

The theme expressed by the Steelers head coach going into his team’s game against the Cleveland Browns Sunday was that he simply didn’t want new starting quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges to “kill” his team.

That was the exact “praise” Tomlin gave to Hodges when he started — and won — a game in Los Angeles against the Chargers back in Week 6.

Similarly, Hodges didn’t kill the Steelers when he replaced a concussed Mason Rudolph against Baltimore the previous week. Actually, he almost engineered a big comeback win.

Nor did he “kill” the Steelers when he replaced an ineffective Rudolph en route to a comeback victory in Cincinnati against the Bengals Nov. 24.

So when Hodges went 14-of-21 for 192 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions and just one sack on the way to a win against Cleveland Sunday, what did Tomlin think about that?

“He didn’t kill us,” Tomlin said again with a self-reflexive laugh.

At least this time, Tomlin elaborated a bit more by way of praising the former fourth stringer.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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