Tom Servo said:
The_Man:
Where's Roadkill and the rest of the Ravens crew? I loved their insights on the Titans game; I was wondering where they are. This thread needs them.

and a

to all our yinzer friends on the board.The Stillers' best game is better than the Ratbirds' best game. They're gonna have to shoot themselves in the foot a la Tennessee for Baltimore to have a chance. Fast Willie will probably do minimal damage but, as our GB The_Man noted, Pittsburgh's intermediate passing game to Hines and Heath, with Santonio to stretch the field, is what will probably carry the day for them. Baltimore's back seven got lit up in Nashville, as we all saw, and I don't see much of an improvement coming if Rolle is out and the pass rush is diminished by the loss of Suggs. That essentially puts them down to their 3rd and 4th CBs and we all also saw how Ben lit up a depleted secondary last year (though to be fair Walker and Washington are better than the '08 contingent).
I see the Steelers winning this one about 23-6. And it'll be painful to see it play out like that because this Ravens team has been pretty enjoyable to watch this year. They've often been pretty hard to like because of the way they strut and talk but I've really been impressed at the way they focused on cutting down on the mistakes and stupid penalties and just played so consistently hard. They brought it every game and it's the only reason they avoided any dumb upsets and squeaked into the playoffs. That's way more than we were expecting back in August.
I don't have much to add to roadkill's excellent post - he even has the same score I do. My thoughts:What I think the Ravens should do: open up the offense & turn Flacco loose from the get-go. It could very easily backfire & Baltimore gets blown out early. But I think they're running on fumes now & their only real chance (barring Pittsburgh playing uncharacteristically bad) is to try & score a ton of points.
What I think they will do: play field position & conservative as long as they're in striking distance (say, within 10 pts). I just don't think they can score enough in this manner to keep up.
For those so inclined to place a nickle or 2 on these type affairs, I don't see how the total stays under 34....while there will be alot of run attempts by both sides (I like MMoore to do more damage than FWP, btw), the Ravens have been doing a nice job of getting down field when needed and I think they hit the endzone at least once via the air strikePitts can and will throw on us....BIG
Suggs is in a sling---he probably man's up and dresses, but 1 shot to the shoulder and it turns to mush...while it's great to think he puts in the effort for the team and all, if the Ravens have any depth, it's @LB....it's not the pressure type Suggs provides, so Rex will need to figure out how to get to Ben w/o Sizzle
next, Rolle can hardly walk....first time he shows up on the field(if he does), Ben should go double move and over the top of him for a likely score--Holmes should be able to blow by him, no problem
and if he
can't go, it means Frank f'in Walker starts oposite Washington---where Ben should go double move and over the top...you know the rest--do not be afraid of Frank Walker
once Pittsburgh opens up a 17-3 lead in the 2nd quarter, expect Cam to throw the kitchen sink out there---I don't expect too much McClain/McGahee, but rather expect(hope for!) a solid dose of Ray Rice...I like 15 touches for Rice tomorrow, as there will be plenty of time for no huddle or hurry up and him seeing some checkdown work
also expect to see a couple Troy Smith packages in, a fake kick and some stuff we haven't seen yet this year...the point is I see more O out of the Ravens than we have the last couple weeks, and with Pitts moving the ball---and they will---I'm not shocked to see something in the 27-13 range, minimum, and maybe as many as 50 scored in this one
IF Rex Ryan schemes something the Steelers O-line struggles to handle, then the Blackbirds have an outside shot at comming out on top...but I still see this over the 34 as the loser gets into the mid-teens
the season has been more than anyone could have sanely predicted, and I'm looking forward to many more ACF championship games against