This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
For whatever weird reason, in the last 14 BAL-PIT meetings, the home team has only won 5 of them. It seems like they always split each year, and the road team always wins.
If the Steelers can win Sunday, the Ravens would still be three games up with five left to play. There's not much to worry about there.
"Lucky" 8-2 team or 4-6 team? Tough choice.As far as the Steelers, they're going nowhere. The only team they have the tiebreaker over is KC, which means they need to finish with more wins than Jacksonville and Denver - and neither of those teams is likely to win just nine games.nashua55 said:
i never said the steelers were going anywhere, i was just stating, i dont think the ravens are as good as thier record states. to me beating struggling teams like atlanta, tenn, and the saints isnt too impressive. billick calling the plays? so what, too me he is not the offensive genius that he wants people to think he is. in reality billick sucks as an offensive coach. since he left minny he has shown nothing of being an offenisve innovator. i just think the steelers need this game more than the ravens, and when comparing the teams i dont think the ravens are that much better. and about the quote of people sleeping on the ravens, i dont think that is the truth, all i keep hearing is the ravens have good shot at the superbowl, which sounds so familiar to the talk about the giants and the broncos a few weeks back. what are people saying about those teams now? hey i could be wrong thinking a 4-6 team has a chance against a 8-2 team, but i think the steelers do.
I see the Steelers as likely 8-8 at best, but hypothetically, they could make the playoffs if they finish with the same number of wins as Denver -- provided that KC also finishes with the same record and wins a tiebreaker with Denver. The NFL breaks ties within divisions before breaking ties throughout the conference. So if KC, Denver and Pittsburgh all finished 10-6 or 9-7, and the tiebreaker between KC and Denver goes to KC, then the Steelers would be the wild card.Again, I don't see it happening because the Steelers will give at least one more game away and/or have a team flat out beat them. I'm just making a point about the tiebreaking process.
I was at that game. The win was not convincing. The 14-0 start in the first 2 minutes of the game almost wasn't enough. Still a win, but not convincing.
..and has been stated, clutched a victory or 2 when defeat was staring them right in the eye.If the team shows up and starts playing the 1 o'clock game @ 1 o'clock, we likely win this one...
That's a fairly optimistic viewpoint but accurate in at least one respect: FWP needs to get it going for the Stillers to win. If they don't have to worry about the running game, however, the Ravens' blitzing is highly likely to get to Ben and force the kinds of mistakes that he has made in bunches this year.Also, Hines Ward is historically the Ravens-killer and his health should be a great deal of concern for the visitors.I know the AFC West and NFC North fans always talk up the bitter rivalries in their divisions but I hope they get this game televised in their areas today so they can see what real animosity is all about.
You are right on with the observation that Ben has to take care of the football for the steelers to win. But that applies to every game.......Same can be said for McNair and the Ravens.
The NFL is like that every year. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why people love to jump to definitive statements after one game. Its extremely hard to find consistency in the NFL. The overwhelming majority of teams play well above their talent level one week and then stink the next.joffer said:
I think you missed the point. The point is that Ben has been making a TON of mistakes - its one of their biggest problems. The same cannot be said for McNair - he has more TDs than INTs.
I don't follow you here. Ben threw 3 INTs in his last game. That is not "pretty good". Extrapolate that out to 16 games and he throws 48 INTs. That is not pretty good. He would get benched. In his last four games he has thrown 10 INTs. That's 40 INTs over 16 games. That's not pretty good, either. Let's try 5 games. 10 INTs over 5 games. That's 32 INTs. He'd still get benched.
That's a strange comment coming from someone as opinionated as you but I agree with it. It wouldn't surprise me to see Ben throw 3 picks today but also 3 TDs and win nor would it surprise me to see the Stillers without a turnover and yet still lose. This is the parity-driven NFL where anything can happen on any Sunday.
You left out that the Ravens still hold a grudge about Joey Porter's cheap shot* against Todd Heap.*Cheap shot in at least the Raven's eyes which is all that is relevant with this point.
BGP, do you watch football games or just look at boxscores? Pick 1 was the only one that was Ben's fault. It was a bit high and Holmes tipped the ball right into the defenders hands.Pick 2 was thrown right in Hines Ward's chest, a defender knocked it out of Ward's hands and into McGinnest who was laying on the ground. Pick 3 was right on the money to Cedrick Ward, who slipped, and the ball bounced off of his helmet and grabbed by a defender. Both good throws, Ben can't catch it for his receivers too.And Ben in the 4th quarter was outstanding, engineering THREE long TD drives. You should try watching football once in a while...
Though I did see a reference to that play in today's Baltimore Sun, I don't think anybody around here, including the Ravens, makes a very big deal about it. It was a relatively harmless bump and Heap had actually been injured on the previous play. Also, Porter was pretty quiet in that game otherwise, IIRC.But it's true that the animosity is real. Both teams fancy themselves as "tough" and they have often been in each other's path to the playoffs the last few years. There is also little chance that the Stillers get less than their opponent's best game, unlike some other 4-6 teams might, simply because they ARE the Stillers and defending Super Bowl champs. I believe that has worked against them this season.
Ray Ray was seen running well in practice yesterday but, when asked, he continued to hedge. Wouldn't surprise me to see him dressed, get into a couple of series but then leave early with his back flaring up.
Hmm. Normally I would give such interceptions the benefit of the doubt. But in this case, Ben has been so terrible at times that is not hard to imagine that his receivers are beginning to lose focus as this long season drags on. That's a perfectly normal and common reaction. If you've ever played a team sport or a team game, you would understand this. They see their QB struggling, and they stop trying as hard. So no, in this case, I would not absolve Ben here. He's got to play better and do it more consistently to lift up his teammates.
Don't kid yourself: the Ravens-Steelers has nothing on the Chiefs-Raiders.
How can you be overated when you were 15-1 2 years ago ,and won the Super Bowl last season. If anything ,they should have won the Super Bowl a couple of times since 1994. They always choked in the AFC title game at Home.
Either the Ravens are really good or the Steelers are really bad.I think the Ravens are the real deal. I thought they'd make the playoffs this year but this team is pretty tough. Steelers just have never got the momentum they usually get within games. They have been playing from behind and turning it over which makes the defense look average.
These are not mutually exclusive points.
You are way off on this one. You obviously don't watch the games.
