Patriots* @ Steelers Pregame Thread

Tim Benz again, with some early week humor...or not.

https://triblive.com/sports/columnists/timbenz/breakfastwithbenz/14389612-74/laugh-at-rob-gronkowski-while-you-can-before-he-faces-steelers

That's funny I don't care who you are. Best coach ever, a real genius! Truth is Gronkoski will bounce back next week and we know that as well as anyone.

I'll bet they're licking their chops right now. It would be nice to play a part in spoiling their hopes of being the #2 seed but I don't see that happening.

I anticipate the Steelers playing a great 45 minutes of football only to falter in the 4th quarter ONCE AGAIN!

It'll be missed tackles, dropped passes, no running lanes, overthrown passes, and poor coaching.

stlrtruck wrote:

I anticipate the Steelers playing a great 45 minutes of football only to falter in the 4th quarter ONCE AGAIN!

It'll be missed tackles, dropped passes, no running lanes, overthrown passes, and poor coaching.

Don't forget bad calls or missed calls intentionally.

Honestly I think it'll be over by halftime. I don't think the Patriots* stand a chance.

It's a must win for the Steelers now. Lose and we won't reach the play-offs this year, unless the Ravens screw up.

Patriots* are having a Steelers' year btw with losses against the Jauguars, Lions, Titans and now Dolphins.

Pats* aren't great but they win this game.  I see Gronk being open all game long.  Tons of 5 yard passes to Gronk where he runs for 10, 15, 20 or more yards.  Hate it but that's what going to happen.

On the other hand, we will beat New Orleans and Cincy.  Them's the way we roll, ladies and gents.

A LB'r on gronk all day long. What could possibly go wrong?

Remember how Gronk ran wide open in the second half during the last game guess I'll see if they fixed that this game.

Steelers really need to win out now, they've backed themselves into a corner. I still love my team, always will, but when you get beat by a 2-10 team and embarass yourselves the way we just did. I don't know that I see them beating the likes of New England, and New Orleans back to back. Here's to hoping.

Marsha watched the last few Steeler games and is licking his chops unless Butler pulls his head out of his ass and figures out LBs can’t cover Gronk or WRs Brady is going to have a field day and the Steelers will be out of the playoffs.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Steelers really need to win out now, they've backed themselves into a corner. I still love my team, always will, but when you get beat by a 2-10 team and embarass yourselves the way we just did. I don't know that I see them beating the likes of New England, and New Orleans back to back. Here's to hoping.

Hopefully they embarrassed themself enough to motivate them to get this thing done on Sunday. They are going to need Conner and not to mention a few 'tweeks' on the defensive game plan. Forgetting everything else, division, playoffs, it would be Christmas early if they take some respect back and avenge the constant losing to the cheats and the Raiders game last week. With Houston's remaining schedule the cheats likely to be a 3rd seed this year if they take one more loss. I'm not entirely confident of it happening with Conner's uncertain status and the inability to play defense against lesser teams, but it would be awesome if they pull it out. If nothing else I hope they knock marcia on her ass all day long.

one thing I'm pretty sure of the Steelers defense will lose the team jet in coverage and watch its back end as it takes off and flies to New England.

Roethlisberger won’t practice Wednesday, expects to play Sunday vs. New England

https://www.pennlive.com/steelers/2018/12/ben-roethlisberger-wont-practice-wednesday-expects-to-play-sunday-vs-new-england-report.html

Ben never practices on Wednesday anyway. If we don't win another game this year i would love nothing more than to see New England limb back home after a ROYAL ass whipping. I'm talkin' epic beat down on both Brady and Gronkowski. But that would leave me thinking we can beat the Saints and I can live with that too.

solardave wrote:

Ben never practices on Wednesday anyway. If we don't win another game this year i would love nothing more than to see New England limb back home after a ROYAL ass whipping. I'm talkin' epic beat down on both Brady and Gronkowski. But that would leave me thinking we can beat the Saints and I can live with that too.

My thinking exactly

If it weren't the Patriots*, I'd say we win this game - we almost always beat the best teams in the league.

Except the Patriots*. And they aren't even among the best in the league, IMHBAO.

I hope we cover Gronk with someone who can handle him. If I have to watch Matakevich or Fort chase after him all game I think I'll puke.

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

Marsha watched the last few Steeler games and is licking his chops unless Butler pulls his head out of his ass and figures out LBs can’t cover Gronk or WRs Brady is going to have a field day and the Steelers will be out of the playoffs.

by the way, love the Marsha reference.

nine vegetable wrote:

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

Marsha watched the last few Steeler games and is licking his chops unless Butler pulls his head out of his ass and figures out LBs can’t cover Gronk or WRs Brady is going to have a field day and the Steelers will be out of the playoffs.

by the way, love the Marsha reference.

Yeah he's been Marsha for awhile here.

nine vegetable wrote:

If it weren't the Patriots***, I'd say we win this game - we almost always beat the best teams in the league.

Except the Patriots***.  And they aren't even among the best in the league, IMHBAO.

I hope we cover Gronk with someone who can handle him.  If I have to watch Matakevich or Fort chase after him all game I think I'll puke.

These were kind of my thoughts too even after the Oakland mess. But I see it as unlikely at this point...maybe slightly better than that if Conner is back. A loss here by the Pats** would be a critical blow. With a Texans win this week against Jets, and Steelers win, it would put the Pats** a game behind and into the 3rd seed. Texans finish up with Phil and Jax. Marcia and company haven't done well in the past playing the first weekend and away from home later rounds.

I think we can beat New England. I don't know why, but I'm feeling better about our chances. Last week I wasn't feeling so good about the Raiders game, but I feel better now. New England has some weaknesses that have been exposed this season, we need to exploit them. Gronk looks slow and tired, we should beat the hell out of him by jamming him at the line, and chipping him when we can. Josh Gordon is the guy that worries me. Our secondary struggles against speedier receivers. They should focus on Gronk and Gordon in passing situations and they're going to have to bottle up up Sony Michel and James White. The defense absolutely has to show up for this game, and play mistake free football.

Interesting news here:


Steelers bring in former Giants coach to help defense, former kicker to help Boswell ahead of Pats** game


The Steelers brought in two kickers for tryouts this week, days after Chris Boswell missed to field goals in Oakland, including one that would've tied the game as time expired. Boswell, who signed a four-year, $16.8 million deal before the season, has had a forgettable year.

A Pro Bowler a season ago, Boswell joined the Steelers in 2015 and converted 89.5 percent of his kicks from 2015-2017. Through 13 games in '18, he's just 10 of 16 on field goal attempts (62.5 percent) -- including 3 of 8 from 40-49 yards -- and has missed six extra points too.

But instead of jettisoning Boswell, the Steelers opted to get him some help in the form of former Pittsburgh kicker Shaun Suisham, who played for the team from 2010-2014 and converted 87.9 percent of his field-goal attempts and never missed an extra point in five years (though it's worth pointing out that extra points went from 20-yard attempts to 33-yard attempts in 2015).

Suisham's career ended when he tore his ACL during a 2015 preseason game. Now, three years later, he's back in Pittsburgh.

"It's just good to have another kicker out there, throwing ideas off each other," Boswell said after practice Thursday, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "He was in the league for 11 years, so it's always good to have a guy like that around watching. It's good to have a guy of his caliber."

The Steelers, who were 7-2-1 a month ago, are now 7-5-1 after losing three straight. They're still atop the AFC North though just barely; a half-game separates them from the surging Ravens. And with remaining games against the Patriots**, Saints and Bengals, they have a 70.4 percent chance of making the postseason, according to Football Outsiders. And while that sounds high, heading into last week's game against the Raiders, their chances stood at 86.9 percent.

Complicating matters: The Pats** comes to Heinz Field riding a five-game winning streak against the Steelers, mostly because Pittsburgh's defense historically has had no answers for Tom Brady. And that explains this:

Quote :

The #Steelers also brought in longtime LBs coach Jim Hermann to work w/ their defense this week. (He was the #Giants LBs coach when I covered NY. Those Giants beat the #Patriots** twice in one season.)

What it doesn't explain, however, is why the current defensive coordinator, Keith Butler, and the current linebackers coaches, Joey Porter and Jerry Olsavsky, can't figure out how to stop New England's offense. Also worth noting: Two weeks ago against the Chargers, the Steelers' game plan included covering Keenan Allen, one of the NFL's best receivers, with a linebacker. In related news, Allen set season highs in receptions (14) and yards (148) in Los Angeles' comeback win.

Full article: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/steelers-bring-in-former-giants-coach-to-help-defense-former-kicker-to-help-boswell-ahead-of-Pats**-game/

Look, if your staff, like LWS pointed out, needs help from outsiders to coach your team. Maybe you should replace those coaches. I mean by the time you become a coach at the NFL level shouldn't you be able to do that or take a seat Junior. I don't know why Porter is still here. I don't know much about Olsavsky but he isn't getting it done either and Butler hasn't exactly figured anything out himself.
Maybe they should bring in Bill Parcells to tutor Tomlin.He could at least show him how to FIRE coaches. At the end of the season of course.

I'm assuming Conner is out for sure at this point. I've not heard much either way.

I like any player who has a grudge against the cheats like I do. Be nice to see Ridley take it out on the field though

Steelers' Stevan Ridley says '14 departure from Pats* 'hadn't sat well'

PITTSBURGH -- Steelers running back Stevan Ridley isn't backing down from comments he made to the Boston Herald that the New England Patriots* "trashed" him after he was injured in his final season there.

Ridley, a former 1,000-yard rusher, will be part of the Steelers' two-man rushing attack Sunday against New England at Heinz Field, and he said he can't wait.

"That's my old team. [The departure] really hadn't sat well, and I'm a competitor," Ridley told Pittsburgh media after Thursday's practice. "I'm going to compete. To have the opportunity to be out there on the field, going against my old team, you can bet it. I'm fired up about it and I'm excited."

Ridley started 25 games for New England from 2011 through 2014, including a breakout second season in which he had 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns. But Ridley tore his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments during the 2014 season, and the Patriots* moved on from him.

"I was trashed after an injury," Ridley told the Boston Herald. "I'm just going to put it that way. I'm not going to say specifically, but to be a starter for [the Patriots*] for four years, to tear my ACL and never get a call back, that's a tough pill to swallow."

Article here: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25529565/stevan-ridley-stands-remarks-new-england-Patriots*-stint

Honestly I don't think he's the RB he was back then but I'd too love to see him he that good for one day.
60 minutes. "Smashmouth baby"!!