Patriots* @ Steelers Pregame Thread

Steelers have a playoff mentality entering Patriots* game

Win = play past Dec. 31
Lose = go home after Dec. 31

Perspective
Those words were written on the white board at the entrance of the Steelers’ locker room Friday afternoon.

In reality, the Steelers might not have to beat the Patriots* on Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field to get into the playoffs, but it sure would make things a whole lot easier.

The Steelers (7-5-1) have a half-game lead over the Ravens (7-6), who play host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend. It’s not exactly a win-or-go-home game situation, but it is pretty close with a road game against the Saints (11-2) looming next week.

The NFL playoffs don’t start until Jan. 6, but for the Steelers, they start Sunday against the Patriots*.
“I love adversity,” Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. “It’s something I love to embrace. I think as a team it brings you closer. In times like this, when your backs are against the wall, everyone is against you. All we have is who we have in here.”

The Steelers are in this position because they’ve lost three consecutive games, including one last week to the Raiders, who are tied for the worst record in the NFL.

A month ago, after they beat Jacksonville, the Steelers had a 97 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 93 percent chance to win the AFC North division title, according to fivethirtyeight.com. Now they have just a 62 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 56 percent chance to win the division.
That puts a lot of emphasis on the game against the Patriots*, an opponent that has won 9 of the past 11 in the series against the Steelers.

“Obviously when you’re in an adverse situation, the natural human tendency is to seek comfort,” receiver Antonio Brown said. “We know what’s at stake. We know what’s in front of us. We have to go out there and prove ourselves.”

At the beginning of the week, coach Mike Tomlin said: “We are not going to hope and wish. We are not going to go through the process in the manner in which we have and hope the outcome changes.”

That kicked off a week of competition on the practice field for the Steelers, who are making two lineup changes on defense. Cameron Sutton is taking over in the slot for Mike Hilton and Artie Burns is going to play over Coty Sensabaugh at outside corner.

On offense, receiver Eli Rogers could be elevated to the active roster Saturday and play a significant role.

On special teams, the Steelers brought in former kicker Shaun Suisham to work with the struggling Chris Boswell, who has made just 62.5 percent of his kicks on the season.

All of the tweaks are being made in hopes of changing their luck against the Patriots*, who have won five consecutive games over the Steelers. The last time the Steelers beat the Patriots* was in 2011.
What do the Steelers have to do different this time around?

“Win,” Brown said. “That’s it.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2018/12/14/pittsburgh-steelers-new-england-Patriots*-playoff-mentality/stories/201812140121

Articles like this are giving me some hope but still think it's going to be a tough task to reverse this thing with them this year. Playoffs, or whatever, really don't matter...it's just this week and beating them down. Steelers could do a little to preserve their 6 by giving them a loss here, dropping them in the seedings, and making marcia and company play round one then go on the road.

They should have a playoff mentality every week. Treat every game like a playoff game, every week. Never take any opponent lightly. These are lessons they should've learned over the past couple of seasons.

They need to ball out the next three weeks or they'll be sitting on a couch watching the playoffs instead of participating in them.

I think they can win it, but they need be ruthless, relentless, and play mistake-free football.

That kicked off a week of competition on the practice field for the Steelers, who are making two lineup changes on defense. Cameron Sutton is taking over in the slot for Mike Hilton and Artie Burns is going to play over Coty Sensabaugh at outside corner.

If they line Burns up on Josh Gordon I feel like it'll be game over. And did I miss something with Hilton? I thought he was playing pretty good football. Not that I have anything against Sutton.
Man we really need a replacement (not named Sensabaugh) for Burns. I hope we can get to and rattle Marsha early.

solardave wrote:

That kicked off a week of competition on the practice field for the Steelers, who are making two lineup changes on defense. Cameron Sutton is taking over in the slot for Mike Hilton and Artie Burns is going to play over Coty Sensabaugh at outside corner.

If they line Burns up on Josh Gordon I feel like it'll be game over. And did I miss something with Hilton? I thought he was playing pretty good football. Not that I have anything against Sutton.
Man we really need a replacement (not named Sensabaugh) for Burns. I hope we can get to and rattle Marsha early.

Speaks to the state of the secondary when they're turning back to Artie Burns. Honestly I do hope this kid has stopped living in his head and redeems himself. He went from looking so promising as a rookie, to absolute rock bottom in his third season. So we know he could play at a high level at one point, he needs to get over the mental part of it. I hope he does, but he's definitely a huge liability from everything we've see so far this season.

My gut is screaming at me that the Steelers are going to win this game.

Prediction: Patriots* 45 Steelers 32 Steelers miss the playoffs.

Keith Butler fired Monday morning. Tomlin gets one more year to make it to the AFC Championship or he will be fired at the end of the 2019 season. Ben retires after 2019 and the rebuild begins... here's to hoping Rudolph has the right stuff.

Wallace108 wrote:

My gut is screaming at me that the Steelers are going to win this game.

Here's hoping your gut is right  I can't explain, I kind of have the same feel. I don't know why because everything seems to go against them winning but it just feels like they could anyhow

Texas won today so cheats fall to 3rd seed with a loss tomorrow.

https://triblive.com/sports/steelers/14410040-85/kevin-gorman-steelers-Patriots*-turning-point-for-mike-tomlin

Quote :

Kevin Gorman: Steelers-Patriots* turning point for Mike Tomlin

Quote :

Cameron Heyward heard the catcalls from Pittsburgh Steelers fans for the firing of Mike Tomlin this past week, and the defensive captain couldn’t believe it was even a consideration.

But three consecutive losses sent Steelers Nation into a panic. The sudden threat of missing the playoffs for the first time in five years has fans in a firing frenzy and Tomlin the target of their frustration.

Steeler Nation gettine very very restless. but I'll believe it when it happens.

hope this isn't a hard game to watch today.

Nice drive. Nice play calling. Need to run more. Let's go D!!!

why does Butler still have a job? being that WIDE OPEN that is not a NFL defense quality coaching.

Jesus, 63yds easiest TD ever. Three DBs covered the same player and nobody was within 20yds of Hogan.

Man would it be nice to see an actual defense show up for once.

Butler needs to die

ben getting greedy.

Offensive line awful on that drive. Making Patsy defenders look better than they are.

Now the stumbling begins...

This is embarrassing. How could someone get that wide open? Then our one sided offense stalls again.

A three and out, I'll take it. The Patriots* stopped themselves that drive, fine by me.

Juju one of the bright spots this season.

Just abandoning the running game again. I mean we're moving the ball but we need to be less predictable.

AB excellent catch.

Time for a 3 and out from our D now.

Maybe today we turn this train around.

steelers offense is on fire! who know it was because they were missing Eli?