did Marshall Faulk just say the Bengals were better than the Steelers?

Fair enough. Without speaking to the doctors this is all speculation by us. I do think though that if the doctors feel that he is no more at risk than anyone else on the team, then he should play. I don't know what the risk is though, whether there's no risk at all or simply less risk than in the past.

Tomlin wouldn't let his son play and I wouldn't let my son play either (if I had one), but as a coach of an NFL team Tomlin can't operate his team based on what he would and wouldn't let his son do. He needs to allow the medical staff to make decisions on medical issues.

 

Have to agree with Faulk on this one right now the Bungles are better. Next week the rumble will be decided in the ring @ Heinz field until then......

 

This is going to be a game where I am really going to miss Ward. Ward stepped up his games for the Bengals games. He knew how important it was to buckle down and give beat downs to teams in your division that you should to beat.

 

This is the "How to the Steelers make the Playoffs at 8-8? Scenario" The Steelers aren't done at 8-8, but as you'd expect their chances are not great.
I've been bit of a nut over the years when it comes to figurind and studying NFL tiebreakers. I find them fascinating mathematically. But in any case.

Before y'day I had the Steelers chances of getting into the playoffs at 8-8 at about 15%, (meaning if the Steelers finish 8-8, they had 15% chance of getting in).
Cincy's win y'day dropped that to about 7%. Not great odds, but higher than a lot of people think.

At 8-8, and assuming that win comes again Cincy. The Steelers are out IF:

- Cincy beats Baltimore OR
- The Jets finish 9-7 OR
- Cleveland finished 8-8 (they will get one of their wins over the Steelres in this scenario and will have a head to head sweep over PIT) OR
- Miami or Buffalo or SD finish 8-8 All will have better better conf record than Pit or will have beaten them Head to head.

If the Steelers finish 9-7, my figuring has the Steelers w/ a 79% chance of getting in the playoffs),
The biggest risk is that they get 9-7 by beating Dal and Cle, and losing to Cincy, and Cincy beats Baltimore.

The other risk is that the Steelers get to 9-7 by beating Cincy and Dallas and losing to Cle. This gives the Steelers only 5 conf wins.
If Indy loses out and finished 9-7 and the Jets finish 9-7 (By winning out). In that 3 way tie, the Jets get the #5 Seed w/ 7 conf wins, and Indy #6 w/ 6 Conf wins, and the Steelers are out.

 

yes and many do not realize that in a 3 way tie for the last seed the Steelers are out based on conference record because head to head at that point is tossed out the window so the Jets are then the superior team according to those guidelines

 

The Jets suck, they won't win out, I'm calling it right now.

Indy wins 1 more game, to get to 10 wins, I'm calling it right now.

Steelers will .... at this point not I nor anyone else on this board can call anything.

 

the jets are 1 game worse than the Steelers so if the Jets suck that is not saying much for the Steelers ....

The Jets have easiest schedule of all the final 3 they only need to win 1 more than us ( to tie us , and if Bengals are also tied Jets get in via conference record ) and we are not going to run the table the way we have been playing


I think it is easier for them to run the table than it is us based on schedule ....

 

drunken hillbilly was a classic before his time