September at a glance.

Lots of stress about Haden and getting him acclimated, what it will do to the team and so on. But let's look at the first 4 games.

Week 1: Browns named the rookie their 4th different starting QB and he is throwing to who?

Week 2: Vikings Bradford with Diggs and Thieland, offensive line in shambles.

Week 3 Chicago starting Tribiskey throwing to who? Everyone they have is hurting.

Week 4: Ravens maybe Flacco, maybe not, injuries all over. Defense will play tough

These are not games that require an elite defense or secondary just average.

 

On paper, you are correct. Problem is, the games are played on grass. And with our history of slow starts and playing down to the competition, I'm not counting any chickens until they are hatched, grown, plucked, battered, deep fried and served with biscuits and gravy.

 

I remember when the Ryan Mallet lead Ravens beat the Steelers and the secondary made him look like a lock for the pro bowl. I also remember a Matt Cassel lead Vikings team and a Bruce Gradkowski lead Raiders team beating the Steelers because the secondary couldn't stop either one from throwing multiple TD and converting 74% of 3rd down conversions. Based on those past performances I don't care who is behind center or who the receivers are, we've been beat by scrubs before with this defense.

 

On paper guys on this board are giving the Raiders Championship status, on paper guys on this board were marveling at how well Jacksonville worked free agency and improved their team. On paper the actual legit defending Superbowl Champs look hurt and missing key pieces but still guys here have them as the most dominate team in the league. Yep the games are played on grass and yes this team has a history of starting slow and playing down to competition but looking at the first month or even the first two these are not teams that strike fear into the rest of the league by any stretch.

Look at the Pats opening month schedule, at home versus the Chiefs, at the Saints, at home versus the Texans, at home versus the Panthers, those are some tough games right out of the gate, meanwhile the Steelers who are predicted to be very strong on offense and a SB caliber team have a very middle of the road opening month and people are acting like we play the Pats four times in a row. Are they going to be cake walk games? no but we aren't dealing with hall of fame teams here either.

 

we will moida da bums.

 

Hardly the same defense. There might be two defensive players still with the team that played versus the raiders(Harrison, gay?). Also have different coordinators. Slightly more versus the chiefs and Vikings, but not the same defense nonetheless.

 

Most of Tomlin's led teams, seem to under perform from the start of the season, then turn it around at the middle and do better in November and December.

There were a few seasons that weren't that way, but usually the later is what happens most years.

We need to beat teams we should beat. No losing to inferior teams. If you get by New England or Green Bay, that can be understandable. Lose to the Bears, Browns, or a bad team. Not acceptable this season at all!!

 

healthy we should be able to beat anyone.

 

Even ourselves

 

especially ourselves lol

 

Looking at the first 8 games the Steelers should go 7-1 or 6-2 at the very worst. The only games I could see them potentially losing are at Baltimore, at KC, or at Detroit and they should at least win 2 of those 3 games. No excuses what so ever to lose to the Browns or Bears on the road or the Vikings,Jags, or even the Bengals at home in the other 5 games. If the Steelers are going to stay right with the Patriots for homefield they pretty much can't afford to lose any of the first 7 or 8 games.

 

4-0

 

Browns

Focus on the Browns

Must beat the Browns


lol

 

So far so good need to take advantage of the Bears next week and push our record to 3-0. If we can do that and beat the Ravens the following week who will probably be 3-0 as well going into that game we have a chance to take over total control of this division early on. We got the Jags at home the week after the Ravens game and the Ravens go to Oakland the following week. So if we can beat both the Ravens and Jags and push our record to 5-0 there is a good chance the Ravens lose in Oakland the following week and we could have a 2 game lead on Baltimore already with the tiebreaker in hand. So a huge couple of weeks coming up for the Steelers to try and take advantage of the schedule and essentially put and early season strangle hold on this division.

 

Bears suck 3-0
Ravens suck 4-0

On to October

 

I think 2-2 is more likely.

 

^^ could be if the players can't stay healthy for more than 2 games in a row ^^

 

Meanwhile, the Patriots are back in championship form.

 

Steelers better plan on winning the division.
Ravens defense looks for real, and looks like one of the best in the NFL.

The AFC West looks awesome. I see 3 playoff teams in that division. But, we got a long way to go, it's only week 3.

 

I kind of want the Ravens to keep pushing the Steelers. I'd like to see the Ravens make the playoffs, but the AFC West looks really tough right now. The Ravens, even with a lousy offense, always give the Patriots fits. I wouldn't be opposed to see them draw New England in the playoffs and take them out.

 

I'd rather beat the Ravens in 2 weeks then beat the Jags the following week and move to 5-0 and see the Ravens also lose in Oakland the following week and drop to 3-2 with a 2 game lead over them. I want to get a nice cushion on the division this year so the Steelers can focus immediately on trying to get that 1 or 2 seed in the playoffs. Winning these next 3 games at Chicago, at Balt, and home against the Jags and starting 5-0 can go a long way toward doing just that.

 

Are you implying that others here would rather this NOT happen? Why stop at 5-0? I encourage you to make the case for 16-0 or 20-0. I like what you're doing here though - you're saying that football is like a dogsled team, if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes!

 

We are probably more healthy than the average team at this point.

 

After 2 weeks, we got a boat load of football to be played, but yes, AFCW looks beastly with Oak., KC and Den. all looking solid.

 

Let's not get ahead of ourselves and take it 1 game at a time