The Steelers playoff hopes rest on winning these next 2 games...

At Cincinnati next Sunday and home to the Browns on Dec 1st it’s really quite that simple. I think if they win both of these games and improve to 7-5 overall and 6-3 in the AFC Conference record wise their chances of making the playoffs are going to be very very good. Anything less then 2-0 these next two games and they aren’t making the playoffs. And quite honestly if they can’t beat a pathetic Bengals team that is winless and has a backup Quarterback playing and then beat the Browns here at home the following week with all the motivation in the world from what happened last night then they don’t deserve to get in the playoffs.

So winning those two games gets them to 7-5. I think the Steelers beat the Bills at home Dec 15th which gets them to 8 wins, which means all they have to do is win one of those other 3 road games at Arizona, at the Jets or at Baltimore to get to 9 wins and finish with a conference record of either 8-4 or 7-5 which will win them tiebreakers over other AFC wildcard contenders and plus they will have the head to head tiebreakers over both the Bills and Colts who will both finish no better then 9-7 bank on it.

So that’s the bottom line here is if the Steelers win the next 2 weeks in Cincy and at home against the Browns for as bad as things looked last night they will be in great shape to make the playoffs. So everything they want right now is all still right in front of them and it starts with winning against both the Bengals and Browns the next 2 weeks which are now MUST WIN games.

 

I just want to never see Myles ever on a field again

 

I have a feeling the Steelers are going to do work these next two games barring they can field a full team.

 

Playoffs? You're talking about playoffs? Playoffs?

 

I didn’t think playoffs once Ben went down but once we got mink and started winning games I was like “ok, we might do something”. Still I was hoping for development from mason and others for the future.

All I’ve seen is we will be in cap hell next year, O line regressed, won’t be able to keep bud and hargrave, Ben getting older, juju is not a number 1, mason has not been improving, we have no running backs, Haden getting older.

so while there is a shot to make playoffs they will be one and done, and next year may be more of the same if not worse.

crap I went full heinz there

 

Always like having another playoff notch in the belt even though this team would be one and done.

 

I thought they had 6 left?

 

Looks like the bungles has found a solid defense, that doesnt bode well for our very weak offense:

Credit is due to Cincinnati's defense, which played with tremendous effort from start to finish, getting the ball back while preserving just a seven-point deficit late. Sure, the Bengals offense ultimately failed -- no surprise there -- but if Cincinnati is looking for moral victories in a season devoid of actual wins, it got one Sunday. Sam Hubbard was a menace up front, Nick Vigil was constantly involved, the Bengals' secondary helped keep Carr from the end zone on at least two red-zone trips, and the unit collectively kept the Bengals in the game until the very end. An 0-10 record is tough to look at, but there have been much worse 0-10 teams than this Bengals squad. Perhaps they'll eventually find enough offensively to pull out a win carried by their defense. It just didn't happen Sunday.

 

The Steelers playoff hopes rest on a QB who can't play QB and a coaching staff who is questionable at best.

 

We can still get there. Go Steelers

 

I like the attitude Glenn.

That is why "I" am constantly saying on here that, "I", feel we are still "Significant". Take care my friend.


STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

I hope you were joking about having a solid defense??
They gave up 17 to Oakland and 292 yards to Derek Carr... who isn't a top 10 or maybe even 15 qb in the league this year..
They gave up 49 points to the Ratbirds..

Their D gives up 425 yards per game...
Are tied with Dallas for 2nd to worse INT in the entire season (only have 4 INT)
And overall are a -11 in the turnover difference..

 

There are no guaranteed wins in this league, if they take them for granted it will be another disappointment that has been a trend this season.....

 

I think the Steelers defense is gonna play well enough in this game in Cincinnati on Sunday forcing a bunch of turnovers from Ryan Finley that will allow the Steelers offense a short field a bunch of times to score some points. It’s not a guaranteed win by any means but there is just no way the Steelers by any imagination should lose this game in Cincy on Sunday. It would probably be if not one of them THE worst loss of the Mike Tomlin era should that happen. There is gonna be no homefield advantage in this game for the Bengals either as there will be a ton of Steelers fans at this game. So there will just be no excuse to lose this game at all I don’t care who is available and not available.

 

Hey Stone.

I agree on 1/2. I do believe Mason can ball. I do not believe that this coaching staff can coach. AKA "Teach".

STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

I want to give the kid every chance and I especially admire him for standing tall after a near death experience (at least it looked that way) but if he doesn't know by now that you can't throw from your back foot, and you have to lead a WR to give your duck time to fly to him, I don't think he ever will.

 

Hey steel_ben7.

I also thought they were going to beat the Browns. However, the Browns I believe are better than the Bengals. However again, we have to see where "Mason's Collective Head" is at as well as where our injury situation is. Max-Protect for Mason. I do not care about Cincinnati's "D" statistics. As I have said in other posts, no matter what our record is, the Steelers are the "Gold Standard" that other teams want to compete against. Fact or Fiction in this present day it does not matter. It is what the other teams perceive it to be. Like I also have said for years, that is why we are followed "World-Wide". No denying it folks.

STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Damn, you beat me to it.

 

I believe this season will end just like last season did until it doesn't . I am just hoping we are not the Bungles 1st win. The big question to me is how will that Sh#t show on Thursday night impact future play? Will it embolden the team or will they play like there is nothing after week 17? I hope they show something positive this Sunday. I hope.

 

They have to get to 9 wins before going to Baltimore. They'll never win down there.

So they have to go 4-1 in the next 5 weeks.

First off, we can't afford any more injuries. I've never seen anything quite like this season. We gotta get healthy. Conner has to be back by the Arizona game. Same with DJ. Juju should be back next game I'm hoping, but has to be back by Clev.

They should be able to beat Cinncy. And without Garrett, they have a good chance to win at home against Clev. And they should have a good chance against the Jets. If you're a legit team at all, these are games you should win. Especially with the season on the line.

They have to go 1-1 with the Bills and Cardinals. Not going to be easy. At least the Bills game is in Pittsburgh.

Most importantly, Randy is going to HAVE to come up with an offense that is creative and masks our weaknesses a bit. Otherwise, forget it.

 

Hey Steel Hog.

Last season was a complete meltdown. How the "F" do we not win the division? Just one more win. Shoot, go back to the tie in Week#1 vs. the Browns. Win that game and the division was ours. Some other poster argued this with me the other day about this. You know the usual "You are what your record is" stuff. I get his point. However, we did a 180 and "F-ed" that up big time.

There were other games that we seemingly had in the bag last season as well and we let them out which also could have been pointed at. Just "Disgusting" as I say. I am still infuriated about the outcome of not winning the division. Even Ed Bouchette, who I personally could care less about, was stating weekly that he was "not worried" about us winning the division as it was crumbling before all of our eyes.

Wonder how he felt when it was all said and done. He probably could have cared less anyway. Him, like most of the PPG writers were just worried about getting invited to the next free luncheon/press conference. Nice gig I tell you.

STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Anything's possible and hope is eternal, but hasn't this same thread been started the last 6 weeks? Granted they won 4 in a row in there but still managed to lose two key Division games. Addition through subtraction is never a good strategy and that seems to be the only constant this season. This Division is like a dog sled team: Unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes and we ain't the lead dog anytime soon. How in the world did the Steelers beat the Chargers way out west with Duck at the helm and then the Chargers went on to beat the Packers soundly? This in a nutshell describes this NFL season of mystery and bizarre drama.

 

I think they need to beat the Bengals, Browns, and the Bills. Those games are MUST wins, and split the two road games with the Cards and Jets. They have to win that Bills game at home for tiebreaker purposes with the wildcard Incase the Bills finish 9-7 along with the Steelers which has a very good chance of happening looking at the Bills last 6 games which are very tough. I’m with you though when you say they can’t go into that Ravens game at 8-7 and needing to win it. They have to be 9-6 and hope that both the Bills and Colts are 8-7 or 9-6 going into those games and one or both lose. That’s the Steelers best path and chance of getting a wildcard.

 

I agree with that statement... any team can win on any game day... But no where did I say in my post, that we would win..