SB chances...

I think the upcoming games against Buffalo and Indy will help to tell us what type of postseason we can hope for. I say this because we have yet to face high quality qb play this season. Allen and Rivers, though, will test our secondary.

Those qbs combined with our recent struggles vs the run, makes me less than confident that we will beat those two teams. And if they have significant success against our secondary, I shudder to think what Mahomes would do against us.

I hope the Steelers surprise me.

 

Deshaun Watson is still a major weapon
Ryan Tannehill has turned his career around since leaving Miami and looks the part of a 1st rd qb
Joe Burrow was throwing 300 yd games against damn near everyone...….
has it occurred to you that our defense is actually making good qb's look bad.

 

Rivers!?

 

I don't think any of those qbs pose the threat that Allen and Rivers pose. Watson is very good, but is limited by the team around him. Tannehill is good when he has an effective running game--which we negated almost entirely when we played them. Burrow, similar to Watson, may end up being very good but is/was limited by the talent around him.

So, I guess what I am saying is that I think Allen and Rivers, all things considered, pose a more significant threat than any of the qbs we have faced this year.

 

What qb this season has NOT tested our secondary? I don't think facing any qb in the league is going to tell us anything we don't already know. Facing the Colts and Bills defenses might tell us more about our offense than their qb's will tell us about our defense.

 

Not to mention.... Didn't Lamar Jackson win the MVP last year? I guess some people thought he was high quality.

 

Rivers, who struggled significantly his last years in LA, has found himself in a situation with a much better offensive line and a running game. Doesn't hurt that he also has one of the league's best defenses to support him. I wouldn't sleep on the Colts.

Don't get me wrong, I think we have a good chance against the Colts. My point is that I think they will test our secondary MORE than we have been tested thus far.

 

Lamar Jackson is a good qb...but not one that you trust to put a lot of pressure on a secondary with his arm. Whenever teams have found a way to make him beat them with his arm, he has struggled.

 

Yeah, I guess it's just that I know that our offense is very suspect--we can't run the ball well vs good teams! But what is not completely known to me is whether or not our defense can handle a more potent passing attack--especially when that team can effectively run the ball too. And both the Bills and Colts have shown that they can do that.

But to your point, even the backup qbs we have faced this year have had too much success against us (with the exception of Luton).

 

I rather face teams we haven’t beaten in the regular season lol.

like beat Miami then chiefs on the way to the SB

 

Especially from you own division. The old saying 'it is very hard to defeat an opponent 3x in one year' has merit. That said Bum Phillips he wanted something like this on his tombstone, "I had to play the SB Champion Steelers 6x in 2 years", lol.

 

You're right that our offense is suspect. But we haven't been able to run against the most porous run defenses in the league. It's more about us than them. Any of them.

But it's weird. Conventional wisdom says this team should NOT be undefeated. The eye test says this team should NOT be undefeated. History says this team should NOT be undefeated. 538 says this team should NOT be undefeated. And yet, we prevail. Defying logic, we prevail. So I honestly can't say that any player or any unit or any team scares me, unless that player, unit, or team wears black and gold and is not the Iowa Hawkeys.

 

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.

 

I think that way too but I remember one of our Super Bowls we had to beat the Ravens 3 times. Obviously the 2 regular season games but we met them in the Playoffs. The talking heads during the whole week leading up to it were talking and talking about how near impossible it is to beat a team 3 times in one season. They may be right but we did it and went on to win SB 5 or 6 (damn memory)

 

Me either. He’s a great athlete, but he’s not great throwing the ball, which I hear is an important attribute for a QB.

But, like it or not, he was the MVP.

 

I can't say anything about Allen because I haven't watched him enough.

As far as Rivers, the only way that over-rated slob will test a secondary is if the secondary is playing inside ten yards from the line of scrimmage. He might test an occasional linebacker in coverage but that's about it. And he won't test our linebackers for too long because he will be getting to know them up close and in person.

 

What are the Romans 5 to 8 odds to do?

 

I’d like to think we couldn’t beat a team 3 times in a season this year, it’s WAY difficult. Then again we can’t lose lol