Dr. Tyler; Captain America

On the contrary, as I also said, they have quite a few injuries and that's the only reason this one's close. Plax catches that third down bullet from Roethlisberger. Plax also catches the deep bomb from Roeth that was called back by the Krieder hold and dropped by El. Regardless, the Steelers are going to win this game, and thus, I can't see how you are gonna claim that this is a way to "beat" the Steelers. Especially since they're gonna lose. Not to mention all the drives the Steelers have kept alive by handing the Jaguars penalties.

It's been going both ways. The officiating has been relatively terrible.

I dunno, I didn't think he really had it.

Gregh. 7-7, sloppy tackling and they guessed the blitz right.

7-0. Nice throw, beautiful catch.

Damn it, Willie Williams got beat on that play. If Leftwich had put the ball on the money, Smith would've been gone. I never thought I'd say it, but I can't wait until Chad Scott returns.

Agreed, but it's still annoying to see players slipping so damned much.

They do. It's shit.

Man, Ben is wearing a HUGE flak jacket. I couldn't move in one of those things. I wonder if he's got rib problems.

Yeah... maybe it's wishful thinking. However, a statistic like that feels like a statistic that would be relevant in the 60's in the south. And 40 years later, it's not as much of an issue at all. It's a terrible situation, no doubt. But my silly optimistic side says that this has to change, you know?

Which is FieldTurf's advantage. It prevents a situation like that at Hines Field, where the field is ridiculously torn up, but it isn't carpet. (haha, i'm leaving that "Hines" typo because HINES WARD ROCKS YEAHHHHHHHHHH )

Is it your belief that this will never change? It occurs to me to be sort of the same type of cultural difference that exists between blacks and whites (albeit, I concede, religion for this region is an incredible wedge issue), and thus, it could subside with time.

Well, watch the Steelers play at Heinz Field a few times and you'll have an aversion to grass

Apparently, there was like a hundred onside kicks in the first quarter of the Titans-Colts game.

FieldTurf, since it has the advantages of astroturf while failing to be cement.

Haynes had been the second running back all year; Bettis is just the goal line back. Krieder makes that running offense go. After watching the Steelers for the past three years and watching Krieder consistently neutralize the likes of Ray Lewis, it's not hard to surmise that he's pretty damned important to the offense. The Eagles have been going single back for years now, so I don't buy that argument for their side of the game. However, the Steelers mostly run out of offset I, which makes the fullback critical. When he goes down, it hurts the running back significantly. I'm also curious to see if Ben wears gloves tonight. He was dogshit throwing the ball last week, and I have a suspicion that the gloves had something to do with it.

Pittsburgh's been slowing down because half of their team is injured. That's more than a little disingenuous to claim that teams are "figuring them out" simply because Ben Ro hasn't been putting up 42 points while concurrently losing his top two running backs, his fullback, and his top reciever. I wouldn't argue that they'll blow out New England again simply because of Belicheck, who completely owns Cowher. The Steelers would only win a second matchup in spite of their terrible coaching. Philly, on the other hand, doesn't match up with Pittsburgh well at all on either side of the ball. Their problem is, quite simply, that their defensive front seven is built for speed. They're not built for having a team run the ball down their throat for 60 minutes.

It's completely the offensive line. Trust me. If you watch the games, you would see that. Bettis is slow to hit the hole and rarely picks up anything after first contact. He's not nearly close to what he used to be; the simple fact that you could drive about two mack trucks through the holes that line makes is the only reason Bettis sniffs 100 yards each game.

I'm rebutting your attempts to make Philly sound invincible. You're completely discounting the fact that the Steelers absolutely put an asswhooping on the Eagles with a shitty, overweight, backup running back just because Bryan Westbrook wasn't completely healthy. Come on, man, that's ridiculous. Your subsidiary claims of "I'm not saying they'll win, but!!!" are completely at odds with your string of posts.

You're right, they could still do it. But I don't see it.

For homefield advantage, yeah. They'd better win. Like you said, the Pats will probably run the table; the Steelers have to do so as well in order to get to the Super Bowl. I have no confidence in our ability to win AT New England in the AFC Championship game. And I think Plax is inactive for this one, which is a major hit. He opens up that offense significantly, letting Hines spring free. Luckily, we're facing the Jags' secondary, which includes Dewayne Washington.

They sure as hell didn't handle Pittsburgh's.

Dude... it's the Bears. Chad Hutchinson.

Yes.

The game was over at halftime.