AFC Divisional Game 1; Jets vs Steelers

[HarleyQuinn 0]

As far as Dillon getting seemingly shut down

Pittsburgh only faced on average, 22.3 carries per game which also means that with teams running their star RB 6-11 times against them, odds are they won't be gaining that many yards. Rudi Johnson was able to gain 123 yards on them on 24 carries in Week 4 and the Jets showed that if you consistantly run, you'll start getting some production. They also allowed a 3.60 YPC which again was helped by the number of rushing attempts they faced.

 

Week by Week Breakdown of the most attempts by one runner

Week 1: 11 carries

Week 2: 24 carries(Lost 30-13)

Week 3: 21 carries(Won 13-3)

Week 4: 23 carries(Won 28-17)

Week 5: 11 carries

Week 6: 10 carries

Week 8: 5 carries

Week 9: 6 carries

Week 10: 18 carries

Week 11: 16 carries

Week 12: 8 carries

Week 13: 27 carries(Won 17-16)

Week 14: 24 carries(Won 17-6)

Week 15: 18 carries

Week 16: 14 carries

Week 17: 18 carries

 

Out of 16 weeks, they only faced 5 teams that ran a RB 20 or more times. I do think that their defense is a little overrated in terms of facing the run. Do I think they have a good defense? Yes but I wouldn't call their run D fabulous. When you face 11 or fewer attempts 6 times, I highly doubt those RB's will be busting out 100 yards on you.

 

I think Corey Dillon will make more of an impact then most would think. He'll not only help control the clock, thus keeping the offense off the field but he'll also be wearing down the Steelers D. I expect him to get 20-25 carries for 80-105 yards and 1 TD.

 

As far as "the excuses"...lets see your Steelers win a game against a good defense by running a guy 5 times and running the other guy 1 time.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Did you think about the reason why people don't carry the ball very often against the Steelers?

[KingPK 0]

Teams abandon the run much too early against them?

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

They get ahead pretty often, too. It isn't very encouraging when you're running for 2ish ypc.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

And you're down by 10.

[KingPK 0]

Well, yeah. Down early, would YOU want to give the ball to Kevin Faulk? He's mainly in there to catch passes out of the backfield for a REASON. Corey Dillon has a much better chance of breaking the big run than Faulk can ever dream to.

 

I'd say putting up 20 on a D that's essentially shut your run completely down isn't half bad. It's better than the Eagles did, anyway.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Well, you're wrong!

 

NO YOU ARE.

 

 

 

 

In all seriousness, it's going to be a pretty good game in all likelyhood. I'm curious to see if the Patriots will really commit to the run, or whether Pittsburgh will be able to stop it early and knock the running game out of the equation. Common wisdom says that if that's the case, Pittsburgh's gonna be hoisting a trophy at the end of the day and on a plane to Jacksonville.

[KingPK 0]

Well, you're wrong!

 

NO YOU ARE.

Doodyhead.

 

I'm changing your name to "Paul Hackett's Illegitimate Son"

[Chuck Woolery 0]

A lot of people tend to forget that New England (Last Season's AFC No.1) also struggled to beat Tenn. (No. 5 seeded Team last Season) 17-14 on their way to a SuperBowl win. I'm just saying...

Big difference. The Titans were one win behind the Colts for #1 in the AFC South, had co-MVP Steve McNair playing like a man on a mission, and were riding a hot streak into the postseason that included an impressive win over the defending super bowl champs.

 

The Jets, meanwhile, has been mediocre throughout the last six or seven weeks of the season, backed into the playoffs, won an ugly game against the Chargers and played equally ugly today.

 

Steelers/Jets was, out and out, a bad game. Titans/Patriots was nearly a classic.

 

... yeah, I'm still pissed that we sucked this year. But, I find myself needing to defend my team after that statement.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

ok!

[Chazz 0]

As far as "the excuses"...lets see your Steelers win a game against a good defense by running a guy 5 times and running the other guy 1 time.

Washington was The NFL's No.2 Defense this year and The Steelers beat them 16-7. Also, I believe Bettis ran for over 100 yards against them. Good enough?

[cabbageboy 0]

That's a silly comparison to last year's NE/TENN game, since Tennessee was a very solid 12-4 team that fell into the WC round because they lost twice to the Colts. Them playing the Pats tough was certainly no surprise given the Pats don't really dominate anyone....I still think McNair kinda got fucked in that one with the intl. grounding call.

 

The Jets were a barely decent team who essentially backed into the playoffs. I mean honestly, the Titans in the AFC title game last year would have made total sense....but the JETS this year? Jesus that would have been horrible. The Colts or Pats would have crushed them by 3 TDs.

 

After tonight's games I seriously want Colts vs. Falcons in the SB. It'd be a thrilling game with the passing of Manning vs. the running of Vick.

[Chazz 0]

I made that NE/Tenn comparison because of the fact that A.) Tenn was a 5th seeded Wildcard Team (Albeit a 12-4 one), and B.) I believe heavy underdogs to NE. I never said The 2003 Titians were better than The 2004 Jets. The Steelers played a horrible game tonight and still managed to win. Jesus, the Jets get paid to play too!

[MrRant 0]

Why are people concerned with HOW a team wins? What matters is they did.

[Chazz 0]

Why are people concerned with HOW a team wins? What matters is they did.

Thank You!

[HarleyQuinn 0]

 

 

As far as "the excuses"...lets see your Steelers win a game against a good defense by running a guy 5 times and running the other guy 1 time.

Washington was The NFL's No.2 Defense this year and The Steelers beat them 16-7. Also, I believe Bettis ran for over 100 yards against them. Good enough?

Well, what I'm saying is that it's kind of hard to get 70+ yards running on a defense when you only carry the ball 7-10 times as a RB. You'd need roughly 10+ yards a carry to reach that goal.

 

As for your example, Jerome Bettis did indeed get 100 yards but after carrying the ball 31 times. That's a YPC of 3.2, not exactly a stellar number.

 

Against Baltimore, he carried the ball 27 times for 117 yards(4.3 YPC), Philadelphia 33 times for 149 yards(4.5 YPC), and New England 15 for 65(4.3 YPC). Now if a Clinton Portis were given the ball 22 times, I'm pretty sure he would've gained roughly 90-110 yards. As is, he only carried the ball 6 times for 17 yards. Projecting Portis out to 20 carries means he'd get 56 yards presuming he had the same YPC(2.8) all game(kinda farfetched but still). 25 carries means 70 yards and 30 carries means 84 yards.

 

As far as teams abandoning the run, it seemed to hold somewhat true(Down or Up being the team shown).

Oakland: Down 14-7 at the half.

Baltimore: Up 13-0 at the half.

Miami: Down 3-0 at the end of the half.

Cincinnati: Down 14-10 at the half.

Cleveland: Down 27-13 at the half.

Dallas: Tied 10-10 at the half.

New England: Down 24-10 at the half.

Philadelphia: Down 21-3 at the half.

Cleveland: Down 14-3 at the half.

Cincinnati: Up 14-10 at the half.

Washington: Down 13-0 at the half.

Jacksonville: Down 14-7 at the half.

NY Jets: Down 3-0 at the half.

NY Giants: Down 20-14 at the half.

Baltimore: Down 10-7 at the half.

 

It seemed like there were quite a few teams who were still with-in a TD of the Steelers at half time and could stand to run the ball some more. 9 of their 16 games had the opposing team down at most a TD at the half which means that it's somewhat curious why they don't have as many 20+ opposing RB's as they do. Yes, I understand the whole controlling the clock, they have the lead, etc.

[Cartman 0]

If the Colts and Falcons play in the Superbowl, which is very possible, Atlanta wins easy.

 

Atlanta's defense is good enough to hold Manning & Co. to 21 points or less, and Vick sure can put up points on their defense.

[Brett Favre 0]

Life sucks.

 

If you don't think the Steelers were lucky to win this game, you're just as clueless as the ESPN heads.

 

Fuck Doug Brien.

[cabbageboy 0]

That is insane. The Colts/Falcons game would be a wild shootout in every definition of the phrase. The Falcons D is NOT very good to be honest with you....the Chiefs put up 56 on them for christ's sake. The Falcons are really a very average team with 1 phenom player.

[Brett Favre 0]

If the Colts and Falcons play in the Superbowl, which is very possible, Atlanta wins easy.

 

Atlanta's defense is good enough to hold Manning & Co. to 21 points or less, and Vick sure can put up points on their defense.

Your defense won't be good enough to hold Manning to 21 points or less, what makes you think the Falcon defense would? And i'm not trying to insult the Patriots, that's just the truth.

[Brett Favre 0]

I made that NE/Tenn comparison because of the fact that A.) Tenn was a 5th seeded Wildcard Team (Albeit a 12-4 one), and B.) I believe heavy underdogs to NE.  I never said The 2003 Titians were better than The 2004 Jets.  The Steelers played a horrible game tonight  and still managed to win.  Jesus, the Jets get paid to play too!

The Jets played a horrible game too, and nearly "backed in" (whatever that means) into a victory. When your offense manages 3 points, and still has two chances to win the game against a 15-1 team at their home field, you know you're a good team.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

WHen people referring to the Jets "backing in," they're referring to them not winning to get into the playoffs. They lost a game that would have put them into the playoffs but only made it because other teams lost that day.

[Brett Favre 0]

WHen people referring to the Jets "backing in," they're referring to them not winning to get into the playoffs. They lost a game that would have put them into the playoffs but only made it because other teams lost that day.

I know what they mean, and I think it's really really moronic. What's the difference of being 10-6 and getting into the playoffs with a win, and 10-6, and getting into the playoffs with a lost? You're still 10-6, and would have made the playoffs either way. I think Herman Edwards already explained this. Each game in the 16 game season counts, not the final one. People seem to think only that last 5 count.

[justcoz 0]

If you don't think the Steelers were lucky to win this game, you're just as clueless as the ESPN heads

 

They were very lucky to win but they won and that's all they had to do. The Jets played them tougher than teams like the Patriots and Eagles TWICE this season but came up short both times. I also happen to believe they will play better against the Steelers than both New England and Indy but we'll see. I think they are a very good team, whether they backed into the playoffs or not and it's just a matter of making necessary changes in their coaching system.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

WHen people referring to the Jets "backing in," they're referring to them not winning to get into the playoffs. They lost a game that would have put them into the playoffs but only made it because other teams lost that day.

I know what they mean, and I think it's really really moronic. What's the difference of being 10-6 and getting into the playoffs with a win, and 10-6, and getting into the playoffs with a lost? You're still 10-6, and would have made the playoffs either way. I think Herman Edwards already explained this. Each game in the 16 game season counts, not the final one. People seem to think only that last 5 count.

Well it would mean your team was handed the playoff spot as opposed to... EARNING it. Same with the Vikings, and both redeemed themselves with wildcard wins.

[iggymcfly 0]

The point is that they earned it with the ten wins they had throughout the season, whether they won on the last day or not.

 

Besides, the Jets knew they were in before the game was over anyway. I'm sure they didn't quit on the game or anything, but I think they might have beat the Rams if they needed the win to get in.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

The Steelers suck!

 

Predicted AFCC Score:

 

Patriots 49

Steelers 3

 

AT HALFTIME.

[Chazz 0]

The Steelers suck!

 

Predicted AFCC Score:

 

Patriots 49

Steelers 3

 

AT HALFTIME.

Thought you were a Steeler fan? Changing Loyalties already?

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

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