Steelers at Baltimore, Thanksgiving special

• Heretic

  

  Big game to watch while recovering from the turkey-n-shit from the day.
  
  Two 5-6 teams battling. The winner stays tied for the lead in the huge race for the second wild card. The loser finds themselves a game behind 1 to 5 or so other teams with four to play.
  
  Steelers won at their place. Now they go there with a three-game winning streak where, with the exception of one horrible quarter against Detroit, they've played pretty good ball on both sides, bending but not breaking.
  
  ---
  
  It's been a funny year. After the 0-4 start, they looked dead in the water, but after going 5-2 since then, they look like a viable contender for the playoffs. I mean, barring the extremely unlikely, they'd get utterly mauled by New England or Denver...but with how shaky the AFC looks beyond those two teams, I don't think I'd feel overly bad about a 3-6 match-up at either Cincy or Indy (assuming those teams hold on to win their division). The big problem being, of course, that whoever would win that hypothetical game would be on the road in a game where they'd be a huge underdog.
• thavoice

  Heretic;1543550 wrote:Big game to watch while recovering from the turkey-n-shit from the day.
  
  Two 5-6 teams battling. The winner stays tied for the lead in the huge race for the second wild card. The loser finds themselves a game behind 1 to 5 or so other teams with four to play.
  
  Steelers won at their place. Now they go there with a three-game winning streak where, with the exception of one horrible quarter against Detroit, they've played pretty good ball on both sides, bending but not breaking.
  
  ---
  
  It's been a funny year. After the 0-4 start, they looked dead in the water, but after going 5-2 since then, they look like a viable contender for the playoffs. I mean, barring the extremely unlikely, they'd get utterly mauled by New England or Denver...but with how shaky the AFC looks beyond those two teams, I don't think I'd feel overly bad about a 3-6 match-up at either Cincy or Indy (assuming those teams hold on to win their division). The big problem being, of course, that whoever would win that hypothetical game would be on the road in a game where they'd be a huge underdog.

  Realistic is 9-7 as a best case scenario finish for either team. Maybe gets you in. REally see it coming down to alot of tiebreakers. With that said, manning can be had in teh cold. KC isnt as good as their record, and NE, well, I guess they are pretty damned good but you dont fear them as ya would a few years ago.
  
  For this one....Steelers should end up on top. Finally a good game to watch on Turkey night.
• Heretic

  

  thavoice;1543560 wrote:Realistic is 9-7 as a best case scenario finish for either team. Maybe gets you in. REally see it coming down to alot of tiebreakers. With that said, manning can be had in teh cold. KC isnt as good as their record, and NE, well, I guess they are pretty damned good but you dont fear them as ya would a few years ago.
  
  For this one....Steelers should end up on top. Finally a good game to watch on Turkey night.

  I think the problem, as I see it is:
  
  1. Denver would be in Denver. That means no Ryan Clark. That means Manning against their secondary, which will be even weaker without Clark.
  
  2. KC would be in KC if they beat out Denver. I think they're the most beatable of the three potential #1s, but it could be an utterly insane environment in Arrowhead if they're hosting a playoff game as a #1. On the other hand, they'd be most likely to choke in that situation.
  
  3. NE would be in NE and they utterly riddled Pittsburgh's defense in the middle of their current 5-2 stretch. Brady is really good at solving what LeBeau does. Honestly, I don't think there's a QB/team that's as good against Dick's D than they've been over the years.
• thavoice

  Heretic;1543565 wrote:I think the problem, as I see it is:
  
  1. Denver would be in Denver. That means no Ryan Clark. That means Manning against their secondary, which will be even weaker without Clark.
  
  2. KC would be in KC if they beat out Denver. I think they're the most beatable of the three potential #1s, but it could be an utterly insane environment in Arrowhead if they're hosting a playoff game as a #1. On the other hand, they'd be most likely to choke in that situation.
  
  3. NE would be in NE and they utterly riddled Pittsburgh's defense in the middle of their current 5-2 stretch. Brady is really good at solving what LeBeau does. Honestly, I don't think there's a QB/team that's as good against Dick's D than they've been over the years.

  As if the steelers even get that far...but I agree with your assessment. The one thing you didnt factor in though is the Manning Choke he likes to unveil in the biggest of games. But hell..if the steelers cannot beat Tebow then no way they would beat PM.
  
  For the record, I dont believe the steelers make the playoffs but if they did...they are one and done.
• Automatik

  

  It's on NBC....isn't this game usually on NFL Network?
  
  Hoping the defense keeps it up, cause TOs, get the W!
• Heretic

  

  thavoice;1543571 wrote:As if the steelers even get that far...but I agree with your assessment. The one thing you didnt factor in though is the Manning Choke he likes to unveil in the biggest of games. But hell..if the steelers cannot beat Tebow then no way they would beat PM.
  
  For the record, I dont believe the steelers make the playoffs but if they did...they are one and done.

  I pretty much agree with that. But I think they at least have the ability to move past the first round. Recent times have shown me that neither Cincy or Indy are anything too great. Indy's been struggling recently and the Bengals are more or less a mediocre team with a good record because they've closed out some coin-flip games. There's nothing about them that makes me think "easy win", but also nothing that makes me think they're at that "gotta be ON tonight" level that we'd get as fans when the team would be playing Baltimore in some big playoff-setting game.
• Heretic

  

  Automatik;1543574 wrote:It's on NBC....isn't this game usually on NFL Network?
  
  Hoping the defense keeps it up, cause TOs, get the W!

  Probably because it's a big holiday that opens a four-day weekend for a lot of people, so they wanted the full national exposure for Thursday night instead of the more niche channel that not everyone has.
  
  Works for me! I don't have NFL network at home and after getting back from my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner, I don't know if I'll be ambitious enough to go to a friend's to drink. Or if they'd be thrilled to have my Steeler-fan ass at their place, getting drunk and yelling at the TV like that Ramsey dude from the Bud Light commercial.
• thavoice

  Automatik;1543574 wrote:It's on NBC....isn't this game usually on NFL Network?
  
  Hoping the defense keeps it up, cause TOs, get the W!

  Yeah. Think it started last year on NBC. Just read online that in the contract from 2012-2022 they could flex the schedule and Dallas or Detroit could play the ngiht game, and in that case NBC would be able to put on an AFC vs AFC game during the day.
• GoPens

  

  This will be a typical Steelers Ravens game. Low scoring, decided by a field goal.
  Steelers 9-6
• Ironman92

  

  Fuck Ike Taylor....Fuck him. Got burnt twice and an easy Ravens TD
  
  At least he shut down Josh Gordon last week
• like_that

  

  Ironman92;1544333 wrote:Fuck Ike Taylor....Fuck him. Got burnt twice and an easy Ravens TD
  
  At least he shut down Josh Gordon last week

  
  Sarcasm?
• Ironman92

  

  like_that;1544335 wrote:Sarcasm?

  No....he held Gordon to about 200 yards in the 2nd half, I mean he kept him from the all-time record.
  
  He held CJ under 300 yards as well.
• Ironman92

  

  Good to see the defending champs making a run at the playoffs.
  
  Flacco elite when I hate it the most.
• Ironman92

  

  Not what I was expecting Suggs' wife to look like.
• Ironman92

  

  31st in the NFL in the RedZone offense
  
  Haley.
• Ironman92

  

  Just kick the effin FG
• Ironman92

  

  Heck of a play by Ben
• Ironman92

  

  How the fuck Cortez Allen caught Jacoby Jones
  
  
  Moot as hell though
• Ironman92

  

  Ray Rice is out of control
• Ironman92

  

  Fuck the kickoff coverage team but the quick possession for a FG COULD benefit the Steelers IF they can possess and score on this drive.
• Ironman92

  

  Ok....it's over
  
  Didn't have this one as a win....need others to knock off Baltimore
• Ironman92

  

  No pressure on QB = no turnovers = loss
• Ironman92

  

  Cannot catch a break.....Beachum holds off Suggs all game and he gets hurt and now Mike Adams is trying to block him and that's just not happening.
• Ironman92

  

  Here's where Haley earns my criticism.
• gerb131

  

  I've enjoyed this football game....even though I hate both teams.