hawaiiansteeler
12-20-2015, 01:13 AM
Steelers now among favorites to win Super Bowl
Rob Rossi, Of The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
December 19, 2015
PITTSBURGH — Just for kicks, I spent Thursday morning trolling the web for what easily can be scored on any corner of the Las Vegas strip.
Wow, did they seemingly live up to their name.
The Steelers are now among the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
Didn't make sense. Then I looked into the past Super Bowl champions. Turns out, the Steelers are playing like about 70 percent of them.
With a fifth-ranked scoring offense and 11th-rated scoring defense, the Steelers are in line with 34 Super Bowl champions whose scoring rankings were within six slots of one another. That group includes three of the four Steelers and Patriots teams coached to titles by Chuck Noll and Bill Belichick, respectively, and each of Bill Walsh's three San Francisco squads.
It's not about getting hot at the right time or defense winning championships. It's mostly about the offense and defense not being at opposite ends of the NFL universe. If that's the case, it usually takes an all-time unit — think of those defenses in Chicago, Baltimore and Pittsburgh during the 1985, 2000 and 2008 seasons — to overcome a big gap.
So maybe the people in Sin City know something about these Steelers that we're just not seeing. Or perhaps they're able to see Ben Roethlisberger for what he's become: the best football player in the world.
And a lot of times, that player's team wins the Super Bowl. Not always. Tom Brady's 2007 Patriots won every game but the Super Bowl.
The Steelers have looked a lot like those Patriots during the past five weeks, rolling up 30 points even when they click on only, like, two cylinders.
A 33-20 win at Cincinnati on Sunday required a defensive score and a bunch of field goals. A lot can be taken from that victory.
My take was that on a day when they wasted some chances, the Steelers still scored 26 points on a top-10 defense on the road.
"We definitely could have been better on offense," tight end Heath Miller said. "Nobody is happy with field goals."
Better than when the kicker misses them, Heath.
To think, it could come down to missed field goals by one of the Steelers' many former kickers that prevents this offense from getting a crack at the postseason spotlight. As it stands, the Steelers are 8-5 and probably need to win out to be one of the AFC's six playoff participants.
Barring self-induced turnovers, no defense — not even Denver's NFL best today — looks capable of even slightly slowing down Big Ben and Co.
Did you know the Steelers are plus-51 in point differential in the six full games Roethlisberger has played?
They're also 3-3 in those games. Roethlisberger tossed six interceptions in losses at New England and Seattle and against the Bengals. Not all were his fault.
He's human, but he only looks that way if he's throwing it to the other guys.
His offense has averaged 69 snaps and 428 yards in four games against top-10 defenses belonging to the Patriots, Seahawks and Bengals (twice).
Roethlisberger's 8.69 yards per pass attempt ranks second in the NFL.
We're watching something special right now with Roethlisberger. And what we're watching is the primary reason Sin City thinks the Steel City's team is among the Super Bowl favorites.
http://touch.mcall.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85374336/
Rob Rossi, Of The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
December 19, 2015
PITTSBURGH — Just for kicks, I spent Thursday morning trolling the web for what easily can be scored on any corner of the Las Vegas strip.
Wow, did they seemingly live up to their name.
The Steelers are now among the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
Didn't make sense. Then I looked into the past Super Bowl champions. Turns out, the Steelers are playing like about 70 percent of them.
With a fifth-ranked scoring offense and 11th-rated scoring defense, the Steelers are in line with 34 Super Bowl champions whose scoring rankings were within six slots of one another. That group includes three of the four Steelers and Patriots teams coached to titles by Chuck Noll and Bill Belichick, respectively, and each of Bill Walsh's three San Francisco squads.
It's not about getting hot at the right time or defense winning championships. It's mostly about the offense and defense not being at opposite ends of the NFL universe. If that's the case, it usually takes an all-time unit — think of those defenses in Chicago, Baltimore and Pittsburgh during the 1985, 2000 and 2008 seasons — to overcome a big gap.
So maybe the people in Sin City know something about these Steelers that we're just not seeing. Or perhaps they're able to see Ben Roethlisberger for what he's become: the best football player in the world.
And a lot of times, that player's team wins the Super Bowl. Not always. Tom Brady's 2007 Patriots won every game but the Super Bowl.
The Steelers have looked a lot like those Patriots during the past five weeks, rolling up 30 points even when they click on only, like, two cylinders.
A 33-20 win at Cincinnati on Sunday required a defensive score and a bunch of field goals. A lot can be taken from that victory.
My take was that on a day when they wasted some chances, the Steelers still scored 26 points on a top-10 defense on the road.
"We definitely could have been better on offense," tight end Heath Miller said. "Nobody is happy with field goals."
Better than when the kicker misses them, Heath.
To think, it could come down to missed field goals by one of the Steelers' many former kickers that prevents this offense from getting a crack at the postseason spotlight. As it stands, the Steelers are 8-5 and probably need to win out to be one of the AFC's six playoff participants.
Barring self-induced turnovers, no defense — not even Denver's NFL best today — looks capable of even slightly slowing down Big Ben and Co.
Did you know the Steelers are plus-51 in point differential in the six full games Roethlisberger has played?
They're also 3-3 in those games. Roethlisberger tossed six interceptions in losses at New England and Seattle and against the Bengals. Not all were his fault.
He's human, but he only looks that way if he's throwing it to the other guys.
His offense has averaged 69 snaps and 428 yards in four games against top-10 defenses belonging to the Patriots, Seahawks and Bengals (twice).
Roethlisberger's 8.69 yards per pass attempt ranks second in the NFL.
We're watching something special right now with Roethlisberger. And what we're watching is the primary reason Sin City thinks the Steel City's team is among the Super Bowl favorites.
http://touch.mcall.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-85374336/