Big Ben: Steelers must bring back Heinz 'mystique'

[polamalubeast]

Pittsburgh's never been an easy place to play, but Ben Roethlisberger wants his city and his home field to channel its immediate history and become the most feared stadium in the league.

"I expect it and hope it'll be sold out, loud, crazy. You know, we need to bring back that homefield, Heinz Field mystique, if you will," Roethsliberger told reporters of his expectations for the Steelers' upcoming home opener against the Vikings, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "It was always that way when I first got here, the first few years when I was here and not saying we've lost it, but teams need to fear coming into Heinz Field. One, because of the fans and the craziness and two, because of our play."


This is a fine call to arms, or yellow handtowels, from the Steelers' figurehead, but asking Pittsburgh fans to recapture the "mystique" of a stadium less than two decades old is an odd request at face value.

After all, Heinz Field only just opened in 2001, replacing Three Rivers Stadium, a cookie-cutter monstrosity home to revered Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates championship teams. Since Heinz's debut, the Steelers have made the postseason 11 times and hosted 12 playoff games, including three conference championship games. Just last year, Pittsburgh put an absolute beatdown on the South Beach Dolphins in the wild-card game, getting out to a 20-3 lead within 20 minutes of gameplay in 17 degree weather and 16 mph winds.

Pittsburgh's dominance at home isn't just a postseason phenomenon. Since Roethlisberger's assumption of the starting QB position in 2004, he is 70-22 at home. That's a home-field advantage in that span only bested by the likes of Tom Brady's Patriots and Peyton Manning's Colts and Broncos.


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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...heinz-mystique

[ALLD]

When other teams stopped fearing the defense they stopped fearing Heinz. At least turn off the hot water to the visitor's showers.

[Edman]

The Steelers, especially last year, were much stronger at home than on the road.

This team needs to get over its road woes if if wants to stay at Heinz for the playoffs.

[polamalubeast]

The Steelers, especially last year, were much stronger at home than on the road.

This team needs to get over its road woes if if wants to stay at Heinz for the playoffs.

In the last 3 super bowl appearance for the steelers, they were 6-2 on the road in 2005 (9-2 including the playoffs) 6-2 in 2008 and 7-1 in 2010.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Renegade Lol.

[BurghBoy412]

The Steelers, especially last year, were much stronger at home than on the road.

This team needs to get over its road woes if if wants to stay at Heinz for the playoffs.

1-0 on the road this season

[Psycho Ward 86]

In the last 3 super bowl appearance for the steelers, they were 6-2 on the road in 2005 (9-2 including the playoffs) 6-2 in 2008 and 7-1 in 2010.

polamalubeast always in the clutch with the useful facts!

we have the Bears, Ravens, Chiefs, Lions, Colts, Bengals, and Texans left on the road (in that order).

I say we'll cough up the ravens and chiefs game

[Born2Steel]

No road games are gimmees. Better play sound football at Indy and Chicago or they can beat us. The Lions, Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals, maybe even the Texans by then, could all be hunting a playoff spot this year.

[GBMelBlount]

1-0 on the road this season

We sure showed the worst team in the league, who is boss.

[BurghBoy412]

polamalubeast always in the clutch with the useful facts!

we have the Bears, Ravens, Chiefs, Lions, Colts, Bengals, and Texans left on the road (in that order).

I say we'll cough up the ravens and chiefs game

5-2 I agree they may need to beat the Raven twice to win the division though

[BurghBoy412]

We sure showed the worst team in the league, who is boss.

I can only imagine how doom and gloom it would be had they lost.

[polamalubeast]

5-2 I agree they may need to beat the Raven twice to win the division though

12-4 with a split against Baltimore should be enough.

The Ravens have the Vikings, Packers,Titans and Raiders on the road.

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I can only imagine how doom and gloom it would be had they lost.

We would have seen the fire Mike Tomlin thread!

http://www.steelersuniverse.com/forums/showthread.php/20890-FIRE-MIKE-TOMLIN!!

[Psycho Ward 86]

12-4 with a split against Baltimore should be enough.

The Ravens have the Vikings, Packers,Titans and Raiders on the road.

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We would have seen the fire Mike Tomlin thread!

http://www.steelersuniverse.com/foru...RE-MIKE-TOMLIN!!

Yeah thats a horrid road schedule for the Ravens. They will drop a couple of those at least. I dont care how good the defense is

[BurghBoy412]

12-4 with a split against Baltimore should be enough.

The Ravens have the Vikings, Packers,Titans and Raiders on the road.

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We would have seen the fire Mike Tomlin thread!

http://www.steelersuniverse.com/foru...RE-MIKE-TOMLIN!!

You honestly think the Steelers go 12-4? C'mon they barely beat Cleveland on the road. Lol

[polamalubeast]

You honestly think the Steelers go 12-4? C'mon they barely beat Cleveland on the road. Lol

so?

They were 11-5 last year and 11-5 in 2014 despite the loss at Home against Tampa Bay(2-14) and the Jets(4-12).And a blowout loss in Cleveland and barely beat Cleveland at home in week 1 even if the steelers had the lead 27-3 at halftime.One more wins that last year is not impossible!...The steelers will not have 14 penalties at each game and they will not always be rusty in offense because of the lack of the preseason.

[AtlantaDan]

Pittsburgh's never been an easy place to play, but Ben Roethlisberger wants his city and his home field to channel its immediate history and become the most feared stadium in the league.

"I expect it and hope it'll be sold out, loud, crazy. You know, we need to bring back that homefield, Heinz Field mystique, if you will," Roethsliberger told reporters of his expectations for the Steelers' upcoming home opener against the Vikings, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "It was always that way when I first got here, the first few years when I was here and not saying we've lost it, but teams need to fear coming into Heinz Field. One, because of the fans and the craziness and two, because of our play."

Based on the three times I have been at Heinz in 2013, 2015 and 2016 I have not regarded the crowd as particularly intimidating - that may be due to the game I attended in 2015 being a blowout of the 49ers and last season's week two win over the Bengals being a sloppy game played in an off and on rain.

Certainly does not compare in intensity to my two visits to see the Seahawks in Seattle in 2013 and 2014 or the Falcons last year - Falcons crowd may have been impacted by both noise being kept inside a dome as well as the Falcons catching everyone by surprise by being so good in 2016

But when you have sold out every game for over 40 years your season ticket base is going to skew older and Heinz does not hold the noise like the enclosed bowl at Three Rivers did - so that may explain to some extent the perceived lowered enthusiasm of the crowd

ESPN recently attempted to assess which teams have the best home field advantage

To estimate a team's home-field advantage, [ESPN writer Bill Barnwell] went on a season-by-season basis since 1990 and calculated its average point differential in home games, and did the same for road contests ....

If you add those together and divide by two, you get the team's observed point differential. Using point differential is better than win-loss record because point differential does a better job of predicting future win-loss record than winning percentage itself.

As an example, the 2016 Dallas Cowboys outscored opposing teams in their eight home games by a total of 75 points, good for an average of 9.4 points per contest. They were good on the road, too, as they went 6-2 while outscoring their opponents by a total of 40 points, or an even 5.0 points per game. Their observed home-field advantage is ((9.4 - 5.0) / 2), which is 2.2 points....

The problem with using single-season data is that the fluctuations from year to year can be massive...

The simplest way to estimate home-field advantage is to take a look at each organization during the past 10 seasons, going back through the 2007 campaign.... It's not a surprise to see the team at No. 1:

Team Observed HFA

1. Seattle Seahawks	5.1
2. Green Bay Packers	4.7
3. Baltimore Ravens	4.6
4. San Francisco 49ers	3.8
5. Buffalo Bills	3.7
6. Detroit Lions	3.5
7. Arizona Cardinals	3.4
8. Minnesota Vikings	3.4
9. Pittsburgh Steelers	3.2
10. Houston Texans	3.0

We often hear about how teams lose some of the energy and attitude we commonly associate with a home-field advantage by moving from a tired, old stadium into a more expensive arena. It's entirely possible the loudest fans are getting marginalized by higher ticket prices and personal seat licenses and are being replaced by silent, uninvested corporate clients. Is there evidence of that in the data? Not really. In looking at teams that have spent five-plus years in multiple stadiums between 1990 and 2016, while they've declined on the whole, it's only by 0.3 points of home-field advantage per game.

Team	Old Stadium HFA	New Stadium HFA	Difference
1. Seattle Seahawks	2.1	4.6	2.5
2. New York Jets	1.6	3.7	2.1
3. New York Giants	1.3	2.6	1.3
4. Indianapolis Colts	1.9	2.4	0.5
5. Philadelphia Eagles	1.9	1.7	-0.2
6. New England Patriots	2.1	1.9	-0.2
7. Detroit Lions	3.8	3.4	-0.4
8. Pittsburgh Steelers	3.4	3.0	-0.4

The takeaways

Baltimore and Seattle are the two toughest places to play on the road. Regardless of how we calculate the numbers, the Ravens and Seahawks consistently rank among the organizations that improve most dramatically at home. If we calculate this by sheer winning percentage as opposed to point differential, as an example, the Ravens have the largest home-field advantage in the league since 2007, winning 72.5 percent of their games at home but just 40 percent on the road. The Seahawks are third, with the Vikings splitting the two....

It's probably best to regress most teams' home-field advantage toward the mean and assume they get about 2.5 to three points at home as opposed to a neutral field. The Seahawks and Ravens might be the exceptions to that rule.


http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...play-road-more

Bottom line is Heinz is not a particularly more difficult place to play a road game, but that has been the case for some time.

[Craic]

You honestly think the Steelers go 12-4? C'mon they barely beat Cleveland on the road. Lol

In their first game with a brand new CB and a safety who basically hadn't seen a play this year, a great Dlinemen who went out after the first series, a RB who hadn't played a down of football since last January, and a #2 WR that hadn't played a down of football since Heath Miller was on the team. And, that's not to mention the backup RB who had quite a few carries also being a rookie.

Yeah, while it was frustrating, I'm not worried about it right now.

[Crow-Magnon]

It's good to get a W at home. Good for the team and the fans. But if you can't win on the road, your season ends sooner than later.

[fansince'76]

We sure showed the worst team in the league, who is boss.

We played the Jets?