I'm going to state the obvious if Ben & the offense are sharp and, the defense can hold the pats to 20 points the Steelers win this game.
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I understand why Tomlin say that ... He wants JuJu to remain humble and it's true that every WR want the ball (some are in a different level than others, but that's another story) but I have hope that JuJu will stay humble
Tomlin also wanted to not give a shot to his former number 1 WR.
34-13 Pats. Our "new look" defense looks one thing ... confused.
SCORING will be as follows:
PATRIOTS:
2 random FGs
Edelman 1 TD
Michel 2 TD (one on ground, one in air)
James White 1 TD on ground to put it away.
STEELERS:
Boz goes 2-4 in FGs
Juju or MacDonald get late meaningless TD.
Season over, sky falls, Boz needs to be cut, Ben needs to retire all follows.
That someone is me. Chances are not good the Steelers win all 16 games. May even lose 5 or 6 games. Until a loss becomes THE reason for not making the playoffs it’s just a loss. Last season’s game 1 tie is the perfect example. A tie was better than a loss but needed that W at the end. So it became equal to a loss. Became bigger in the whole picture at the end. Didn’t mean much until it did. And so on.
If James Conner has a big game I think we can take the W. Every time we played the Pats and had success, we had a 100 yd rusher. Samuels had a monster game against them last year. Also helped that literally every time Brady dropped back to pass, TJ Watt was in his face. We need more of that
The problem we lost 6 games last year ... Even if the Steelers had a TIE game against the Browns, the Steelers had still had 7 win in their first 10 games .... I take this every year, a 7-3 start or a 7-2-1 (our 3 super bowl team in the Roethlisberger era, the Steelers were at 7-3 after 10 games) .... What killed the Steelers last year were our 3 games losing streak like the game in Denver (when the steelers had had over 500 yards of offense but they beat themselves like crazy) at home against the Chargers (when the steelers had a 16 points lead at halftime but they lost after, which was their biggest blow lead in over 35 yearsfor the steelers) and in Oakland, when Tomlin kept Ben on the sidelines for way too long .... So we did not miss the playoffs because of our game in Cleveland since the Steelers were in great position after 10 games ...
The key is to avoid losing streak ... Every time the Steelers missed the Playoffs in the Roethlisberger era, they had at one point a 3 game losing streak .... 2005 and 2016 had also had at one point A 3 game losing streak at one point (it was 4 in 2016) but they had no room for error after....they survived after, but never ideal to get into a hole!
I know one thing. Tomlin will likely hear the Cheat's radio broadcast in his headset yet again lol
Other than Ben, Conner, and the OL, do we really know this offense yet?
Other than the DL and starting OLBs, do we really know this defense yet?
This is one of the bigger reasons why I put little emphasis on game1 or even September really. To me it’s like judging an entire football game by the first quarter. They could start 10-0 and get cocky and not win another game. They could start out 0-5 and finish 11-5 with a 1st round bye. Have to let it play out a little way until it actually means something.
Goal 1- Win the division
Goal 2- Win a home playoff game
Goal 3- Win homefield throughout
Goal 4- Win the AFC
Goal 5- Win the SB
The goal in the regular season is always for me to have a playoffs Bye, win the division and make the playoffs...The Steelers need to accomplish at least one of his goals in the regular season (which is of course make the playoffs)
But for the first month of the season, we can say that at every team, since almost every team has new starters, including the Pats that the offense will be different this year without Gronk and some new player at their O-line and defense especially their front7.
It's important to not be in a hole after the first month ... I can accept a loss against the Pats (if it's not an embarrassment) since it's possibly our toughest game of the year in our schedule, but the games after will be important if they lose this game, but of course, one game at a time and I want to see the Steelers win this game and have an sense of urgency in this game (and every other week after no matter what!)
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Big play can happen, but things that can not happen are free big play like that
I'm moderately confident, only due to the fact they lost their Center 4 days ago. I am hoping our interior guys tuitt ,hargrave, and Heyward can take advantage of that and get Tom off his mark. Tom is not a great thrower on the run.
If we can get out earlier 14-0 or 10-0 and silence the crowd a little.go into halftime with lead and get the ball in third my confidence we rise.
Tom and belichick will gash us with a flea flicker type TD with due to our safety playing so aggressive down in the box.
Need a big game out of pass catchers not named JUJU. Additionally Juju needs to subscribe to patriots take your best player away. Keep fighting.
Prediction
23-20 winner TBD.
Steelers are expected to lose , so if we do whatever at least it's the first game and we got it off our calendar.
But if we win, its huge morale boost for a young team that needs it.
Great stats for T.J Watt for his first 2 seasons...
Be Ready!
There's no way that I could go into a new season and expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose their first game. They are going 19-0 until proven otherwise. If they are 0 and whatever in Foxboro, that means they're due!
I have a feeling Jaylen Samuels is going to have a big play or some type of impact even though he is the backup RB
This is a great game for me, as a loss by any team makes me happy!
Having said THAT, watch Baltimore get blown out by Fitzpatrick and the hapless Fins.