Let's talk Steeler's....We know were gonna get our team's best.

Sadly DJ, the team should have shown the fans a better showing the past two home games, yet didn't... You can't get more hyped up than going 2-0 on the road and coming home to two primetime night games.. So as far as I'm concerned, it's all talk and this game will come down to who makes less mistakes.

Key matchups for me:

Henne vs the Steelers secondary.. The Steelers are keen on taking advantage of mistakes.. If Henne plays smart football and doesn't force the ball the BMarsh, we will have a great chance... Henne needs to play under control, throw the ball away and take sacks when needed.. He can't, nor shouldn't expect Marshall to bail him out, as evident by the past two games where he threw costly INT's while homing in on Marshall..

The Steelers have shown some weakness against the run, heck Hillis ran for almost 200 yards against them a few weeks ago.. We need to go back in time and play some Wannyball.. Pound them with Ricky and Ronnie and conservative football by Henne...

Combine those two factors and we can win..

i feel very good going into the steelers game. although i do believe the steelers r the best team in the nfl, they are just the best of the best, not a team that is so dominating that no one can stack up with.

i feel we both play a very similiar brand of football. we both are run first teams with very physical backs. we both have talented wr cores, with us having the best receiver, but they got a bunch of guys who can catch the ball like ward, Wallace, randel el, and tight end miller.they do get the edge at qb with big Ben, but our offensive line is better then theirs.

on defense, they have the best defense in the nfl. im assuming jake long will go up against james harrison which will be a big task for him. harrison and wake are both very similar players imo and will both be hard to contain for both teams respectivley.

keys to the game will be special teams. it will be very hard to start drives from our own 10-20 every time and march down the field vs this defense. we are going to need good field position all game.

also, in a game vs the steelers, we are going to need touchdowns, not fieldgoals when given opps.

now i understand pitts offense is potent and its not like if we miss opps they will march down the field and score on us all the time. however, their d is that good that we wont get lots of scoring opps vs them, so its important to put it in the endzone every time we get the opp.

my prediction now

steelers-20
dolphins-23

I'm gonna go ahead and throw analysis out the window and say we just don't break the losing streak to Pittsburgh.

I am confident in saying, and have said in numerous posts, that the single most important "key matchup" in this game is our offensive line v. the Steelers pass rush. Other matchups, imo, are secondary to this one. If we do not curtail or stifle their pass rush completely then it will get ugly. Case in point was yesterday's game and the lack of a Packers' pass rush. Good things happen, and people feel warm and fuzzy, when your QB has time to toss the football. Gentlemen, for me, that is the key matchup in this game and I honestly feel will decide the game more than any other: Dolphins Offensive Line (include our runningback's blocking) v. Steelers' pass rush.

"ilovemyfins4eva wrote:

i feel very good going into the steelers game. although i do believe the steelers r the best team in the nfl, they are just the best of the best, not a team that is so dominating that no one can stack up with.

i feel we both play a very similiar brand of football. we both are run first teams with very physical backs. we both have talented wr cores, with us having the best receiver, but they got a bunch of guys who can catch the ball like ward, Wallace, randel el, and tight end miller.they do get the edge at qb with big Ben, but our offensive line is better then theirs.

on defense, they have the best defense in the nfl. im assuming jake long will go up against james harrison which will be a big task for him. harrison and wake are both very similar players imo and will both be hard to contain for both teams respectivley.

keys to the game will be special teams. it will be very hard to start drives from our own 10-20 every time and march down the field vs this defense. we are going to need good field position all game.

also, in a game vs the steelers, we are going to need touchdowns, not fieldgoals when given opps.

now i understand pitts offense is potent and its not like if we miss opps they will march down the field and score on us all the time. however, their d is that good that we wont get lots of scoring opps vs them, so its important to put it in the endzone every time we get the opp.

my prediction now

steelers-20
dolphins-23

You forgot to mention they have an excellent pass rusher opposite of Harrison: Lamarr Woodley. Not to mention LeBeau on the sidelines dialing up ILB/CB zone blitzes.

"Bumrush wrote:

Sadly DJ, the team should have shown the fans a better showing the past two home games, yet didn't... You can't get more hyped up than going 2-0 on the road and coming home to two primetime night games.. So as far as I'm concerned, it's all talk and this game will come down to who makes less mistakes.

Key matchups for me:

Henne vs the Steelers secondary.. The Steelers are keen on taking advantage of mistakes.. If Henne plays smart football and doesn't force the ball the BMarsh, we will have a great chance... Henne needs to play under control, throw the ball away and take sacks when needed.. He can't, nor shouldn't expect Marshall to bail him out, as evident by the past two games where he threw costly INT's while homing in on Marshall..

The Steelers have shown some weakness against the run, heck Hillis ran for almost 200 yards against them a few weeks ago.. We need to go back in time and play some Wannyball.. Pound them with Ricky and Ronnie and conservative football by Henne...

Combine those two factors and we can win..

your right, we missed an oppurtunity, our chest has a hole, but were young dude, and we gotta rehab ourselve's so we can get back to that apex again...our team's growin up quick, and their doing the proper things with self motivation, that are needed to play in that stadium...

They are aware of you dissapoinment by the way, whatta you gonna do, just sit your ass?..when you gotta chance to get on top of the game, you do somethin crazy, regardless of the result.

Fact: The Miami Dolphins are expected to roll over for the Steelers; even at home.

Simple really:

smash mouth offense

do not give up long plays on defense

ST remains just competent.

Avoid turnovers, cause them.

The key to the steelers success is not their running game, it is Ben R to Wallace and whomever else down the field in 40 yd chunks, take that away and force them to put together long drives.

"lmeister3 wrote:

Fact: The Miami Dolphins are expected to roll over for the Steelers; even at home.

I expect that the Steelers will be favored, but not by much, probably 3 pts or so.

"padre31 wrote:

Simple really:

smash mouth offense

do not give up long plays on defense

ST remains just competent.

Avoid turnovers, cause them.

The key to the steelers success is not their running game, it is Ben R to Wallace and whomever else down the field in 40 yd chunks, take that away and force them to put together long drives.

Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. I said they needed it against the Jets and Pats, didn't get it and lost. Got it against the Packers an won. Big Ben is still getting up to speed and we need to get in his face from different angles and force him to make mistakes.

I can't figure out how we're going to score enough points to beat the Steelers.

I assume Pitt is probably good for roughly 21 points. That was their average during Ben's absence.

Considering we've yet to score 3 TD's in a game this could be a problem.

If I was betting I'd say Pitt 21 Mia 17, but we should have a puncher's chance.

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. I said they needed it against the Jets and Pats, didn't get it and lost. Got it against the Packers an won. Big Ben is still getting up to speed and we need to get in his face from different angles and force him to make mistakes.

I'm not so sure about that one RR, Ben is not a particularly accurate Qb but when he is in broken field situations he is large enough to shrug off tacklers and make a play downfield, if the base can pressure, or we can fool him with blitz schemes that aren't really blitzes, we can turn him over.

Do we go max coverage with a potentially excellent 3 man rush line of Wake, Starks, and Odrick, or, do we bring heat?....I dont like Ben scrambling around, it brings out the best in him..

Yes Big Ben is a top notch QB but he had how many weeks to prepare for the Browns? The answer is not weeks but months and I would say the our defense is better than Cleveland's.

We sacked the elusive Rodgers 5 times and held him to around 50% completions. I see the Steelers o-line similar to the Packers.

This game is winnable and will come down to special teams on our part holding up.

"djphinfan wrote:

Do we go max coverage with a potentially excellent 3 man rush line of Wake, Starks, and Odrick, or, do we bring heat?....I dont like Ben scrambling around, it brings out the best in him..

That is what I'm thinking Deej, only a 4 man rush not 3, but even that is workable, rather than "blitz blitz blitz" force Ben to be an accurate, pocket passing Qb and have to grind the ball down the field.

That would also force them into playing by our rules, not theirs...:pointlol:

I love this game, this is IMO, the best team in football right now...with Ben back after 1 week of tune-up....Pitts bigs, against Miami's bigs...it is simple as that bro....

--they can't turn the ball over once, or make penalties for starters...they need some turnovers...

--the match-up for me....Mendenhal versus the DL.....his is a top 5 back, going against a suspect line so far, however they showed some pop yesterday...does Odrick come back, and Starks slide back to nose??

--contain Mike Wallace.....Ward will get his, he always does....but dont get hit up with the quick strike that Wallace can provide...

Lastly and probably most importantly, Chad Henne is going to have to put on his big boy pants this week, in order for Miami to win...I believe Pitt's defense will curtail the running game for most of the day, leaving Henne and the passing game to win it....

"padre31 wrote:

That is what I'm thinking Deej, only a 4 man rush not 3, but even that is workable, rather than "blitz blitz blitz" force Ben to be an accurate, pocket passing Qb and have to grind the ball down the field.

That would also force them into playing by our rules, not theirs...:pointlol:

I agree, keep that giant in the pocket, and let the Freakin Freak do his thing..

We talked about this formation a lot in the preseason, cause when you have a special talent like Wake, this is the way to go..Odrick can protect the edge, he's pretty athletic, starks containing the middle, he's pretty athletic too...

I think we can play the run well against them, to get them in those long down and distance situation where we could use that 3 man line to our advantage, they seem to be having some issues on the oline.

I think this is a pretty important home game, for the rest of our home games for the year. I think we're already going to have a tough time getting the crowd going in that stadium, but if we go 0-3 for them... eck, could be bad.

That said, I think we need another balanced attack like we saw against the packers, maybe a bit more heavy towards run. You're not going to throw against the Steelers, Polamalu can make it from sideline to sideline before the ball gets to the receiver. That's a little exaggeration, but if Henne is locking in on targets, Polamalu is going to be in the vicinity of every pass.

Henne is going to have to play one of his better ball control games. I'd like to see him play the type of game he played against Green Bay. If he can't get the pass off, throw it away. It's going to happen, a lot, in this game.

The bottom line is the Steelers are a very well rounded football team. Barring any ST mishaps we can stay in this one. If we can get them to slip in any phase of the game, I think we can pull away a win. But we will most definitely be underdogs.

"djphinfan wrote:

I agree, keep that giant in the pocket, and let the Freakin Freak do his thing..

We talked about this formation a lot in the preseason, cause when you have a special talent like Wake, this is the way to go..Odrick can protect the edge, he's pretty athletic, starks containing the middle, he's pretty athletic too...

I think we can play the run well against them, to get them in those long down and distance situation where we could use that 3 man line to our advantage, they seem to be having some issues on the oline.

Wake-Starks-Langford-Misi/McD/Q/Odrick

4 man dline for most of the game, use that team speed to keep them bottled up, and play smash mouth football and grind that clock.

Keep in mind, the Steelers Cornerbacks are not exactly Rod Woodsons'.

If we win this game it should at least keep Sparano safe for another year.

I don't see us winning this game at all.

If we have a respect card to drop this is the game to drop it.

"Bumrush wrote:

Sadly DJ, the team should have shown the fans a better showing the past two home games, yet didn't... You can't get more hyped up than going 2-0 on the road and coming home to two primetime night games.. So as far as I'm concerned, it's all talk and this game will come down to who makes less mistakes.

Key matchups for me:

Henne vs the Steelers secondary.. The Steelers are keen on taking advantage of mistakes.. If Henne plays smart football and doesn't force the ball the BMarsh, we will have a great chance... Henne needs to play under control, throw the ball away and take sacks when needed.. He can't, nor shouldn't expect Marshall to bail him out, as evident by the past two games where he threw costly INT's while homing in on Marshall..

The Steelers have shown some weakness against the run, heck Hillis ran for almost 200 yards against them a few weeks ago.. We need to go back in time and play some Wannyball.. Pound them with Ricky and Ronnie and conservative football by Henne...

Combine those two factors and we can win..

Hey dude get your facts straight. They played the browns yesterday and held hillis to 41 yards the most they have given up to any rb this year is 42

what an exciting and dreadful week to be Chad Henne. The man could literally solidify his starting spot for years with a calm and powerful performance this week.

"CitizenSnips wrote:

he man could literally solidify his starting spot for years with a calm and powerful performance this week.

That's what Cleveland fans said about Derek Anderson back in 2007 ...

And before someone goes for the pitch forks, no, I'm not comparing them. I'm merely saying that the path from savior to pariah is a short one. Especially when you're a quarterback.

"Bumrush wrote:

The Steelers have shown some weakness against the run, heck Hillis ran for almost 200 yards against them a few weeks ago.. We need to go back in time and play some Wannyball.. Pound them with Ricky and Ronnie and conservative football by Henne...

Combine those two factors and we can win..

What game were you watching?
NOT ANY PITTSBURGH GAME

YOU SAY HILLIS HAD ALMOST 200 YARDS
WHEN HE HAD 41 TOTAL RUSHING YARDS!!

Pittsburgh is #1 in the NFL in rushing yards allowed
with ONLY 68 yards per game

Atlanta rushing yards...58
Tenn rushing yards......46
Tampa rushing yards...75
Baltimore rushing yards...70
Cleveland rushing yards...70

Pittsburgh is also #1 in the NFL in allowing
ONLY 12 points per game

Teams have only scored 5 touchdowns all season(5 games)
against Pittsburgh

If your going to say something like Hillis ran for almost 200 yards double check your source