Steelers Lab

Yinzers,

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Steelers' locker room this week. The above picture is actually a drosophila, a.k.a. fruit fly, that I took a scanning electron microscope shot of in lab today (I finally got her to sit still this afternoon so we could take some glamour shots). But that is off topic. I bet if I were indeed a drosophila on the wall in the locker room, I would have heard one of the greatest reemings on record. The Steelers nearly pissed away a 27-7 lead against the Cincinnati Bungles. This week was probably spent on defending the 2:00 drill and keeping composure. On to this week's contest.

The New England Patriots
There are a couple reasons most Steelers fans dislike the Patriots:
1. they are named after a region
2. the media LOVES them almost as much as they love the Dallas Cowboys
3. the Tom Brady tuck rule...well, just Tom Brady
The Patriots come into this game at 6-2, one of six teams with the same record, the best in the NFL so far. That second loss was last week at the hands of the Cleveland Browns. They will be looking to rebound off of that huge, embarrassing failure. The way they operate on offense is pretty much typical New England fashion under Tom Brady. They throw a lot of short- to intermediate-routes to a lot of different players and work of a "running back by committee." Aaron Hernandez and Wes Welker get the bulk of the yards, mostly after the catch. The ground game is split between upwards of four running backs, with BenJarvus Green-Ellis (wtf?) and Danny Woodhead (all-time leader in yards in NCAA Div. I-AA) doing most of the work. Ben Green/Jarvus Ellis does have 6 scores to his name. On defense, the Patriots are struggling. They are 27th overall, including 21st against the run and 29th against the pass. If the Pats want to rebound off that Cleve Brownie beat-down, they will need to find some defense. God knows they can score points.

Your Pittsburgh Steelers
Do I have to say what needs improved on this week? Keep the hunger and anger through the entire game, fellas. This week on offense, I hope to see Bruce Ariens open up play a little bit. He started out down the field in the first quarter of the Bungle game, but never returned to it. Keep going down the field if it is working. The Patriots do not have the secondary to match the speed of Mike Wallace nor Emanuel Sanders. The cornerstone to victory, however, will be good old fashioned Rashard Mendenhall. Peyton Hillis put up 187 on the ground against New England last week, and he's a white guy. Give the ball to 'Shard early and often and let those nimble feet go to work. On defense...close out the ball game. Most of the offense of the Patriots will be coming within 7 yards of the line of scrimmage. The linebackers will be the most important part of the defense this week. As long as they keep their heads, Pittsburgh should keep Tom Brady in check. Also, if they get to Brady, swipe that ball. They didn't name the rule after him for nothing.

The Steelers have a few notables on the injury report this week. Will Allen (concussion), Chris Kemoeatu (knee+ankle), Heath Miller (knee) and Brett Keisel (hamstring) did not practice through today. I would imagine that most of these guys will be game-day decisions. On the good side, Miwelde Moore and Isaac Redman participated fully both yesterday and today. This should greatly help the Steelers on third down.

Game time is 8:20 pm on Sunday Night Football from Heinz Field in beautiful, dahntahn Pittsburgh.

Here we go,
B Brog