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Onward: Heinz Field 2007 finale

We heard the guarantee.  Then, unfortunately, they played the game.  We were fed a further dose of bad news on Monday when we learned that the team’s — nay, the league’s — best 3-4 defensive end would be out for the remainder of the season.  And now we “welcome” the Jacksonville Jaguars to town for the final showdown of the year in 2007 for the locals to witness in person.

Sure, there’s the chance of a home game in the playoffs.  If the team manages to win out the final three games, a 12-4 record will be more than sufficient to hold on to the third seed in the playoffs and at least one home game.  That bodes well for a team that carries a 7-0 record onto their own turf Sunday.

And there’s also the chance that strong safety Troy Polamalu will return to the field this week after giving us a false glimmer of hope a week ago that he would be prepared to go in time for last Sunday’s horrendous defensive outing.  Would he have made a difference?  It’s possible, as he could have been the one committed to the run, leaving Anthony Smith to cover — and only cover — the deep receiver.  But that’s hindsight, and we have three important games awaiting us that our guys will never see while looking in the rear-view mirror.

Looking toward Jacksonville, we can only hope the pass defense can recover from last week’s utter thrashing.  For a team giving up just over 150 yards per game through the air, Tom Brady’s 399 was almost as much as the guys had coughed up over any three-game span in the first twelve contests.  In fact, if you add up the Patriots’ three biggest plays, it exceeded the unit’s single-game average.  This week, the defensive line is going to have to get into David Garrard’s face and force him into the mistakes he just hasn’t made this year.  And, most of all, Anthony Smith is going to have to understand that the front seven can handle the run on their own, just like they always have.

The run defense was stout, surrendering less than 2.5 yards per carry Sunday.  Of course, the Patriots only ran the ball nine times.  Why run when you can send touchdowns to the scoreboard via air mail?  But that run defense that has given up 100 yards to an individual just twice in the last two years worth of games certainly gives a Steeler fan a lot of confidence when the banged-up defense stares down the likes of Fred Taylor, who had made a habit of torching the Steelers in the days of the AFC Central division.
For once, Ben Roethlisberger looked to be the only Steeler not completely confused by the Patriots.  Thinking back to the 2004 AFC Championship game, Big Ben looked like a J.V. quarterback having a bad dream.  Sunday, while his numbers were far from staggering, it was largely his poised play that kept the game close through two quarters.  He’s looked much like the 2004/05 version of Benjamin R., and he’s going to need to keep it up against a notoriously stingy Jacksonville defense.  One thing that should give him, and the offensive tackles, a big sigh of relief is the fact that Jacksonville defensive end Marcus Stroud is gone for the season.  Considering he’s been sacked a whopping 38 times this year, it’s going to be like Christmas in the pocket this week compared to what he’s had to face down in recent weeks.

This one is going to come down to the Steelers’ offensive play calling, which was absolutely dreadful against New England, particularly in the second half.  The Jags play a very disciplined defense that gives up only tough yards.  Bruce Arians is going to have to dig deep into the playbook for a game plan that can be effective.  With Santonio Holmes on the field for a second straight game, it should help open up the offense as he’s now had time to get back to game speed.  With him stretching the field, it could leave a lot of underneath routes open for both Hines Ward and Heath Miller.

Steelers fans, I can’t say this loud enough: last week was not the biggest game of the year.  This week is what it comes down to.  A win to finish the season perfect at home, plus just one win over either the Rams or the Ravens, guarantees the division title comes back to Pittsburgh for the first time since 2004.  And that’s right where it belongs.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Troy Polamalu, Anthony Smith, Heath Miller, Heinz Field, Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Bruce Arians, Pittsburgh Steelers, Injuries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.