With week 17 finally coming and the NFL season over we begin to shift toward the play offs which begin next Saturday. I thought I would do a break down series over the six AFC teams that have made it to the play offs this year. As you recall I did a preseason blog and made predictions for the season as you know by know I did not do to hot, hell I didn’t even pick one division champion correct. But as they say the play offs are a new season so I am going to take a look back over the regular season. Going to do a review of each team how they did and how they look on the path to the Super Bowl. No predictions just thoughts. I am going to start the series with the AFC North Champions the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I did not have high hopes for season coming in as I posted them to have a 9-7 season because they went the first four games with out there Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as he was serving a suspension put down on him by the NFL. Boy was I wrong the Steelers started the season 3-1 and went through it with two different Quarterbacks Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch. They knocked off the Falcons, Titians and Buccaneers before suffering a week four loss the division rivals Ravens.
After those four games the Steelers would enter a bye week and come back with Roethlisberger back running the offense against the Browns. He would look decent and would complete 16 passes on 27 attempts to lead the Steelers to a 28-10 victory.
Week seven was a true test of how the Steelers would compete as they go to Miami to play the Dolphins in what would be a 22-23 victory for Pittsburgh. In a game where Roethlisberger would attempt to run it in for a touchdown late in the game that would end in a fumble but video could not show who got the ball therefore giving it back to the Steelers and they kick for the win. After that game Roethlisberger said:
“Just a bizarre kind of play. You hate to win in that way, but you’ll take a win,”
The Steelers would not be so lucky in week eight when they went on the road to New Orleans when they would suffer there second lose of the season 20-10 to the Saints. The Steelers just could not compete against the Saints offense or defense. The only touchdown that was scored by the Steelers would be 38-yard run in the fourth quarter by Rashard Mendenhall. They were completely taken out of the third quarter of the game as they only had one possession. Roethlisberger was 17 of 28 for 195 yards following the game he had this to say:
“This is definitely a gut check for us,” He went on to say. “We got knocked down a little bit tonight and now it will be interesting to see how we bounce back.”
Bounce back is exactly what they did in week nine against Cincinnati in a Monday night game but it almost turned out bad. The Steelers at one point in the game had a comfortable lead until Roethlisberger threw an interception that would lead to Terrell Owens getting a touchdown and a missed Kick my Jeff Reed that would have sealed the deal for the Steelers. The defense stood strong and they held the Bengals and went on to a 27-21 victory. With the win the Steelers became 6-2 and tied with the Ravens for the top spot in the North.
Week 10 is when Tom Brady and the Patriots came into Heinz Field and destroyed them. The defense could not do a damn thing against Brady and they also played most of the game without star wide receiver Hines Ward who went out early with a concussion. The concussion would also stop Ward’s consecutive games with a reception at 186 games. Even with the Steelers scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter it was too late and they lost 39-26.
After the tough lose the Steelers would cut kicker Jeff Reed who was in his ninth season due to poor play and Signed Shaun Suisham who became a great pick up for them
down the stretch.
The Steelers came out strong in Week 11 and would kill the Raiders at home 35-3. This game was lead by James Harrison who caused two turnovers by Raiders Quarterback Jason Campbell that Roethlisberger would turn into touchdowns.
Week 12 would be an unsuspecting tough game in Buffalo against the Bills that would end in an overtime victory 19-16 when Suisham kicked a 41 yard field goal for the win. He went 4-4 on the day kicking something most people believed Reed wouldn’t do. The Bills had a great fourth quarter to tie it up but that wouldn’t be enough. In this game Roethlisberger would injury his foot and later would have to wear a protective shoe to protect a broken foot for the remainder of the year.
As if playing with a broken foot in week 13 wasn’t enough for Roethlisberger he would have his nose broken in first series of the game but would play the entire game. The team would go on the road and defeat the Ravens 13-10 in a game won by a Troy Polamalu strip sack late in the game. This was a heavy defensive game as most would expect but with a 10 point fourth for the Steelers it would go their way and they would take control of the North and wouldn’t lose it from there on out.
The Bengals come in for week 14 and get stomped 23-7 as the Steelers went for the sweep. This was another big game for Polamalu as well as LaMarr Woodley who both returned interceptions for touchdown.
“No one is playing as good as Troy Polamalu in football right now, in my opinion,” Head Coach Mike Tomlin said.” When we need a play, he provides it.”
Even with the great play you can’t prevent injury and Polamalu would sit out week 15 against the Jets. This game would come down to the wire but the Steelers would fall short 22-17. The game began with a Touchdown scored before the first minute of the game was up and it would be a battle from there as they remained tied back and forth for the remainder of the game but with a few errors in the fourth quarter would lead the Jets to victory. Due to the strength of schedule the Steelers was award a playoff berth.
The final two games of the season would be a blow out over the Panthers and the Browns and they would outscore them 68-12. Polamalu would return for the final game of the season and got back in the rhythm as if he had never left and was named by his teammates team MVP. After these wins the Steelers would finish the season 12-4 and be second in the playoffs as well as a first round bye.
Going into the playoffs they will have to have Polamalu and Roethlisberger both clicking on all cylinders if they hope to make it to the Super Bowl. With the bye they will play at home on in two weeks. The best path to the AFC Championship game in my opinion would be if they faced the Cheifs in the second round as the Cheifs have had a rough past two weeks. I don’t want to go on to the championship round as there are many factors that would go into play.
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