The Toughest Game of the Year

If you thought last week against the Ravens was a tight ballgame you have not seen anything yet. If there is one team out there that can stop the New England Patriots it is the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday.

The Steelers have the necessary tools to stop the Patriots prolific offense, even though lately that offense has been far less than prolific. Pittsburgh has a good quarterback, albeit not as good as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, in Ben Roethlisberger who is built more like a Tight End than a quarterback. They have a defense that can pressure quarterbacks and make them throw under duress better than the Ravens or Eagles.

There is a glaring weakness on defense for the Pats that the Steelers, out of all teams, have the best chance to expose. As good as Brian Westbrook and Willis McGahee are, Willie Parker and Hines Ward are far more dangerous. Parker has accumulated 1,093 rushing yards over the 2007 season on 285 rushing attempts averaging out to 3.8 yards per gain. Ward has become one of Roethlisberger’s favorite targets in the open field when under pressure and like Donte Stallworth, Ward can break a few tackles for a long gain.

But those times that Roethlisberger is under pressure are few and far between because the fine work of the Pittsburgh offensive line. Sean Mahan, Alan Faneca, Marvel Smith, Kendall Simmons and Willie Colon have been doing an excellent job of keeping Roethlisberger in the vertical position, only allowing him to be sacked 35 times and 16 times in the last four games. (That is how many times Brady has been sacked all season by opposing defenses; although it seems that those 16 times have come all in the past two games.)

The Pats defense will have their hands full with the Steelers offense but the Steelers offense is not the only thing that New England will have to worry about. There is also that little thing called defense where the Steelers are ranked 1^st in the league.

Troy Polamalu is still a safety for the Steelers who, I am pretty positive, wants a piece of the Patriots after the Pats defeated Pittsburgh twice in AFC Conference games. Along with Polamalu on defense are inside linebackers James Harrison and James Farrior. Combined these two have 148 tackles and 14.5 sacks. Brady has to keep an eye out for these two coming up the middle or he will have an unwanted, face-to-face meeting with either one of them.

The Patriots offensive line has to step up and do a better job at protecting the Pats crowned jewel. No Pats fan wants to see Brady go down. The Steelers will probably play Randy Moss on man coverage (probably Ike Taylor) with additional help from the safeties and from time-to-time double team him. Double teaming Moss will open up Wes Welker over the middle, as in the Eagles game, and Welker can run for additional yards after the catch. But they have to be very careful of an interception by Deshea Townsend or Bryant McFadden.

This game will be a full-out, 60-minute, grinder. Which ever team can play for 60-minutes will come out on top. We all know that Bill Belichick has prepped his players all season to play 60 minutes of football each week (we should know because there were those soccer moms complaining about the Pats running up the score earlier in the year), so the Pats will come out to play for the entire game. I have not seen much or read too much about the Steelers in this case so I can not comment on this part of the game but knowing Belichick, he will have his team ready to play 60-minutes of hard, pounding football come Sunday at 4:15.

The Steelers had stripped away the Patriots 21 game winning streak back in 2003-2004 with a 34-20 victory in Heinz Field. With another streak on the line it is a safe bet the Steelers are looking to do the same again.

If the Patriots were not playing at home on Sunday would also factor into the game but this season Pittsburgh has not faired to well on the road. They have won just two out of five games they have played on the road. Those two wins coming against Cleveland and Cincinnati, two teams the Patriots have beaten – one of which was on the road (Cincinnati). Remember this is the team that also lost to the New York Jets and the Arizona Cardinals but come Sunday, the Steelers will be focused on the Patriots and intent on giving the Patriots their first loss of the season.

It is just I do not see that happening but I have been wrong before.

Patriots 35
Steelers 32

Game ball goes to: Wes Welker.

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger throws a pass against the Cincinnati Bengals last week. (AP Photo)