It always concerns me when a guy is obviously just chasing money. Wallace held out long into training camp last year rather than play out the final year of his rookie deal and, as a result, he had a poor year by his standards in 2012, with 64 catches for 836 yards and 8 touchdowns [...]
Have we overrated Ben Roethlisberger just a bit? In 9 seasons as a starter, he’s had a top-3 scoring defense on his side 6 times. In the 3 years he hasn’t, he’s missed the playoffs, including this year. They weren’t bad or anything this year, allowing 19.6 points per game, 6th in the NFL, including [...]
Cleveland Browns (5-10) at Pittsburgh Steelers (7-8) Aside from this being a divisional matchup, this is a completely meaningless game for these two teams. Both are out of the playoffs. I have a rule against making significant plays on completely meaningless games. If the teams might not care about a game, I shouldn’t either. There’s just [...]
Last week: 12 (-4) Record: 7-8 Net points per drive: 0.11 (14th) DVOA: -3.2% (18th) Weighted DVOA: -1.5% (17th) Studs WR Antonio Brown: Caught 5 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown on 6 attempts on 33 pass snaps, 5.4 YAC per catch CB Cortez Allen: Allowed 7 catches for 79 yards on 14 attempts, [...]
Cincinnati Bengals (8-6) at Pittsburgh Steelers (7-7) Apparently the roof is falling in Pittsburgh. They’ve gone from favored by 4.5 to favored by 3 (passing two key numbers) and the public is still on Cincinnati. Why? Because they lost in overtime in Dallas in a game that was meaningless for them because they still control [...]
Last week: 11 (-1) Record: 7-7 Net points per drive: 0.10 (13th) DVOA: -3.0% (17th) Weighted DVOA: 0.0% (15th) The Steelers lost last week in Dallas, but that game didn’t mean anything to them. For Dallas it meant their season, but the Steelers still control their own destiny if they can win out at home [...]
Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6) at Dallas Cowboys (7-6) After the Steelers’ loss last week, I was expecting them to be dogs here, especially after the Cowboys big win as dogs last week. There was no early line last week because Ben Roethlisberger’s status was still in doubt so I didn’t know really what to expect in [...]
Last week: 7 (-4) Record: 9-4 Net points per drive: 0.11 (13th) DVOA: -0.5% (15th) Weighted DVOA: 2.1% (13th) If they can win week 16 against the Bengals, they should still be in the playoffs regardless, even after a loss to the Chargers at home. The Bengals really missed a chance at home for Dallas [...]
San Diego Chargers (4-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5) A lot of trends say the Chargers are the right side. Teams are 102-57 ATS as dogs before being favorites over the past 2 seasons and the Chargers are favorites next week at home for the Panthers. Meanwhile, road dogs are 57-33 ATS off back-to-back losses as [...]
Last week: 10 (+3) Record: 7-5 Net points per drive: 0.18 (12th) DVOA: -0.4% (15th) Weighted DVOA: 2.7% (13th) Studs TE Heath Miller: Caught 5 passes for 97 yards on 6 attempts on 36 pass snaps, 11.4 YAC per catch, 1 interception when thrown to CB Keenan Lewis: Allowed 3 catches for 35 yards on [...]
Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) at Baltimore Ravens (9-2) 2 weeks ago, the Steelers were riding high at 6-3, including a recent win over the Giants in New York and looked like they had a chance to take control of the division with a win at home against the then 7-2 Baltimore Ravens. However, Ben Roethlisberger got [...]
Last week: 10 (+0) Record: 6-5 Net points per drive: 0.18 (12th) DVOA: -1.3% (18th) Weighted DVOA: 0.2% (16th) Tier 3: Former Super Bowl champs who could be scary if they get hot Studs RG Ramon Foster: Did not allow a pressure on 41 pass block snaps, run blocked for 1 yard on 1 attempt [...]
Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) at Cleveland Browns (2-8) Charlie Batch will start this one for the Steelers. He should have started against the Ravens to begin with. He’s always been a solid backup quarterback who can win games when Ben Roethlisberger is hurt (5-2 SU and 5-2 ATS since joining the Steelers). I think he’s a [...]
Record: 6-4 Last week: 9 (-1) I have no idea what Mike Tomlin was thinking leaving Byron Leftwich out there when he was clearly hurt. There’s no real difference in talent level between him and Charlie Batch; in fact, I thought Batch should have been the starter in the first place after Ben Roethlisberger was [...]
Last week: 7 (-3) Record: 6-3 Ben Roethlisberger’s injury hurts, but the sky isn’t falling. In Roethlisberger’s career, they are 8-5 when he doesn’t play, starting with his first start week 3 of 2004. They have a 2 game lead over the rest of the AFC for a playoff spot. 9-7 should get you a [...]
Baltimore Ravens (7-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3) Ben Roethlisberger is out for this one. How can the Steelers possibly beat the 7-2 Ravens? That’s the question that everyone seems to be asking this week and apparently no one can come up with an answer as the public is pounding Baltimore as road favorites here. However, [...]
Kansas City Chiefs (1-7) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3) The Chiefs have yet to lead in regulation through 8 games, the first time a team has done that since 1929 and that team folded after the season. Actually, they were also the first team to do that through 7 games since 1929 as well. However, they [...]
Last week: 9 (+2) Record: 5-3 The Steelers have been awfully impressive the last few weeks and even more impressive is that they’re doing it without Troy Polamalu. Over the last few years, they allow about a touchdown less per game when he’s in the lineup as opposed to when he’s not in the lineup, [...]
Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) at New York Giants (6-2) Last week, the Giants won in Dallas in the exact type of game they normally win. They are now 18-7 ATS as road favorites under Tom Coughlin. On the road in general, they are 50-25 ATS under Tom Coughlin, as opposed to 34-38 ATS at home. As [...]
Last week: 15 (+7) Record: 4-3 After 2 straight wins, the Steelers are back in the AFC playoff picture at 4-3 and that’s despite Troy Polamalu being out. When he’s in the lineup over the last 3 years, they allow about a touchdown less per game when he’s in there so it’s good news that [...]
Last week: 16 (+1) Record: 3-3 Whether or not the Steelers can make the playoffs really depends on when Troy Polamalu gets back. Their win last week was impressive, until you consider that the Bengals are very good. Without him, they’re a pretty average team overall, but with him, they can definitely make the playoffs. [...]
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (3-3) What is wrong with the Steelers? After their recent loss in Tennessee, that’s all anyone can ask. Well, the problem is twofold. The first reason is that they just suck on the road as favorites outside of the division. They won 12 games last year and still barely [...]
Last week: 10 (-6) Record: 2-3 Since 2009, the Steelers are 7-9 in games without Troy Polamalu and allowed 21.9 points per game. With him, they are 27-8, allowing 14.4 points per game, with him. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere [...]
Last week: 11 (+1) Record: 2-2 The AFC is weak, so the Steelers should be safe and sneak in as a wild card, but the loss of Troy Polamalu hurts. They are obviously hoping it’s just a short term thing. Excluding last week, during which Polamalu left in the middle, the Steelers are now 7-8 [...]
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2) at Tennessee Titans (1-4) Week 3, the Steelers traveled to play a significantly inferior team, missing two of their top defenders, and yet were still heavily bet by the public as road favorites. They lost outright and a lot of people lost a lot of money. 3 weeks later, the Steelers have [...]