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ATL96Steeler
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The Steelers arrive at week 11 on the schedule and find themselves not only leading the AFCN by 2 games now. They're also the week 11 #2 seed if the season were to end today.
Of course the season doesn't end today. The Steeler hit the road for the next two games. The first one is the 3rd game within 12 mos with the Jacksonville Jaguars. (OFC rk 29th, DEF rk 10th)
No one needs to be reminded that the Jags took both of those games last yr and in doing so ended the Steelers season by knocking them out of the playoffs...42-45. What's the story this year? Well, last year PIT beat up on a lot of bad football teams and were never (imo anyway) as good as they're record. This season, the competition has been stiffer. They started a bit slow, but are riding a 5 game win streak including Ws over some decent teams in CIN, ATL, and CAR.
Injuries...the most notable is Connor (concussion protocol) and as of today he's still in protocol and questionable for the game. McCullers (ankle) and Gilbert (knee) did not play last week and continue to show as questionable for Sunday as well.
The Jags...what's happened? At 3-6 this is certainly not the season they anticipated coming off their AFCCG effort from last year. I've only seen JAX play a couple of times this year, but the biggest thing I can point to is the OFC is pretty much the same inconsistent effort as last year. The DEF is still very talented but they're not getting to the QB like they did last year...that's not shocking considering a 31 y/o DE had a career yr off the edge in '17. That had to help the youngster Ngakoue on the other side. Well both are having a solid yr so far, but they're projecting to hit about 60% of their sack totals from last yr.
Outlook
The player that did the most damage to the Steeler DEF is back healthy. Fournette was the catalyst for both wins last year. He's been nicked up this season and missed a couple games. PIT has played better on DEF the last month. Just cutting to the chase...I think these teams are going in two different directions...block the edge rushers and I think PIT wins this game by 7 to 10 assuming they have Connor...no Connor I still think they win but a closer game.
Calling this one ...28-20 PIT
What say you?
Of course the season doesn't end today. The Steeler hit the road for the next two games. The first one is the 3rd game within 12 mos with the Jacksonville Jaguars. (OFC rk 29th, DEF rk 10th)
No one needs to be reminded that the Jags took both of those games last yr and in doing so ended the Steelers season by knocking them out of the playoffs...42-45. What's the story this year? Well, last year PIT beat up on a lot of bad football teams and were never (imo anyway) as good as they're record. This season, the competition has been stiffer. They started a bit slow, but are riding a 5 game win streak including Ws over some decent teams in CIN, ATL, and CAR.
Injuries...the most notable is Connor (concussion protocol) and as of today he's still in protocol and questionable for the game. McCullers (ankle) and Gilbert (knee) did not play last week and continue to show as questionable for Sunday as well.
The Jags...what's happened? At 3-6 this is certainly not the season they anticipated coming off their AFCCG effort from last year. I've only seen JAX play a couple of times this year, but the biggest thing I can point to is the OFC is pretty much the same inconsistent effort as last year. The DEF is still very talented but they're not getting to the QB like they did last year...that's not shocking considering a 31 y/o DE had a career yr off the edge in '17. That had to help the youngster Ngakoue on the other side. Well both are having a solid yr so far, but they're projecting to hit about 60% of their sack totals from last yr.
Outlook
The player that did the most damage to the Steeler DEF is back healthy. Fournette was the catalyst for both wins last year. He's been nicked up this season and missed a couple games. PIT has played better on DEF the last month. Just cutting to the chase...I think these teams are going in two different directions...block the edge rushers and I think PIT wins this game by 7 to 10 assuming they have Connor...no Connor I still think they win but a closer game.
Calling this one ...28-20 PIT
What say you?