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Steelers weekly report
« on: Sep 6th, 2002, 7:29am » |
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Following paulinstl's example, here is my report on the Steelers that I posted over at FFToday:
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Stillers open up Gillete Stadium on Monday night. This will certainly be a grudge match, with NE feeling disrespected and Pit still seething months after a disappointing AFC championship loss. Several opposing trends are interesting from the Steelers perspective. The first is their lack of success under Cowher in opening games. Cowher has acknowledged this and played his starters most of the first half of the last preseason game to try to shake things up. The other trend is their success in Monday night matchups.
Overall, even with the lack of deep historical significance, consider this a rivalry game where all bets are off and anything can happen.
QB: Kordell Stewart is an enigma and last season showed it. The first half of the year he did basically nothing (including throwing very few interceptions). The second half of the year he exploded and ended the season as a top 10 FF QB. If your league discounts QB TDs and yards, he is a great value pickup and I believe he will perform on a par with the second half of last season. Against NE, expect decent yardage from any opposing QB and low TD totals.
220 yds 1 TD 1 INT 40 yds rushing 1 TDs
RB: Bettis is fat this year. He is ASKING to share the load. AND, he is fully recovered from his groin injury. With the Steelers he has never been a TD force and he won't be again this year. Amos Zeroue is supposed to pick up Jerome's slack, but he has looked tentative this preseason and still may not have recovered to playing form from an offseason illness. FU will produce in spurts, but never enough to hang your hat on.
Bus: 20 carries 75 yds 0 TDs 2 rec. 10 yds 0 TDs
Amos: 5 carries 12 yds 0 TDs 3 rec 15 yds 0 TDs
FU: 3 carries 15 yds 0 TDs 1 rec 10 yds 0 TDs
WR: Burress appears to be developing into a star, however he still makes boneheaded plays routinely (such as going backwards immediately after about 50% of his catches). Ward is recovering from an appendectomy, however he should play. Randel-El is exciting as 'ell, but will not see enough time to be a FF factor (and for those who get special teams points, Lee Mays appears to be the kick returner, not Randel). Mathis is a proven receiver but will rarely see the field. The only play here this week is Burress as Ward is still recovering.
Burress: 6 rcpt 80 yds 1 TD
Ward: 6 rcpt 50 yds 0 TD
Randel-El: 4 rcpt 35 yds, 2 rush 15 yds
TE: Bruener and co. are great blockers, but rarely used in pass game. If you EVER start a Pit TE I feel sorry for you.
K. Kris Brown was tied for third in FF points last year while suffering through a terrible % year. Peterson should be better and see just as many chances. A great draft choice (as far as kickers go) who can be had around the 7th-8th kicker selected usually, and an especially good play against a stingy NE scoring Def that should keep Pit out of the endzone most of the game.
3 FGs (35,40,45 yards) 2 Extra Points
Def.: The Steelers return 10 of 11 defensive starters and will not miss Holmes with Farrior stepping in. Kendrell Bell is recovering from an ankle sprain, but should be playing Monday night. 2 good defenses for this game with completely different styles, watch for the Stillers to shut down NE except for a couple big plays.
I have to warn anyone looking at players from this game that it will be a heated, emotional contest that could go anywhere from scoreless in regulation to a shootout to a blowout either way. That being said, Kordell will be a decent play all year, the Bus will finally deserve his traditionally underrated FF draft status, Burress should be a good play (especially with Ward recovering this week), and Peterson and the Def will always be good plays.
BTW: game prediction Pit 23 NE 17
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11/20/04 - Buckeyes salvage season by stomping that team from up north. (Posted 11/14/04)
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