Author |
Topic: Steelers(gulp) analysis week 9 (Read 439 times) |
|
steelkings
Guest
Back to top
|
The Pittsburgh Steelers Travel to Seattle to play a team they haven’t beaten on the road in twenty years. In fact, the Steelers have managed a 1 and 6 record against the hawks in the last 7 games. The Seahawks last loss came 1 week ago in Cincinnati. Despite that loss Seattle is leading the NFC west with a 5 and 2 record. They are 4 and 0 at home, with a 1 and 2 road record. The Seahawks have the 9th ranked defense and the 12th ranked offence in the NFL. The Hawks feature Matt Hasselback, Shawn Alexander, Darrell Jackson and Koren Robinson on the offensive side of the ball, while their defense is lead by Marcus Trufant and Anthony Simmoms.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a 2 and 5 record. 1 and 3 at home, with a 1 and 2 road record. The Steelers sport the NFL’s 3rd ranked defense. The offense is ranked 22nd. The Steelers feature Tommy Maddox, Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward And Plexico Burress on offence along with Joey Porter and Jason Gildon on defense.
Quarterback
Tommy Maddox in his 7th year out of UCLA and has a 73.1 passer rating. He has completed almost 60% of his passes. He has averaged 235 yards per game, and has thrown 7 TD’s. Tom has been getting pressured into a pile of turnovers lately. He’s been sacked a league leading 23 times which has lead to 11 interceptions. The Steelers have struggled on third down. This directly reflects the fact that the Steelers are getting killed on time of possession. They are 37 of 67 with an average of a needed 7+ yards to convert the down. The ineffective running game, combined with the sack total puts the Steelers in bad situations on third down. Without the ability to stay on the field for long drives, Maddox has struggled to find a rhythm. Bill Cower has Put Oliver Ross back at the Right Guard position. Ross is a better Pass protector and should benefit Maddox in obvious passing downs.
I like Maddox to have a solid fantasy game, as this game should be a shoot out. Bettis is finding his rhythm in his second start and should take pressure off Maddox.
Tommy Maddox 21 of 35 for 288 Yards 2TD’s 1 Int
Running backs
Bettis the power back is starting over Amos Zereoue the scat back. Bettis is averaging 3 yards per carry while Amos is averaging 3.3 yards per carry. Zereoue likes to take the ball outside and struggles with the Steeler o-line unable to hold the running lanes. Zereoue will break a longer run than Bettis, however he losses yardage and puts the team in bad situations trying to get outside. Cower has given the third down role to Zereoue because he will catch the ball better than Bettis. Jerome will mostly take the ball straight up between the tackles. He’s very slow outside and prefers to beat it in there. The Seattle Defensive line is small but quick. Starting run stuffer Chad Brown is doubtful giving the bus an opportunity to roll. Bettis will need to have a big game in order for the Steelers to be successful. He will get it early and often. If he can stay healthy through out this game, look for him to produce him first 100 yarder of the season. Most of this will come in the second half.
Jerome Bettis 26 Carries 105 yrds rsh 3 rec 15yrds 0 TD’s
Amos Zereoue 5 Carries 22 yrds rsh 1 rec 10yrds 1 TD
Plax Burress and Hines ward despite the high expectations have had below average numbers. Maddox has been unable to avoid sacks long enough for them to get down field. Burress complained bitterly about not getting the ball enough. Burress complained openly to the Pittsburgh media that he’s open on every play but not getting the ball. Hines wouldn’t talk at all. Other than to say he’s not talking. Cower says that the coaches have lost confidence in the low percentage plays. He would like them to take more chances. I agree. That along with a big game from the Bus should allow big numbers from the receivers. The biggest to Burress. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Burress 9 recp 126 yrds 2TD’s
Ward 6 Recp 88 yrds 0 TD’s
Remersma 4 recp 38 yrds 0 TD’s
Randall El 2 recp 11yrds 0TD’s
Kicker
Jeff Reid has kicked well. He’s 11 of 13 with his longest of 51 yards. He is 13 of 13 on extra points. He’ll have a decent game fantasy wise.
Reid 2 FG 3 XP
Defense
The Steelers play the old 3/4 defense. Lately the have dropped the linebackers into coverage and blitzed very little. The secondary of the Steelers has been getting torched. During one play last week Bulger had 7 seconds to find a receiver. That resulted in Tory Holt catching a 38-yard pass, wide open. Cower Moved Kendrell Bell out of the dime package for Carl Haggans. Haggans is bigger and will provide more pressure from the front 4. Cower also committed to more blitz packages to force more pressure on the quarterback. This alone will help the secondary. The problem will then become Shawn Alexander. Because Kendrell Bell won’t play on third down, he will remain fresher and able to keep Alexander from having a big game. With Koren Robinson Hurting The Steelers will blitz the inside linebackers to prevent the draw while getting pressure. The road under dogs should be good in this one.
Defense 85 yrds rsh 245 passing 3 int
Final
Steelers 27
Seahawks 20
|
| « Last Edit: Oct 31st, 2003, 12:09pm by Stegfucius » |
 Logged |
|
|
|
Philosopher King
of Fantasy Football
Site Administrator
GBRFLer
Champ - '94, '99, '02, '04
I love ''the Gridiron''!
 
Posts: 19699
Back to top
|
 |
Re: Steelers(gulp) analysis week 9
« Reply #5 on: Oct 31st, 2003, 10:51pm » |
 Quote  Modify
|
on Oct 31st, 2003, 9:42pm, steelkings wrote:Thats a little like explaining human rights to Saddam! I dont get it. Thanks though.  When I preveiw the post it come to me fine . It seems to be fine as i view it now. Is it because it was generated on my cpu? Is everyone else getting a lame view? |
|
Yes, I too am getting some whacky formatting. Apostrophes (') are being displayed as squares  . Ultimately, what dropkick suggests is correct and there are not too many other ways of explaining it. But, whatever, sk, it's not that big of a deal and perhaps you will figure it out over time.
|
|
Logged |
|
|
|
|
Home
Help
Search
Members
Games
Login
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print
Remove
