The Pittsburgh Steelers are reliving the past history of
last year’s team. Last year the
offensive line was the Achilles heel for the team and this year is begging to
look like a repeat itself. Gone from
last year’s team is Max Stark and Flozell Adams and Willie Colon who was signed
with a contract extension this year has already been placed on the injured
reserve list and is ineligible to return this season. Jamon Meredith replaced Colon on the active
roster. Rookie tackle Marcus Gilbert
injured his shoulder in the Indianapolis Colts game last week and tackle
Jonathan Scott hopes to return to practice this week and may be available for
the Houston Texans game this week.
The Steelers have experienced a roller coaster season so
far. They gave up seven turnovers and
were called old and past their prime following the Baltimore Ravens game and
then shutout the Seattle Seahawks and looked like the team that just returned
from a Super Bowl season. However just
like last season this team finds a way to win.
Last week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts was expected to be a
blow out turned out to be decided on a last minute field goal by Steelers’ kicker
Shuan Suisham.
This week the Steelers travel to Houston to battle the
Texans. The Texans have made major
changes on defense and have added former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips
as the Defensive Coordinator. Phillips
has also implemented the 3-4 defensive scheme had placed former number one pick
Mario Williams as a linebacker instead of a down lineman defensive end. Also added to the mix is Johnathan Joseph at
defensive back. The Texans have been
impressive so far this on defense except for last week’s game against the New
Orleans Saints. The Texans lost that
game in an old fashion shootout 40-33.
This week’s game will be determined in the trenches,
whichever team control the line of scrimmage will win the game. The Texans are undefeated when they have a
rusher has over 100 hundred yards in a game, while the Steelers are looking to
having an dominate running game again. Also
this game will be very important for later in the season with both teams have a
2-1 record home field advantage and playoff tie breakers could benefit the
winner of this game. Pittsburgh leads
the overall series 2-1 and won the last meeting 38-17 at Heinz field in
Pittsburgh.
Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Schuab will challenge each other’s
defensive backs with deep and intermediate passes. Both quarterbacks have been impressive so far
this season and are not afraid to stay in the pocket to deliver the pass to
their receivers. This will be one of the
best games that will be played this weekend.
According to NFL ticket exchange this is the hottest ticket that fans
are trying to obtain. Hopefully the all
of the hype surrounding the game will live up to the actual game action.