The Pittsburgh Steelers will welcome and host their visiting AFC North nemesis Baltimore Ravens in a Thursday Night Football prime-time matchup that could have a massive collision on the early-season division run. They’ll be scrapping for relevance.
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My Prediction: The Ravens won’t go 0-4, they’ll win this one, and they’ll cover their -2 1/2 point spread.
Michael Vick took over after Roethlisberger went down in the third quarter, and will be the Steelers’ starter for as long as Roethlisberger is out. Brown leads the National Football League with 1,698 receiving yards, but also is making the adjustment to Vick.
“Ben is a competitor and we are confident he will do everything in his power to return at the appropriate time”, Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said in a statement. Defense has always won games for both Baltimore and the Steelers, but that hasn’t been the case this season.
Now, the defense will be called upon to be a team strength with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out with a knee injury. He completed 5 of 6 passes for 38 yards after Roethlisberger’s exit, hardly the gamebreaking stuff of Vick’s prime.
Meaning Vick will have time to figure things out. Just don’t expect him to try and impersonate Roethlisberger.
Watch the Baltimore Ravens at the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1.25am this Friday, live on Sky Sports 1. However, three of those penalties came on offense and all three killed drives. He had a 117.2 passer rating when the Jets were leading compared to 60.3 when they were behind in games.
“Running the ball is, obviously, very important to our offence”, Harbaugh said. We had a game plan one day that was amusing.
Notes: Quarterback Landry Jones will dress for his first game in his three seasons since the Steelers drafted him in the fourth round from Oklahoma in 2013.
Rams safety Mark Barron hit Roethlisberger’s left leg and sent him to the turf clutching his knee.
“I’m just trying to keep my body in tip-top shape”. When and if the offense is provided short fields, Vick and company have to cash in on them with touchdowns instead of field goals.
SACK EXCHANGE: After getting rolled by New England and Tom Brady in the opener, Pittsburgh’s defence is starting to resemble the quick, aggressive unit new co-ordinator Keith Butler envisioned when he took over for Dick LeBeau in the off-season. Enter your score in the tool below and prove Steelers fans who are regulars at BTSC know the game better than those Ravens fans over at Baltimore Beatdown.
With the Steelers’ secondary their best pass defense is going to have to come from the front seven. “So, hopefully, we will continue that progress”.
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Without Roethlisberger, the Steelers will obviously have to establish the ground game. The other two went to tight end Crockett Gillmore, who will be sitting out Thursday night’s game with a calf injury.
