Facing the Steelers in Heinz Field is daunting for most anyone when Big Ben is on the field.
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Shazier sees it happen regularly to opposing defenses trying to figure out what to do with Steelers All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown. The Steelers have just eight sacks in the first six games. They still can do this with someone else lined up at running back, but I think it will be unlikely.
Jets fans sardonically take credit for Brady’s career, while also lamenting it. Expect Gronk to receive approximately 88-yards and a touchdown.
“I can’t complain or mope”, Davis said. Brady has thrown for 782 yards in two games, and the team has put up 68 points. That’s a 140.3 passer rating. “But, you have to take what the defense gives you and try to be cautiously aggressive”.
When Brown gestured wildly on the field after Jones threw an errant pass at his feet against the Cardinals, tight end Heath Miller had to tell Brown not to show up his quarterback.
While that’s still considerably smaller than the 6-6, 265-pound Gronkowski or the 6-7, 248-pound Martellus Bennett, it’s a start. Cleveland, as bad as they’ve looked at times this season, has had some fight in them the last couple of weeks, and I find that teams tend to wake up for division games.
In a way, Blount’s performance over the last two years with the Patriots has only validated Blount’s assertion that he deserved to be more involved in the game plan. After all, few National Football League teams can boast Pittsburgh’s riches in the backfield, where Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams reside. They’ll rely on an unheralded backup and a defense that allows more yards per game than all but four other teams in the NFL.
On the other side of the ball, the Steelers will be turning to Landry Jones under center.
“You can just turn on the film and see where he’s at”, Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower said on Thursday. Brown won the duel with 9 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets for the game. Ben Roethlisberger is out of course, and that is leading to Landry Jones starting in his place, but this is only the beginning of the bad news. The only real question mark is running back Brandon Bolden, who was held out of practice on Friday with a knee injury. It’s going to take a combination effort to try and slow him down. Sam Bradford is a not a star quarterback and has no high-profile options around him, but they’re still putting up 23.8 PPG. Fitzgerald Toussaint leads all kick returners on the team (four returns, 20.0 average).
Bell and Williams can dominate, but Belichick is the league’s best at taking away an opponents’ strengths.
THE PATRIOTS ARE IN TROUBLE IF… it comes down to the red zone.
Butler added that, “If we’re going to beat them, we can’t get beat mentally, either, in terms of making mistakes”.
BY THE NUMBERS (tie) 1.85 (via Ryan Hannable) – Keep an eye on Brady’s quick release.
A year ago, in his first National Football League start, Butler was matched up with Antonio Brown one-on-one for much of the game.
On Nov. 3, 2013, Brady set the record for most yards and most points against the Steelers in a 55-31 victory in New England. And with Sammie Coates still nursing a fractured finger and Markus Wheaton out, Brown’s importance can’t be overstated. He’s been dogged by a hand injury for the last few weeks, but when he’s completely healthy, he can be extremely unsafe. Alex Smith was a tidy 19-of-22, while Spencer Ware carried the rock for 131 yards and a touchdown.
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PITTSBURGH – As a general rule, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t get too caught up in the emotional toll of a loss or the carnage it can leave behind.
