Sunday, October 30, 2011

Roethlisberger Shines and Steelers Defense Dominates

The Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff was prepared for the New England Patriots this week.

They had Roethlisberger throw the ball 50 times. He finished with a statline of 36/50, 365 yds., 2 TDs, and 1 INT. Big Ben used an interesting strategy to help pick apart the seemingly inept Patriots pass defense. 39 of his 50 attempts for 10 yards or less. He was amazingly able to complete 79.5% of them for 18 first downs (46.2% of the team's total).

This strategy helped the Steelers to control the tempo and flow of the game. Pittsburgh's time of possession was nearly 39 minutes. This gave Tom Brady little time with which to operate.

Brady had a 6-1 record all time against the Steelers. In those games, he had put up some very impressive stats. However, in today's game the Steelers defense hounded Brady and only allowed him to pass for a season low 198 yards.

Pittsburgh controlled the game from the start and never let up. They have now won four games in a row. They hold a half a game lead over the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.

Next week, the Steelers play host to that very same Ravens team who embarrassed them in a blowout win in Week 1. However, this is very different Steelers team, who has chip on their shoulder they would like to shed against their archrival. And in case you didn't think this game was big enough, it is also a primetime game on Sunday night in front of national television audience. Expect to see two teams that hate each other immensely go all out in what is always expected to be one of the best games of the year.

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