Pittsburgh Steelers game preview

Roethlisberger and his teammates will be back on the road this weekend when they face the Browns in Cleveland.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison feels the team’s current defensive woes can be cured.

But STEELERS ground game was a nonfactor in Week 10, gaining only 19-48-1. The Steelers have a shot, thanks to the Baltimore Ravens’ tough schedule and the Cincinnati Bengals’ incurable Bengal-ness.

A brutal loss to Dallas has morale low, but there is still hope for playoff aspirations for the Steelers in 2016.

Point spread: The Steelers opened as 8.5-point favorites; the total was 49.5 early in the week, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark (line updates and matchup report).

Some of the losses are attributable to personnel, or to mistakes by assistant coaches or team captains. They’ll play finale on January 1 in Pittsburgh.

“Coach and I talked on Monday”.

One common complaint against Tomlin is his inability to choose personnel. Heyward led the Steelers with three sacks this season and, alongside Stephon Tuitt, essentially made up their interior pass rush. So it appears the Steelers will be well positioned to halt their four-game losing streak when they take on the Browns on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium. “It was a good call”, said Tomlin. Dupree, who didn’t play in the preseason, was designated to return and began practicing last week. “I mean, it’s that time of year”. No team with the Steelers’ talent should be 4-5. We can’t have an excuse as to if a guy’s not playing, if this guy’s not playing the offense is not doing as good as it can or the defense is not doing as good as it can.

Is it players? Is it coaches?

But as much as people want to blame Tomlin and defensive coordinator Keith Butler, the fact is the Steelers don’t have enough play makers on defense. Those 177 games started are the fourth most in the National Football League since 2004 behind Tom Brady (182), Eli Manning (192), and Drew Brees (198). “When we go on the road, it’s obviously louder”. He’ll add at least one more name to that list, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being two.

“They had eight, nine guys way back”, Roethlisberger said.

Another big play was a 20-yard completion from Roethlisberger to Brown on a corner route against that same Cover 2 nickel look from the Cowboys.

“I know that they are 0-10”, said Tomlin. Suddenly, Cam Heyward finds himself the oldest player on the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive line.

– Browns receiver and Jeannette High School graduate Terrelle Pryor has a successful transition from quarterback to wide receiver. And so when we’re talking about lack of detail or discipline, it’s not rampant. I also note that the tackling generally has been poor. It’s pass/fail. We understand that coming in … we know the type of team that we have.

Someone needed to say it, someone needed to make it public. Two of the tackles have been for losses. The Steelers’ defense has permitted the eighth most yards through the air at 286.6 yards per game. Going to have to run that one back. Additionally, the remaining 3 games come against Indianapolis, New York, and Buffalo, 2 of whom have losing records.

This team can score points. At the end of the game, I’d like to see us stay in bounds and fight and claw for every scratch, every yard, every blade of grass and any opportunity that we can have to win the game.