FanPost

Best Rivalry In The NFL Edition: Ask A Steelers Fan

For the very first time, this life-long Steelers fan finally steps foot in Pittsburgh and is blessed to have three tickets to watch the Steelers face arch rival and division foe, Baltimore Ravens this Sunday evening. To say I can't wait, is putting it mildly. A dream come true, likely a once in a lifetime experience. Mean Joe Greene is having his number retired becoming only the second player in team history to have attained this honor, and getting to watch the best rivalry game of the best division the NFL has to offer. Good times gentlemen, good times indeed.

Our grandson who happens to be a thirteen year-old Ravens fan who recently moved an hour from Pittsburgh will be attending along with the wife and myself, win or lose, he should have a memory he can cherish for the rest of his life, as will we.

Onto The game.

The 5-3 Pittsburgh Steelers have been wildly up and down this year, from a seemingly devastating home blowout loss to the Cleveland Browns one week to a spectacular triumph over the highly ranked, Indianapolis Colts two week later. The Steelers were almost shutout against the Browns and then scored 51 points on the Colts, it has certainly been a wild ride thus far and we are never quite sure which Steelers team will show up. At the present we are riding 6+ quarters of outstanding performance from the offense, along with a defense that is still finding consistency among the new performers.

The defense has a ton of new faces especially when you consider rookie Big Dan McCullers and free-agent Cam Thomas are sharing snaps at Nose Tackle in relief of the injured veteran, Steve McLendon. Rookie Ryan Shazier shares inside-linebacker duties with second year player Vince Williams and Sean Spence who is also seeing his first action in the NFL this season after taking two year to recover from a devastating knee injury. Lawrence Timmons is the anchor for the defense playing the other inside-linebacker position. At outside-linebacker, the Steelers are more experienced with transition-tagged Jason Worild starting on the left and free-agents Arthur Moats and a rounding into form James Harrison splitting time on the right side until the injured reserve starter, Jarvis Jones returns to action. Veteran defensive-end Brett Kiesel is also getting his beard into play and making a difference rotating into the line-up, alongside rookie Stephon Tuitt and veteran Cameron Heyward.

In the secondary, the Steelers have veteran Troy Polamalu along with free agent acquisition, free safety, Mike Mitchell who is starting to compliment the free-lancing, incumbent strong safety. Second year player, safety Schmarko Thomas returns from injury for this game, expect him to see the field. At corner-back the Steelers have had confusion with SwagginU's own Ike Taylor out with a broken arm and the player who was primed as his eventual replacement, Cortez Allen, being benched because of poor play. You are probably not familiar with their replacements other than Big Play, Willie Gay who returned an interception for a touchdown against the "great" Andrew Luck last weekend who will start at one corner with Brice McCain starting at the other and Antwon Blake seeing action as the nickel-back. Don't be surprised if Cortez plays a lot of nickel in this game as the coaches work him back into the lineup after his "benching".

On offense, we have a much prettier picture of a more veteran group. The o-line is anchored by veteran players all the way across it who have flourished lately under first year Steelers offensive line Coach, Mike Munchak, at both run-blocking and pass-blocking, keeping franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger upright and helping likely All-Pro running back LeVeon Bell to 3rd in rushing yard so far this season, with veteran free-agent and all around bad boy, LaGarrett Blount, sharing repetitions and the occasional doobie.

Antonio Brown, the accolades can not come quickly enough for this All-Pro wide receiver, he is one of the best, if not the best at his craft in the National Football League. Across from, the Barry Sanders of wide-receivers, flanker Antonio Brown, you have 2nd year player Marcus Wheaton and Rookie Martavus Bryant splitting reps at split-end, with the 6' 4" rookie pulling in two touchdown passes in the last game. In the slot you have veteran, Lance Moore, best known for his time with the New Orleans Saints, who looks to be a reliable target in recent action. A shout-out to Heath Miller who has been coming up big both catching the ball and blocking.

Keep a watch for explosive rookie, Dri Archer when he gets on the field either out of the backfield or lined up in the slot, I am hopefully expecting the third round pick to have his first splash play against the Baltimore Ravens.

Go Steelers!

PS, I challenge Mr MaLoR to publish a like post at BTSC.

PSS, Hopefully we have a great discussion, visitors please be kind to your hosts, moderators please be patient with your guests. Everyone have fun and lets talk some REAL football.

The opinions posted here are those of the writer of this article. They are in no way official comments from the team, the editors of this site or SB Nation as a whole, and should not be misconstrued as such.

In This FanPost

Teams