Jets Vs Steelers: Staff Picks
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Mark Teece @TeeceMr
After last Sundays demolition of the hapless Bills it'd be easy to roll into Heinz field expecting more of the same. The last two regular season meetings between the two have seen the gang green emerge victorious (2007 19-16 OT & 2010 22-17) The most recently trip between the two is one seared into the memory banks under the category 'same old Jets' as the Jets tried in vein to recover from 24-3 half time deficit in the AFC championship game.
History aside and the deciding factor in this one for me lies with those that won't be on the field. I'd got the Jets down for a 20-17 victory prior to news that Darrell Revis will not play. I still have the Jets down for the victory for these reasons, the Steelers running game is not as formidable as that of the Bills, I expect this defense to improve on the 195 yards we gave up last week, keeping the Steelers to under 80 yards, no Mendenhall, Isaac Redman is questionable, once again Johnathon Dwyer will carry the load.
Against the Broncos Roetilisberger airing the ball out 40 times completing just 22, they looked poor within the Redzone and struggled to convert 3rd downs despite an abundance of talent in the passing game in the form of Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown and Heath Miller. Kyle Wilson faces a tough challenge , but with Landry, Bell and Cromartie patrolling the field, the Jets secondary is still a formidable unit. Along with injury concerns to Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, an expectant crowd and the pressure of opening 0-2, I expect the Jets will edge this, I'll take your declining Big Ben, no run, not up to speed star receiver and you towel waving crowd and raise you a Mark Sanchez, Hill, Holmes and Kerley and add in some revenge and a sprinkling of Tebow as the Jets win 24-20.
Justin Baldinger @J_Baldinger Yet another early season measuring stick game for the Jets, one against another potential wild card contender. I am not as optimistic about this matchup as I was against the Bills last week though. Even with Darrelle Revis and Dustin Keller being ruled out with injuries, I still believe that the biggest things going against the Jets this week are the pressure Pittsburgh faces to avoid going 0-2 and their fired up crowd ready for the home opener. The Steelers need this one and, as a veteran team, they’ll be ready to defend their turf.
Obviously being without Revis makes the road to victory even steeper. Pittsburgh has an excellent passing game with four very talented receiving options in Antonio Brown, Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and tight end Heath Miller. With the Jets secondary depth depleted, this task went from difficult to nearly impossible. It will be up to the front seven to pressure Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger into mistakes and set up 3rd and long situations to alleviate the pressure on the potentially over matched secondary.
With the likelihood that they’ll be playing from behind at some point this week, missing Keller as a viable pass catching option puts even more pressure on Santonio Holmes to have a big game like he did many times when he called Hines Field home and Stephen Hill to replicate their performance from last week against a much more experienced secondary, a task I do not believe he is quite ready for.
The Steelers have injury issues of their own, with linebacker James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu questionable. But everything going in their favor, combined with the early, must-win nature of this game, makes the choice easy… A lot easier than it was a few hours ago. Steelers 24, Jets 13
Rich Wilhelm @Koda522
This game against the Pittsburgh Steelers will be tougher than ever with Darrelle Revis out. The team can play sufficiently without Dustin Keller because of the emergence of Jeff Cumberland, but Revis cannot be replaced. Antonio Brown may have a field day on this defense which will make this score very skewed. I originally had the Jets winning this game but without Revis this whole game flips into Pittsburgh’s favor.
Kyle Wilson is a good player but is no Revis and Ellis Lankster is unproven. The only upside is that this will give the Jets a week to get the team to a 100% before they win easily against the Miami Dolphins the following week. In order for the Jets to win everyone on offense has to play perfect. They need to score on nearly every drive and the safeties need to pick up the slack from the cornerbacks. The fact that Joe McKnight has been practicing at cornerback this week is very scary. I hope I am wrong but I see the score being Pittsburgh 24-10.
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