Some reasons to feel good heading into the Steelers game

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(09-14-2016, 06:26 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Obviously we've been pretty abysmal vs the Steelers for over a decade now, but there are a few reasons for optimism.

1. The Steelers offense isn't nearly as explosive vs our defense. They averaged 20.3 points and 360 yards against the Bengals, 27.1 and 401 vs everyone else. This is including a game where our defense played like they knew they just lost their franchise QB.

2. Miller and Bryant combined for 38 catches in 3 games last year. Obviously they won't be around for this one. Miller in particular is going to be a huge loss. He had 10 catches in each of the regular season games. Brown was covered and Ben kept dumping it to Heath.

3. Speaking of Ben, he's been pretty mediocre against the Bengals over the last 4 seasons (9 games). He has a 85.4 rating with more turnovers (12) than TDs (11). This continued last year, when he had only 2 TDs to 4 INTs.

4. The Bengals are 3-4 in the last 7 full games Dalton has played.

5. From 2013-15 (5 starts), Dalton has a 85.1 rating against the Steelers. Completing 62.3% with 8 TDs and only 5 INTs. Considering that the Steelers have shut down our passing game dating back to the Palmer days, the numbers are encouraging. Dalton has actually had a better passer rating then Ben in 3 of their last 4 matchups, with the Bengals going 2-1 when that happens.

6. AJ Green dominated them last year for 321 yards. Plus he had a TD in each game.

7. DeAngelo Williams was mostly held in check in his only start against us last year. 76 yards on 23 carries. He did punch it in twice, but managed only 3.3 ypc and 2 catches for 15 yards.

and finally...

8. The Steelers are 8-7 without Bell (including playoffs) since he was drafted. One of those losses happened to be a week 2 game @Bengals. One of the very rare wins for the Bengals in Cincinnati.

_____________________________


With no Bell, Heath or Bryant, I think we have a good shot to win in Pittsburgh. We've been much more competitive against those guys recently (when our QB is healthy and our receivers aren't decimated). So do you guys have any reasons why you're feeling good going into this game? Or is there a particular stat you find interesting?

To make it sound even better, we're 3-3 in Andy's last 6 full games .



But yes, I hate this team, I hate these games and I hate this week, but I always have hope that the tough men of 2009 will manifest in each Stooler game (the hard fought week 3 comeback and the shut down domination, with a bit of BScott thrown in).


Those two games proved to me that no matter what our past is, they won't always crush us.