NFL - Are you Ready For Some Football?! - Wild Card Round!

[Ming]

Steelers -6 against the Bolts? What are the Steelers fans smoking? I can't see the Steelers getting that many points up on the board.

You might want to be concerned about the ability of San Diego putting points up on the board, considering that Pitt lead the league for least points against. Opponents averaged only 14 points a game against them, while SD allowed over 21.

Interestingly enough, strong defense seemed to be the key to success in most cases. In the AFC, Pitt, Tenn and Balt were number one, two and three in terms of points allowed. In the the NFC, The Giants were number 2 and the Panthers were Number 5. The Eagles were number one.

So out of all the teams still left, Arizona and SD have the worst defenses by far in their respective conferences.
Granted, SD also lead the AFC in scoring, but the three other teams in the West all had worse defenses than SD

[snoopy369]

Yea, PIT averaged 21.7 pts per game over the regular season. Interestingly enough, SD allowed an average of 21.7 pts per game over the regular season

Sounds like there will be 21.7 points on the PIT side by the end of this game...

[SlowwHand]

Tomlinson is out vs. Steelers.

[-Jrabbit]

Fear the Sproles!!

[SlowwHand]

Chargers would be more potent with both Tomlinson and Sproles. Sproles has stepped up, though.

[snoopy369]

Hester is doing well enough as a changeup, I think, that LT may not be necessary any more - he may well be finding himself the new Priest Holmes in SD.

[Ben Kenobi]

You might want to be concerned about the ability of San Diego putting points up on the board, considering that Pitt lead the league for least points against. Opponents averaged only 14 points a game against them, while SD allowed over 21.

The Chargers were second best, behind only the Saints in points scored.

I'm not too worried, because of our special teams advantage over the Steelers. They might be able to stop long drives, but the Chargers always work best with a short field.

Interestingly enough, strong defense seemed to be the key to success in most cases. In the AFC, Pitt, Tenn and Balt were number one, two and three in terms of points allowed. In the the NFC, The Giants were number 2 and the Panthers were Number 5. The Eagles were number one.

And the chargers were in the middle of the pack, 15th best defense based on points scored, despite starting with Cottrell. Granted, the Chargers have the second-worst defense of the remaining teams, but that's a compliment to the teams that are in, not so much criticism of the Chargers.

They are only about 20 pts behind Carolina, while Arizona is about 100 points behind the Chargers, so the tiers are like this:

1. PIT/TEN/BAL 14.0 - 15.25

2. NYG/PHI 18

3. SD/CAR 21-21.5

4. ARI 26.5

The Chargers managed to hold the potent offense of Manning to 10 points, not including that one long play. Not bad. Can the Steelers (who only scored 9 on the defense before), hope to get in the double digits this time? I don't see it.

I can see a Steelers by 3, assuming Roethlisberger is healthy, but Steelers by 6? No way.

I think the Chargers can put 2 tds down on the Steelers, even without Tomlinson. That will be enough to win.

Granted, SD also lead the AFC in scoring, but the three other teams in the West all had worse defenses than SD

Chargers have the most efficient offense in terms of yards per play. I'm not worried about the offense against the Steelers.

[Ben Kenobi]

Hester is doing well enough as a changeup, I think, that LT may not be necessary any more - he may well be finding himself the new Priest Holmes in SD.

LT will retire a Charger. I mean he only scored a TD last game. LT has lost a step.

[Supr49er]

LT will retire a Charger. I mean he only scored a TD last game. LT has lost a step.

You don't think they might try to trade him, assuming they get at least a #1 pick?

[Ben Kenobi]

No, never.

He single-handedly made the Chargers what they are today.

Even with Sproles, there are still things they are going to miss:

1. 3rd and short runs and running between the tackles.

2. Rushing tds in the redzone.

3. 8 men in the box.

One of the reasons Rivers has done so well is because he has never been considered the primary focus of a defense, last night was the first time we saw any team do two things:

1. Double team a wide receiver (Jackson).

2. Drop the safety into coverage rather then bringing them in to stop the run. Rivers is a good QB, but he's not elite, simply because the teams fear Tomlinson more then they fear him.

Now that they have the OL sorted, it is a shame that we won't see LT carve up some more teams in the playoffs.

[-Jrabbit]

It's a shame to see LT hurt for the 2d consecutive post-season. He's got a lot of miles on him, and it's starting to show. Rivers has inherited the on-field team leadership mantle. for now at least.

It will be interesting to see what the Bolts do with personnel in the off-season.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Btw, are we forgetting about the weather in Pittsburgh? It's supposed to be a high of 23 on Sunday, with some snow showers. I'm thinking San Diego may not be as potent as a result.

[-Jrabbit]

The Chargers have gotten hot at the right time, and are pretty battle-tested as a group. So I'm not factoring the weather into my considerations. Much.

[Ben Kenobi]

Btw, are we forgetting about the weather in Pittsburgh? It's supposed to be a high of 23 on Sunday, with some snow showers. I'm thinking San Diego may not be as potent as a result.

San Diego plays better in the cold then they do the rest of the year. They are probably the best of the warm-weather teams in the cold just because of their style of play.

The cards on the other hand...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Playing better in the cold is a damn sight different than a team that thrives in it like Pittsburgh .