Talking NFL

With nearly every sports writer in the country still focused on Sunday’s battle royal, last night the Pittsburgh Steelers loudly screamed, “PAY ATTENTION TO US, GUYS!!”

Ben Roethlisberger had a career night on offense (5 TD passes), and James Harrison had one on defense (3.5 sacks, an INT, a fumble recovery, 9 tackles), as the Steelers destroyed the Ravens 38-7 in front of numerous past Steeler greats gathered to celebrate the team’s 75th anniversary.

(Incidentally Harrison now has 2.5 more sacks and one more INT that the guy he replaced, Joey Porter.  One of the reasons why the Steelers are a consistently good team year after year; they know when to cut ties with veterans and they have good, young players waiting in the wings to replace them.)

While the Ravens were able to hold Willie Parker in check, they couldn’t contain Big Ben.  His elusive scrambling ability and accuracy throwing on the run gave Ray Lewis & company fits all night long.  He looks like a much better quarterback than the one who threw three interceptions against the Patriots in the 2004 AFC Championship Game.  Because of this, and their suffocating defense (as I mentioned on Sunday), the Steelers look like the prime candidate to play spoiler to the Patriots quest to go undefeated.  

But even more interesting is the possibility that the Steelers could…uh…steel the #2 AFC seed from the Colts (sorry, that was terrible).  Currently, the Steelers are 6-2 and one game behind the 7-1 Colts.  Let’s look at the remaining schedule for both teams:

Pittsburgh

Cleveland (5-3)
at NY Jets (1-8)
Miami (0-8)
Cincinnati (2-6)
at New England (9-0)
Jacksonville (5-3)
at St. Louis (0-8)
at Baltimore (4-4)

Take the Patriots out of the equation, and Pittsburgh’s remaining foes are 17-40.  So 13-3 certainly isn’t out of the question.

Indianapolis

at San Diego (4-4)
Kansas City (4-4)
at Atlanta (2-6)
Jacksonville (5-3)
at Baltimore (4-4)
at Oakland (2-6)
Houston (4-5)
Tennessee (6-2)

Indy certainly has a few cream puffs in there, but next week’s Chargers game and the season finale against a strong Tennessee team will be tough contents that they could certainly lose.

So for argument’s sake, let’s say both the Steelers and the Colts finish 13-3, behind the Patriots.  The first playoffs tie-breaker is moot, since they don’t play each other.  The 2nd tie-breaker is their divisional record.  Both teams are currently 3-0, and the Colts certainly have the tougher foes left.  But for arguments sake, let’s say they draw there as well.  The next tie-breaker is common opponents.

…and if the Steelers were to beat the Patriots in Foxboro, then they’d have the upper hand over the Colts.

Hey, it’s all speculation at this point, but it’s also worth noting that the Patriots/Colts AFC Championship Game rematch isn’t a given at this point.  Yes, the Steelers have losses against two sub-par teams (Cardinals and Broncos), but last night they served notice that they deserve the #3 spot in the conference.  The question is whether or not they can move up to the #2 position.

Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, AFC, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts