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Roy 4 Cassidy won the Throwdown.

Roy 4 Cassidy

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NTDL TD - Will Jacksonville get past the 1st round?

Thugmeister said 01/03, 10:43 AM
Absolutely the Jags will move on past the walking wounded Steelers. First, No Willie Parker. Pitt likes to run the ball and this is a severe blow. Davenport is nowhere near the same caliber back as Parker.
Also out for the Steelers is OT Max Starks, and maybe OT Marvel Smith, DE Aaron Starks, & S Ryan Clark.Their special teams captain Kriewaldt is also on the IR.
Troy Polamalu is banged up too and the Steelers just haven't been tackling well in general.
Reggie Hayward returns for the Jags, giving their D-line another weapon - he missed their 1st meeting and they still managed to sack Rothlisber 5 times.
The Jags just beat them 29-22 at Heinz a few weeks ago. The field condition is no factor as the Jags are a running team anyway.
The Steelers have just lost too many people at key positions. The Jaguars will win this game and advance to the next round.

Roy 4 Cassidy said 01/03, 11:06 AM
The Jaguars needed 224 rushing yards in the snow to beat the Steelers by only 7 points in week 15.

To assume that is going to happen again is borderline ridiculous.

The Steelers have great coordinators on both sides of the ball, but most specifically on defense where Dick LeBeau is a master of the 3-4 defense as well as an overall defensive genius.

Witness: Only one player on the Steelers D, James Harrison, had a Pro Bowl type year, yet the Steelers led the league in fewest points allowed for 9/10 of the season. Only injuries to Aaron Smith, DE and missed games by Troy Polomalu kept the Steelers from finishing #1 in all defensive categories.

That said, to assume that Jacksonville can go into Heinz Field and put up another spectacular offensive performance twice in less than a month is to deny reality. Reality is the second time teams play each other they make adjustments to what was done the first time and the game ends up being completely different.

Witness: the Steelers are without Willie Parker so all the running they did in week 15 loss that didnt translate into points will now be Big Ben going to the air, which is a good thing for the Steelers given Ben's 2007.

Thugmeister said 01/03, 11:23 AM
Not ridiculous. Without Aaron Brown the Steelers simply can't stop the Jags offense. The genuis defense of LeBeau gave up 421 overall yards to them last time, and with no snow in the forecast this time the Jags will be unimpaired by the weather.
The Steelers going to the air (which they will because they won't be able to run) is also not a good thing for them. Dont forget Rothlisbergers banged up shoulder, which caused him to miss on alot of throws in the last game. His sprained ankle should mean less mobility in the pocket, and with his patchwork 2nd & 3rd string O-line playing, the sacks will come often. Rothlisberger was sacked 47 times in 15 games, not the evidence of a solid playoff game winning O-line.
The Jags outplayed the Steelers at every turn this season.
They will do it again.

Roy 4 Cassidy said 01/03, 11:32 AM
Hey Thug, its Aaron Smith, but we dont expect you to know my Steelers like I do so I will give you the mulligan there buddy.

We see every week when a team seems to have the Pats backs against the wall after playing a great first half then the NE staff gets together and the second half is a completely different story because of....ADJUSTMENTS.

The Steelers have a games worth of film to correct all the defensive mistakes that were made that allowed the Jags to run the ball at will. Heck the Jags were getting first downs on third and longs by running draw plays. That isnt going to happen on Saturday.

The Jags actually play better in bad weather Thug. Thanks to the snow they threw even LESS than they will this week and that was to their advantage then, but will be to their detriment now. The Jags will adjust by trying to trick the Steelers with less running, but this will be getting away from their strength and doing the Steelers a HUGE favor.

Big Ben isnt going out without slinging the ball all over the yard as he doesnt have his rock in the backfield this time in Parker so watch Ben get close to his 5 TD pass game he had earlier in the year. The Steelers O-line/WR=healthy

Thugmeister said 01/03, 03:56 PM
Well, the
A. the Steelers aren't the Pats.
B. The Jags were getting first downs on third and longs by running because the Steelers just cant tackle anybody with the personnel they have now.
C. Definitely the Jags play better in bad weather. But only because they are a great running team. Temps in the low 40's with the possibility of rain is not exactly good weather anyway. That pathetic excuse for turf the Steelers play on will only favor the Jags.
A Steeler team at 100% would be a tough match at home. However, the Jags have done something much better than Pittsburg this year - they have stayed healthy and enter the playoffs at full strength. Pittsburg does not, and the Jags will continue their dominance over the Steelers.

Smith - Brown - whatever. Jags still win.

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I could have picked the Steelers - just to mess with you. But I decided to go for the team that was actually going to win the game.

Thugmeister | 01/03/08, 10:45 AM

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NTDL TD - Will Jacksonville get past the 1st round?

Roy 4 Cassidy forfeited, Thugmeister wins

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