Hey everyone, im brand new here as you can see..... my thoughts on this upcoming game are as follows the ravens defense is very very good....second only to us the ravens pass offense although not ranked all that high....must be feared beaceuse they have the ability to throw the long ball the ravens run game is great...but more than that, if you let it run amok on you..you will see multiple runners for 100 yards....they can get hot and deadly the dolphins i will admit i see as the lesser team...but that could be because im still afraid to put my faith in them as someone who just sees replays and the occasional half of a game that being said.....unlike alot of my brothers of the steeler nation, i fear playing you in round 2.....you are an uncertain quantity....that has the eye of the tiger...your also a team that has the destiny power.... there are a couple teams with that power(ravens/eagles) but your the only one we havent played
The Ravens are a good team. But as you said, you havent seen us. Hopefully we can beat the Ravens, you guys watch the game, and start giving us some respect
I think this is a quality post, you cant fault anyone for stating how they feel and their opinions. I respect you for it. There are a few points i agree with in your post.
i will watch that game....and if you guys win, i will give you all the respect in the world because i respect the ravens more than any other team(besides the steelers of course) the ravens i know quite well....because they are our "hated" rivals
Well, hopefully Miami will change your mind this Sunday. At least your post wasn't like Skip Bayless on ESPN yesterday when he said that Pennington and the Dolphins "Cinderella" story ended at 12 (On New Year's Eve) and that the Ravens will blow us out. Man, that guy is such an idiot.
Welcome to the board Prophet268, I understand and respect how you feel about the Dolphins, I would suggest you to watch how we play and you may have a better idea about our team.
i know you guys probably dont want to move ahead a week.... but i was just wondering your thoughts on coming up to pitt next week if things work out for you
For some reason, I feel more confident vs. Steelers. Like maybe a 50-50 chance. Maybe because we lost already to the Ravens. But, that's when we were 2-4, and we've gone 8-1 since then (losing only to Pats). I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like we have like a 40% chance of beating Baltimore. We may do it, but I'm not holding my breath. We'll have to play flawless football. However, win-or-lose I will be very satisfied with our 2008 season. I feel we're just starting our emergence to greatness. Whereas, the Steelers are already at their peak now. I'm loving our future prospects.
I've been saying all year..."cautious optimistm"...every weeks a 50-50 for winning. this week is no different. fans without this mindset are due for a let-down. coming off 5-11, Ravens fans are getting greedy. there's no certainties in this game.
Welcome man. I like your post bro. You stated your feeling without any undo smack. I agree with you pretty much on all counts and I'll confirm your feelings that Miami is the lesser team. I love the PHins and hope for the best but I'm not blinded by my allegiance as to our problems. Man for man we don't match up to Baltimore's talent period. However you brought up the main thing on Miami's side. You mentioned the "eye of the tiger" or "destiny power". I call it unity. This team makes up for it's shortcomings by playing as a complete and unselfish unit. They are very well prepared and coached. This could take us past this weekend but if we ran into the Steelers in Pitt, that would be the biggest test they've faced all year.
Welcome. Pittsburgh is definitely a tough team to face. You guys have my favorite linebacker in the league, Lamarr Woodley, paired up with one of the most disruptive players in James Harrison. Those two, along, worry me quite a bit. I think Brett Keisel is very underrated as he's a high motor guy and the rest of the defensive line is underrated as well. You guys apply pressure as clear with the 51 total sacks this year and you don't allow many big plays, if any. Your second in rushing and first in pass defense I believe. It'll definitely be a tough task, especially with the blitzes and Polamalu back there. I think if we were to win against the Baltimore Ravens, the gameplan would have to be very similar going into the next week against Pittsburgh. Go to the spread to neutralize the blitzing of Pittsburgh and run misdirectional plays, counters, etc. to get to the second level of the field and in space. On offense, we'll have to shut down the run game or Roethlisberger will have time to pick us apart and that is no knock on our secondary. We're going to have to blitz Roethlisberger as much as we can because he tends to fall apart when he is pressured and will make mistakes and/or will not complete passes. His average numbers when pressured, knocked down and hit by a defender are not very good; 34.8 completion percentage, 3 interceptions on average and a quarterback rating of 57.9 (rounded). In the end, I think the Steelers are a very good team that has managed to overcome injuries to their offensive line and have a top notch defense but they can be beaten, as can every other team in these playoffs.
He's a blabbering idiot. But if they blow us out, he's right. We are the underdog, with a good size mountain in front of us. We're better than we were in Week 7, but so are they. We shall see!
i agree with alot of what you said our defense is amazing...but our offense is alittle shaky if ben can stay on his feet, i think we can beat anybody......its the games where he is pressured alot that he throws picks and fumbles the ball they way our team is designed to play is our offense has to get at least three first downs even if they dont score....because that allows our defense to rest, and when our defense is rested they get turnovers and big stops and what happens is eventually our offense gets a scoring drive going....if they play real conservative our defense will keep them in the game
Welcome aboard Steelersprophet! Disagree about the deep balls, our secondary is playing the best of any unit we have at the moment, I'm more worried about Cam throwing multiple formations and gadget plays against us and getting lucky. We were without our starting and back up NT week 7, and even then, we were a Pennington pick 6 from being competitive, and that came with 7 minutes to go.
They gotta say sometin', we've been blown out twice this season, both by very effective passing attacks, and we benched Jason Allen and have played a heck of alot better in the secondary since then.
We didn't play that great of a game against them the first time and were a 2-4 team. We have won 9 out of 10 since then so I think we are a completely different team. The team as a whole and Pennington didn't play well but we were still right in it even in the 2nd half. What I like about our chances is we have Chad Pennington who has lots of experience, while this is Flacco's first big pressure playoff game.
well im not saying that they will get deep balls on you, im just saying that they have an offense that is capable of executing the deep ball the ravens should not be underestimated....they played the steelers down to the wire twice
yea but big ben was a rookie in 2004 and he took his team to the afc championship game....so being a rookie qb in the playoffs isnt always a killer
You guys haven't changed that much since the Pats just dropped 50 on ya'. Also, a 60% full Dolphins Stadium isn't the same as an overflowing Texas or Heinz Field ...... playoffs or not.
I think the worries about deep balls has to be there if we can't stop the run game. Eventually, the play action will open up and Mark Clayton can get behind the coverage for a deep ball.
Actually...we have, our Secondary is a totally different beast. Jason Allen met Mr. Bench and the difference is clear.
And that is one of the keys to the game Alen, how will our front 7 play? Deep balls are iffy things, as Ginn showed last week, he was double covered 40 yds down the field and still made the play.
