[Ralphie Halves]

5 reasons


- Le'Veon Bell's suspension - The most obvious one I guess. Likely the best runner in the game right now. Still a chance he might fail another test and be out indefinitely, never rule this out. Pouncey is back and that's good, but DeAngelo Williams is old, and it may not matter.

- Strong rumors that there are more suspensions coming for the Steelers. Heard it twice last week. Even if not true, you need to factor possibilities like this in when determining win totals.

- I expect the Ravens to be better than last year. When you lose Gary Kubiak, you generally suffer the year after because you're running game gets exposed for what it really was, it just happens. Gary Kubiak is fukking magical, I've been saying this for years, those who don't know need to get on board. Steelers lost to a crappy 5-11 Ravens team both times last year, hard to see them coming close this year. Remember, to go over, they need to improve on their 10-6 record from last year -- with key players out.

- I haven't seen a big improvement in their defense.

And the main reason IMO

- Martavis Bryant's suspension -- My Steeler superfan buddy pointed this out, and it made a ton of sense. For his first two years, Bryant missed the first part of the season due to injury or being a retard. When he finally steps in, Ben has a rangy, threatening target that he normally doesn't have, and it opens EVERYTHING up. The O-line, who gets criticized the first part of the year, all of a sudden blocks great. An offense that was underachieving all of a sudden puts up record numbers. Antonio Brown goes berserk. This has happened two years in a row. Ben loves his safety blankets, and Martavis and Heath Miller are gone. Laderius Green is hurt. Steelers were a 3-3 team back in 2014 without Bryant, and 3-2 in 2015 without him, which extrapolates to a 9 and 6 record, making them top out at 10 wins at best, AND those three wins were against SF, StL and SD. And out of those 11 games I just mentioned, Le'Veon Bell PLAYED in 9 of them, and the Steelers were still mediocre.

Steeler nation is huge, and will continue to give us 10.5, but probably not for long. Pissed I didn't pound 11 when it was up, I would have gladly paid the juice.

Is there anyone who would even consider playing the over? I want to hear from you.

[Fidel_CashFlow]

always think this guys idea's and advice are sharp
He makes some great points here.
I worry about Bell's 4 game suspension being "massaged" .. and him not missing much if any time
Its essentially for marijuana anyways.... I could see some shit going down and Bell is dangerous when on the field
Nothing on their defense is too intimidating
and Rottenburger really relies on 2 key offensive things that will not be there for most of this year

IF Bell's 4 game suspension sticks its hard to argue Steelers go 11-5 or better this year.

Id guess 9-7 ,if they come up with a really big win then 10 at the very best

Good write up Ralph

[kidcudi92]

Ralphie is the best fukkin poster on this site. I have said this so many times before. Always fair and equal with his analysis. Would like to have a beer with you Halves.

[MoneyLineDawg]

Would be surprised if they go 11-5 or better so seems like a great bet just off my initial feeling

9-7 seems most likely....Bryant gone is huge

[thetrinity]

schedule looks very tough, steelers live for big games though, and have a hard time getting fired up to play the bad teams

been that way since tomlins been there

i dont think they will miss bell as much as you think to be honest, deangelo williams did a great job filling in last year

point 2 could be true

point 3 is an argument against itself IMO, since they went 0-2 against baltimore anyways, you could argue that they will pick up a game there and go 1-1 at least

I actually think the defense will be much better

this is what i definitely agree with, they will miss bryant more than anything.

looks like about 10 wins, but i wouldnt be surprised with 11 at all, so i think number is pretty sharp

[jjgold]

Ben will play about 8-10 games thats all

[INVEGA MAN]

How is Balt going to be better with Flaco coming off injury and WR smith and Perriman on PUL. For the Steelers, it will come down to last couple games but Big Ben will have to stay healthy. They will put big numbers on the board. Big Ben wants to throw every down but this is where he can get hurt

[recon1]

Number one reason the Steelers are fading is Tomlin, Guy is a disaster.

[jjgold]

I forgot about Tomlin correct one of the worst coaches in the NFL

[pavyracer]

My model has them at 9.87 wins this year.

[Hu$tle]

Sharp post over has way more risk i like it

[jt315]

Ben will play about 8-10 games thats all

Nobody tougher than Big Ben.