Steelers Preview
By: Ben Burns
Coming off their Super Bowl XL victory, the Steelers are once again picked to enjoy a successful season. But will distractions and a more difficult schedule play into a letdown and keep the team from reaching double-digit wins inthe regular season?
Oddsmakers are projecting that the Pittsburgh Steelers will win 10 games this season. A pair of reasons why they may not reach that mark appear below.
Difficult Schedule
The Super Bowl winner always wears a 'bullseye' on its back. In other words, every team gets fired up when it faces the defending champs. Additionally, the Super Bowl winner always faces a difficult schedule. This year is no exception.
Games within the division were tough in 2005. That's likely to be the case again. The Steelers split two regular season meetings with the Bengals last year. If not for the injury to Carson Palmer, its entirely possible that Cincinnati would have won the playoff meeting. The Steelers and Ravens also split last year's two meetings. Baltimore lost by one point, as double-digit underdogs, on Halloween Night at Pittsburgh. The Ravens avenged that loss three weeks later with a 16-13 home victory. With veteran Steve McNair running the offense, Baltimore should only get stronger this year. The Steelers handled the Browns with relative ease last year, including a 41-0 victory at Cleveland. However, the Browns figure to be improved this year and they definitely won't have forgotten the beat-down which was handed to them in front of their home fans on Christmas Eve.
This year's non-divisional schedule appears equally demanding. The Steelers host the Dolphins, Chiefs, Broncos, Saints and Bucs. New Orleans is the only one of those five teams that isn't expected to challenge for the playoffs this year. The offseason additions of Drew Brees and Reggie Bush mean that even the Saints can no longer be taken lightly. Non-divisional road opponents include the Jaguars, Chargers, Falcons, Raiders and Panthers. The Raiders, already 3-0 this preseason, are the only one of those five teams that finished below 500 last year and its very possible that they'll improve with Art Shell calling the shots.
In summary, the Browns, Saints and Raiders are the only three teams on the entire schedule that are projected to finish below 500 and all three of those teams are hopeful of significant improvement in 2006. The bye coming in Week 4 doesn't help matters much either.
Distractions
Even at the best of times, its often tough for a team to maintain its focus when coming off a championship season. However, if the Steelers suffer a Super Bowl hangover, they'll have a couple of built-in excuses.
For starters, there is Ben Rothlisberger's well publicized motorcycle crash. Fortunately, Rothlisberger has been able to make an extremely speedy recovery. Thus far, he has shown no ill effects from the June 12 accident that left him with a broken jaw, nose and a concussion, among other injuries. In two preseason games, 'Big Ben' has completed six of his eight passes for 59 yards. Despite that success, I'm still not entirely convinced that the lingering effects of the accident won't affect the young star once he starts taking hits during the regular season. Additionally, its worth mentioning that Rothlisberger is currently bothered by a minor thumb injury. Should Rothlisberger go down, the Pittsburgh backup quarterback situation is shaky, at best.
Secondly, there is the status of Bill Cowher's contract. The longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, Cowher is in his 15th season as coach of his hometown Steelers. However, his contract is due to expire at the end of this season. The fact that it hasn't been renewed has caused plenty of speculation that the fiery coach will step down at the end of this year. In the past, Cowher has typically received an extension whenever he has two years remaining on his contract. Long-time Steeler running back, Jerome Bettis, is among those that feel Cowher's time in Pittsburgh is nearing an end. In his first appearance in his new role as a studio analyst for NBC Sports, Bettis remarked: "...All that leads to coach not coming back after the season." Cowher wasn't pleased with Bettis' comments and stated that he was finished discussing his coaching future. Regardless of the coach's wishes, the subject of his retirement will surely keep coming up throughout the season, particularly down the stretch in December.
Burns' Bottom Line
The Steelers have a quarterback who was in a major accident during the offseason, a coach who enters the final year of his contract and an extremely difficult schedule. Consider playing the UNDER 10 wins.
By: Ben Burns
Coming off their Super Bowl XL victory, the Steelers are once again picked to enjoy a successful season. But will distractions and a more difficult schedule play into a letdown and keep the team from reaching double-digit wins inthe regular season?
Oddsmakers are projecting that the Pittsburgh Steelers will win 10 games this season. A pair of reasons why they may not reach that mark appear below.
Difficult Schedule
The Super Bowl winner always wears a 'bullseye' on its back. In other words, every team gets fired up when it faces the defending champs. Additionally, the Super Bowl winner always faces a difficult schedule. This year is no exception.
Games within the division were tough in 2005. That's likely to be the case again. The Steelers split two regular season meetings with the Bengals last year. If not for the injury to Carson Palmer, its entirely possible that Cincinnati would have won the playoff meeting. The Steelers and Ravens also split last year's two meetings. Baltimore lost by one point, as double-digit underdogs, on Halloween Night at Pittsburgh. The Ravens avenged that loss three weeks later with a 16-13 home victory. With veteran Steve McNair running the offense, Baltimore should only get stronger this year. The Steelers handled the Browns with relative ease last year, including a 41-0 victory at Cleveland. However, the Browns figure to be improved this year and they definitely won't have forgotten the beat-down which was handed to them in front of their home fans on Christmas Eve.
This year's non-divisional schedule appears equally demanding. The Steelers host the Dolphins, Chiefs, Broncos, Saints and Bucs. New Orleans is the only one of those five teams that isn't expected to challenge for the playoffs this year. The offseason additions of Drew Brees and Reggie Bush mean that even the Saints can no longer be taken lightly. Non-divisional road opponents include the Jaguars, Chargers, Falcons, Raiders and Panthers. The Raiders, already 3-0 this preseason, are the only one of those five teams that finished below 500 last year and its very possible that they'll improve with Art Shell calling the shots.
In summary, the Browns, Saints and Raiders are the only three teams on the entire schedule that are projected to finish below 500 and all three of those teams are hopeful of significant improvement in 2006. The bye coming in Week 4 doesn't help matters much either.
Distractions
Even at the best of times, its often tough for a team to maintain its focus when coming off a championship season. However, if the Steelers suffer a Super Bowl hangover, they'll have a couple of built-in excuses.
For starters, there is Ben Rothlisberger's well publicized motorcycle crash. Fortunately, Rothlisberger has been able to make an extremely speedy recovery. Thus far, he has shown no ill effects from the June 12 accident that left him with a broken jaw, nose and a concussion, among other injuries. In two preseason games, 'Big Ben' has completed six of his eight passes for 59 yards. Despite that success, I'm still not entirely convinced that the lingering effects of the accident won't affect the young star once he starts taking hits during the regular season. Additionally, its worth mentioning that Rothlisberger is currently bothered by a minor thumb injury. Should Rothlisberger go down, the Pittsburgh backup quarterback situation is shaky, at best.
Secondly, there is the status of Bill Cowher's contract. The longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, Cowher is in his 15th season as coach of his hometown Steelers. However, his contract is due to expire at the end of this season. The fact that it hasn't been renewed has caused plenty of speculation that the fiery coach will step down at the end of this year. In the past, Cowher has typically received an extension whenever he has two years remaining on his contract. Long-time Steeler running back, Jerome Bettis, is among those that feel Cowher's time in Pittsburgh is nearing an end. In his first appearance in his new role as a studio analyst for NBC Sports, Bettis remarked: "...All that leads to coach not coming back after the season." Cowher wasn't pleased with Bettis' comments and stated that he was finished discussing his coaching future. Regardless of the coach's wishes, the subject of his retirement will surely keep coming up throughout the season, particularly down the stretch in December.
Burns' Bottom Line
The Steelers have a quarterback who was in a major accident during the offseason, a coach who enters the final year of his contract and an extremely difficult schedule. Consider playing the UNDER 10 wins.
