Skip to main content

Cohen's Divisional Weekend: Steelers vs. Chargers

CHARGERS (9-8) @ STEELERS (12-4): Everyone is going bananas over how hot the Philadelphia Eagles have been the past month, but the fact remains that the Eagles are not the hottest team in football right now, that title belongs to the San Diego Chargers.

For the last five weeks San Diego has won ball games with a huge amount of emotion and guts. They have fought, scratched and crawled through each of their games, capturing a divison title at 8-8 and beating up the Colts a week ago. The Chargers success really got going in week 16 on a trip to Tampa Bay. The Bolts who struggled all season on the east coast, not only beat the Buccaneers, they came from behind in the second half and turned that game into a 48-24 laugher.

Credit has to go to Phillip Rivers, who has really been the most deserving league MVP. Rivers threw for 4,009 yards and 34 touchdowns in the regular season. He is the heart and soul of San Diego and he proves it each week with one gutsy performacne after another.

Darren Sproles, who will start at tailback for the injured LaDanlian Tomlinson, burned the Colts for 300 all purpose yards, and is arguably the fastest man in football next to Carolina's DeAngelo Williams and Jon Stewart.

Yes, these Chargers are red hot, the hottest team in all of football. So will the bone chilling cold of Pittsburgh bother them? In years past we have seen red hot teams play well in spite of the elements, last year's Giants come to mind when the beat the Packers 31-28 in -4 temperatures in Green Bay. But the Chargers are a west coast team, that is accustomed to beautiful weather, traveling to a field that is the worst in football to play on.

The Steelers for their part were the best team in the AFC during the regular season. Ben Roethlisberger overcame several injuries to his arms and legs to throw for 3,301 yards and 17 touchdowns. This with a banged up offensive line and an ineffective running game. The key for Pittsburgh will be to keep Roethlisberger, who is overcoming a concussion he suffered against the Browns in week 17, upright. If he can stand the pressure Pittsburgh should win.

The Steelers defense, is one of the best. Next to the Ravens, no defense is more physical than the Steelers. The pass rush of James Farrior and James Harrison and the play of saftey Troy Polamalu in the secondary will present a huge challenge for the Chargers. Expect the Chargers to get smacked around in this game, something that didnot happen against the Colts soft defense.

This one will be the best game of the weekend. It will go back and forth and noone will know who wins until it is finally over. PICK: STEELERS 20, CHARGERS 17.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Aaron Glenn in Danger of Getting Fired?

 According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio there is a "chance"   that Jets head coach Aaron Glenn could be fired at seasons end.  While Florio doesn't site any sources, the rumor has caught fire the last two days. The question is would it make sense? Let's examine this for a second?  Why it Makes Sense:  Glenn has not been great in his first year as Head Coach of this team. The talent has taken a major step backwards, granted two of those talented players were traded away in Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis and Quinnen Williams to Dallas.  The decision he and GM Darren Mougey made to give Justin Fields a two year deal proved to be a horrible mistake, and Glenn stuck with Fields for far too long before pulling the plug following the Jets loss to the Patriots on a Thursday night in mid November.  Glenn gave now former Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks too much power to run the defense, and the players couldn't stand Wilks. Reports indicated this week af...
Post a Comment
Read more

Same Ol' Jets! Gang Green Dropped by Ravens

 RAVENS 24 - JETS 9  In short the opener to the 2022 season for the New York Jets was a complete and utter disaster.  A team that came into the season with the promise of better days ahead, a team that had taken on so many kudos in the off-season for what so many in the media had claimed was an impeccable off-season and draft, came out flat as a pancake when it mattered the most.  If this was a debut of what is to come for the Jets in 2022, you better start preparing your 2023 draft boards.  Sunday's 24-9 loss wasn't just a defeat at the hands of a better team, it was a total indictment of the Jets current predicament.  The Jets offensive line, which has been battered and beaten this summer with the losses of Meckhi Becton and Duane Brown looked like a sieve on Sunday. Joe Flacco, who is not exactly fleet of foot, was under siege all afternoon. The fact he came out of Sunday's game having been sacked only three times was a miracle in itself.  George Fa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jets, Dolphins and Patriots Playoff Breakdown

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...
8 comments
Read more