Steelers vs. Giants preview
Hurricane Sandy caused lots of damage in the New York City area, but she won’t prevent the Steelers and Giants from playing on Sunday. The NFL has already announced that the game is going to go on as scheduled.
Personally, I think the game should be delayed. There is still too much recovering that needs to occur in the NY/NJ area. The Steelers aren’t even going to be able to travel in advance like they usually would. The hotel that they were scheduled to stay at still doesn’t have power. So they’re going to have to travel the day of the game, which is an incredible inconvenience for the Steelers.
On Friday, the Miami Heat played the New York Knicks, and Dwayne Wade tweeted ““3 hour traffic just to get into the NY city.. C’mon man…”
Saturday’s New York Marathon was cancelled. Much of the public transit system still isn’t running. Many fans who might have otherwise attended the game, won’t be able to attend.
But the game goes on. So let’s discuss.
The Giants are 6-2, and in first place in the tough NFC East division. Eli Manning has led them to several come-from-behind victories, and is genuinely becoming an elite quarterback.
His favorite target is WR Victor Cruz. Cruz has 650 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns this season. That’s over over 150 more receiving yards than Antonio Brown has this season, and almost 200 more yards than Mike Wallace has. And his touchdown total is more than Brown’s and Wallace’s combined. Ike Taylor will definitely be assigned to Mr. Cruz.
The Giants’ running game is led by Ahmad Bradshaw. Bradshaw has already accumulated 570 rushing yards this season, and he’s averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
Traditionally, the Giants have been known for having a punishing defense. But that hasn’t been the case this year. The Giants can’t seem to stop anyone this season. Their defense is ranked 24th in the NFL, allowing 386.5 yards per game. For comparison, the Steelers’ defense is only allowing 274.1 yards per game.
But the Steelers are going to have their own challenges this week. They’re going to be without Troy Polamalu, who is still nursing a calf injury. We all know that the Steelers defense just isn’t the same without Polamalu.
Right tackle Marcus Gilbert, and running backs Jonathan Dwyer and Rashard Mendenhall likely won’t play either.
Despite their injury situation, and the inconvenience of having to travel on the same day as the game, I still predict a win by the Steelers. I’m predicting a final score of 27-17.
Go Steelers!
