Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

The Steelers travel to Oakland to face the Raiders this week.  Despite their 0-2 record, the Raiders shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Oakland has always been a tough place to play.  Their fans are loud, passionate, and sometimes violent.  In fact, Oakland is one of only 2 NFL cities in which I’m reluctant to go into their stadium wearing the opposing team’s jersey (Philadelphia is the other city).

But more important than the stadium is the fact that on any given Sunday, any NFL team can beat any other NFL team.  The last time the Steelers traveled to Oakland and took them lightly, they lost the game.

Both teams are going to have challenges on Sunday.

For Oakland, the biggest challenge is going to be keeping up with the Steelers’ wide receivers.  Oakland jettisoned most of their cornerbacks during the offseason (don’t ask me why).  That’s actually how we picked up DeMarcus Van Dyke.  Of the cornerbacks that they retained, starters Ron Bartell (broken shoulder blade) and  Shawntae Spencer (sprained foot) are both out with injuries.  So they’re going to be starting a bunch of anonymous backup cornerbacks.  It’s difficult for a team with good cornerbacks to defend against the Steelers’ passing game.  This bunch has almost no chance.    They’re so depleted at the position that they’ve had starting safety Michael Huff practicing at cornerback.   Hopefully, Todd Haley is planning on passing early and often.

The Raiders have challenges on offense as well.  Right tackle Khalif Barnes is injured and won’t play on Sunday.  But more importantly, Running back Darren McFadden has struggled this year.  He has 26 carries for only 54 yards.  That’s only 2.1 yards per carry.  That’s about the same as the Steelers have been getting from Isaac Redman.  And we all know that’s not good.

But the Steelers aren’t without their own challenges.  Injuries continue to be a problem for them as well.  Both James Harrison and Troy Polamalu are going to miss Sunday’s game.  And on offense, Rashard Mendenhall still isn’t ready to go.

Despite the weakness of the Raiders’ cornerbacks, the Steelers are still going to have to get their running game going.  They’ve only been averaging 70.5 yards per game, and they rank 30th in the NFL in rushing.  But last week Reggie Bush ran for 172 yards against the Raiders, so perhaps the Steelers’ running backs can exploit their run defense too.

I predict that Big Ben is going to have a big game, and that the Steelers are going to leave Oakland with a win.  A final score of 28-10 sounds about right.

Go Steelers!

 

This week the Steelers take on the lowly Oakland Raiders.  This is a game that the Steelers are supposed to win.  But Steelers fans have learned that the Steelers often don’t do what they’re “supposed” to do.

The Steelers weren’t “supposed” to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs.  Or the Chicago Bears.  Or the Baltimore Ravens.  Or the Cincinnati Bengals (twice).  But they did.

So I am no longer going to predict the outcome of games.  Why bother, when the Steelers seem determined to play down to the level of their competition?

The Steelers “should” have beaten the Oakland Raiders the last time they faced them back in 2006.  But most Steelers fans probably remember that the Raiders handed the Steelers an embarrassing loss.

The Raiders looked pathetic last week in a 24-7 thumping at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.  But those were the Cowboys, and these are the Steelers.  The Steelers don’t thump anyone.

The Raiders are 3-8, and have one of the worst defenses in the NFL.  Their defense is ranked #29 in the NFL.  They’re ranked 31st against the run.  Only the Buffalo Bills are worse.

The Raiders’ defense allows an average of 161.1 yards per game on the ground.  That’s a lot.  That’s a whole lot.

I know that Bruce Arians has never seen a down that he didn’t want to throw on.  But against a team that gives up 161.1 yards per game on the ground, he should go to Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker early and often.

This is the game where the Steelers should bring back good old-fashioned Steelers football.  They should run the ball down the Raiders throats.  Mendenhall and Parker might both surpass 100 yards.

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders are equally bad.  Their offense is also ranked #31 in the NFL.  They can’t seem to score on anybody.

The Raiders finally benched quarterback JaMarcus Russell, and Pittsburgh native Bruce Gradkowski will be starting in his place.  But Gradkowski doesn’t have much experience, and he doesn’t have many weapons supporting him.  So the Steelers defense “should” have their way with the Raiders’ woeful offense.

But of course, that’s what “should” happen.  And with this year’s Pittsburgh Steelers, what “should” happen never seems to matter.

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Steelers Today has hooked up with 31 other NFL bloggers from around the country to do a bloggers’ mock draft.  All 32 NFL teams are represented in the mock draft.

The mock draft is sponsored by Cleveland Browns blog No Logo Needed.  For more details on the bloggers’ mock draft, click here.

With the seventh pick of the 2009 NFL Draft the Oakland Raiders blog Silver and Black Pride selects…

The Oakland Raiders have several needs that they need to address, including the offensive/defensive lines, wide receiver, linebacker and safety.

With the two elite offensive tackles already off the board, the Raiders go with what some scouts peg as the top wide receiver in the draft Jeremy Maclin. Though Crabtree possess incredible talent, the Raiders love Maclin’s elite speed, better known as “Raider Speed” in Al Davis speak. For the Raiders, with Javon Walker’s health and reliability always a concern, they have no true # 1 wide receiver. The Raiders leading wide receiver last season was Johnnie Lee Higgins with 22 receptions for 366 yards. That just isn’t going to cut it and opposing defenses are going to know that the Raiders will run first and often which will make them very predictable. Maclin’s speed is the perfect antidote for that as he will stretch the field and allow strong-armed quarterback JaMarcus Russell to air it out and keep defenses honest.

The Raiders were ranked dead last in passing offense last season and with the youth movement underway in Oakland, Maclin becomes a key piece of the Raiders’ future.

The draft results so far are shown below.  Click on the individual pick to read the blogger’s rationale for his selection.

1. Detroit Lions:  Mathew Stafford, QB (Georgia)
2. St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe, OT (Virginia)
3. Kansas City Chiefs: Aaron Curry, LB (Wake Forest)
4. Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR (Texas Tech)
5. Cleveland Browns: Rey Maualuga, LB (Southern California)
6. Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith, OT (Baylor)
7. Oakland Raiders: Jeremy Maclin, WR (Missouri)

The Jacksonville Jaguars are on the clock.

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