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The Curse Lives On


adam

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Troy Polamalu on Madden 2010 Cover, gets hurt in first game of the season. Ouch.

 

We play the Steelers in Week 2, and that is a huge loss for them if he is out (and a plus for us).

 

 

EDIT: Steelers coach Mike Tomlin indicated after Thursday's game that SS Troy Polamalu was initially diagnosed with a sprained MCL in his left knee. There's nothing "concrete" yet on Polamalu's injury, and Tomlin admitted that it could be more serious. Expect the All Pro to be sidelined for at least 3-6 weeks. - Rotoworld

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This is good. I love Polamalu as I'm a USC guy, but if he's out for week 2 against the Bears, then that is huge!

 

Also, Roethlisberger was getting lit up yesterday. Again, the key for week 2 will be the pressure of the Bears defense.

I am not scared of Pittsburgh at all anymore with Troy P out. The Steelers couldn't run the ball to save there life yesterday and in the 3rd quarter they actually used M. Moore there 3rd RB because Mendenhall and Willie Parker just flat out sucked. The announcers last night put it perfectly that with the lack of any running game at all the Defense can just blitz the crap out of Big Ben just knowing that they can't run and he will continue to take a lot of punnishment. I feel bad for Big Ben because he is a good QB but that Oline is just atrocious plus it doesn't help that he hangs on to the ball way to long sometimes which leads to him getting hit so often. I am also not worried about there Defense either because of how good they made the Titans lack of WR look. They gave up way to many big plays and left the Titans WR's wide open to many times. If Kerry Collins goes 22/35 for 244 yards just imagine what Cutler will be able to do if our WR's are able to catch the ball.

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This is good. I love Polamalu as I'm a USC guy, but if he's out for week 2 against the Bears, then that is huge!

 

Also, Roethlisberger was getting lit up yesterday. Again, the key for week 2 will be the pressure of the Bears defense.

 

 

from the replay it didn't look good. Crumpler fell on him with all his weight when Troy was trying to recover the ball. Sucks for him because he's a heck of a player. But if he escapes with a sprain that is lucky. The knee just isn't designed to bend that way.

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Regardless of how poorly the Steelers played they have 10 days to get ready for the Bears and what we do. Lets not forget that the Titans almost ran the table last season so they are a tough team defensively and offensively. I like the thought of having Cutler going up against a depleted team but he has to survive this Sunday Nite first.

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One at a time...

 

Let's care care of business in Winconsin.

 

Regardless of how poorly the Steelers played they have 10 days to get ready for the Bears and what we do. Lets not forget that the Titans almost ran the table last season so they are a tough team defensively and offensively. I like the thought of having Cutler going up against a depleted team but he has to survive this Sunday Nite first.

 

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Sorry, I'm not looking to spar...

 

I was simply piggy-backing onto your comment stating basically the same thing. Appareantly I wasn't clear enough.

Mad L I have been on the same page with you on most issuea thats why I was trying to find out if I had not made myself clear thats all.

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Yeah, our run defense is usually one of the best in the league and that's Pittsburgh's bread and butter. If we can shut that down, we just have to worry about Big Ben add libbing and extending plays that should be dead. The key is to get sacks and put constant pressure on him. With Troy out, that is a huge lost to their defense. They are still capable of putting on pressure but they won't have that extra man in the box to take out Forte. I expect Matt to have a huge game on the ground.

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speed kills and that's the irreplaceable ingredient that Troy brings to that defense, he is one of the fastest guys on that defense. He plays fast but plays under control. He reminds me of Urlacher earlier in his career. Brian's still fast and has speed but he's not as quick as he used to be. Without Troy that defense is a slightly different animal not to diminish the other 10 guys out there as the steelers have a great defense. They are a lot like Chicago, known for defense and running the ball. Honestly I'd like to beat them at 100%. If we were to beat them without Troy... what do you think would be the first excuse given by the talking heads? I'll give you a hint he wears 43 and has long hair.

 

According to NFL.com he's out 3-6 weeks. Not likely we will face him.

 

But I agree let's not look past this week. The Bears have something to prove Sunday Night against a Packer team that has looked solid in preseason (I know it's just preseason). This game will be an all out a dog fight..... no that doesn't mean Vick will be in attendance :P. The return of the Black and Blue division. It's funny how quickly things can change there was a time where we had one of the weakest divisions and now it could likely prove to be one of the strongest divisions. Whoever wins our division will have earned it. And if the Lions win it there's proof that someone has found the magic lamp or a leprechaun in the motor city lol Them finishing at 500 would be a miracle in and of itself. This is still a three team division.

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speed kills and that's the irreplaceable ingredient that Troy brings to that defense, he is one of the fastest guys on that defense. He plays fast but plays under control. He reminds me of Urlacher earlier in his career. Brian's still fast and has speed but he's not as quick as he used to be. Without Troy that defense is a slightly different animal not to diminish the other 10 guys out there as the steelers have a great defense.

 

Yeah, the Polamalu-Urlacher comparison is a pretty good one. Troy's always flowing to the football, has incredible range in coverage, hits like a truck, etc. He's also like Urlacher in that he always seems to sniff out where a play's going and get there. Whenever you watch the Steelers' defense, Polamalu's usually the first guy to the ballcarrier.

 

There was an article (I think in ESPN magazine, maybe?) about Polamalu not that long ago: the upshot was that he's the only player on Dick LeBeau's defense who is allowed to abandon his gap responsibility and freelance. They were basically saying that Polamalu can consistently guess where a play's going to go, before the snap, and then get himself in position to break it up; since he's almost never wrong, they just diagram plays for the other 10 guys and let Troy do his thing.

 

Losing a guy like that is going to mean a lot fewer big plays from the Steelers' defense, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them playing more conservatively. It'd be like the Ravens' D losing Ed Reed. As much as I'd like to play them at full strength, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a relief that Polamalu's not going to be out there.

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Regardless of how poorly the Steelers played they have 10 days to get ready for the Bears and what we do. Lets not forget that the Titans almost ran the table last season so they are a tough team defensively and offensively. I like the thought of having Cutler going up against a depleted team but he has to survive this Sunday Nite first.

 

Unfortunately for them they don't have anything but preseason film on the Bears so their isn't much to get prepared with. Sure they can go back to last year but we have a new QB and there's no comparison between what he does in this offense and Kyle Orton. On defense we are the same except we might be different. The D still goes with the Tampa 2 but what that means for their preparation largely depends on how good our pass rush is from the Dline. We already know they are going to be setting up differently (on an angle at times) than what we saw in the preseason. Today they put this article in the Tribune:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,5562815.story

 

On the surface doesn't look like a big deal but one quote caught my eye:

 

Hoke played under defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan and head coach Neill Armstrong. He learned from the way Ryan dealt with players and said it influenced his own coaching style.

 

"You knew Buddy was in charge of the defense," Hoke said. "He made that exclusively clear from the get-go. Everything was detailed in what he did. He taught a very aggressive style, he taught the players to be aggressive."

 

 

It's just pure conjecture on my part but Lovie fired his DB coach and brought this guy in for a reason. All preseason our DBs continued lining up way off the LOS but was this a smokescreen? I know we're going to continue in a cover 2 setup but might we finally line up our CBs closer to the LOS and play the quick slants better than the past? I hope so.

 

 

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It's just pure conjecture on my part but Lovie fired his DB coach and brought this guy in for a reason. All preseason our DBs continued lining up way off the LOS but was this a smokescreen? I know we're going to continue in a cover 2 setup but might we finally line up our CBs closer to the LOS and play the quick slants better than the past? I hope so.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the slant was primarily the outside linebackers' responsibility in the Tampa 2. Don't the corners usually have a deeper zone, more on the outside? I could be wrong, but I thought that the reason we were leaving that quick slant so uncovered last season was because Babich kept blitzing the linebackers, which took them out of their coverage zones. Even when he wasn't blitzing them, the constant mug-up look at the line meant that it was easier for WRs to get behind the OLBs on a slant.

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I guess we're even now w/ Url out... Avantage PIT....

 

Yeah, the Polamalu-Urlacher comparison is a pretty good one. Troy's always flowing to the football, has incredible range in coverage, hits like a truck, etc. He's also like Urlacher in that he always seems to sniff out where a play's going and get there. Whenever you watch the Steelers' defense, Polamalu's usually the first guy to the ballcarrier.

 

There was an article (I think in ESPN magazine, maybe?) about Polamalu not that long ago: the upshot was that he's the only player on Dick LeBeau's defense who is allowed to abandon his gap responsibility and freelance. They were basically saying that Polamalu can consistently guess where a play's going to go, before the snap, and then get himself in position to break it up; since he's almost never wrong, they just diagram plays for the other 10 guys and let Troy do his thing.

 

Losing a guy like that is going to mean a lot fewer big plays from the Steelers' defense, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them playing more conservatively. It'd be like the Ravens' D losing Ed Reed. As much as I'd like to play them at full strength, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a relief that Polamalu's not going to be out there.

 

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