Are the Steelers a dominant team? No. Are they good enough to defeat
the Raiders, make the playoffs and do some damage once they get there? Yes. And
that means a loss on Sunday simply cannot and will not happen.
Fans are funny, in that they
always tend to think the worst about their favorite football team.
Take Steelers fans,
for example. After two-straight losses that have left the Steelers at 7-4-1,
many are now predicting a total collapse that will leave them on the outside
looking in when the playoffs kickoff in about a month.
According to many, Pittsburgh
hasn’t defeated a good team yet this year—including the Ravens.
However, Baltimore has won a few games in a row, and despite a really tough
schedule over the last month, one that includes trips to Kansas City and Los
Angeles to take on the Chiefs and Chargers,
there’s now a strong belief (or is it an irrational fear?) John Harbaugh will
find a way to overtake the Steelers in the AFC North.
The Steelers, meanwhile, will not
only take it on the chin against their two toughest opponents over the final
month of the regular season—the Patriots and Saints—they
will lose to the 2-10 Raiders Sunday afternoon at Oakland
Alameda Coliseum.
You see, the Steelers never play
well in Oakland or against the Raiders—at least not when things are going
poorly for Pittsburgh.
In 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2013, the
Steelers lost to Raiders teams that won a total of 17 games, which means they
lost a total of 47. Perhaps not coincidentally, Pittsburgh failed to make the
playoffs after each of those seasons.
Three of those losses came in
Oakland and were rather ugly, which is probably why fans are concerned about
Sunday afternoon’s kickoff at 4:25.
But I wouldn’t be too concerned
if I were you. This is a really bad Raiders team that doesn’t do a whole lot
well in just about any category. They don’t pass well. They don’t run well.
They don’t stop the pass. They don’t stop the run. They don’t get after the
quarterback at all. They don’t protect the quarterback at all.
This is a game the Steelers
should win and do so going away.
I don’t want to hear about any of
those previous losses to the Raiders. Even 2013 was a long time ago. As for
2006, Facebook was still behind Myspace in the social media war, and JuJu
Smith-Schuster was nine-years old at the time Pittsburgh’s loss to the
Raiders took place. And I’d be worried about all of those interceptions Ben
Roethlisberger threw that day if Hines Ward and Cedrick
Wilson were still on the team, and he was being protected by the likes
of Alan Faneca and Marvel Smith.
In other words, that’s all
ancient history and has about as much to do with Sunday’s match-up as Franco
Harris, Frenchy Fuqua and Jack Tatum.
I realize the Steelers have
issues. I realize they’ll be missing James Conner at running
back. But there is no reason Pittsburgh should lose this football game to this
football team.
People want to forget recent
history and act like the Steelers have been scuffling all season. But the fact
is, they looked rusty over the first month, unstoppable over the next month or
so and really sloppy over the past three weeks.
The Steelers are what their
record says they are which is about a 10-win team. Totally dominant? No. Good
enough to beat the Raiders and maybe even the Patriots and/or Saints? Yes. Good
enough to make it to the playoffs and perhaps do some damage once they get
there? Absolutely.
Keeping the focus on Oakland.
There is no way the leadership on this Steelers’ team—including the coaches and
veteran players—can allow a loss to happen on Sunday. With everything on the
line and with everything that’s at stake, collectively, this group must stand
up and say, “No, we cannot allow this to happen again, not this season!”
If the Steelers have the heart of
a champion (or at least a contender), they must go to Oakland and take care of
business.
I believe they do and they will.
STEELERS 38, RAIDERS 17.
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