Steelers vs. Eagles: Who Wins?

Big Ben could have this kind of trouble against the fast and physical Eagle defensive ends. Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

The Steelers and Eagles will go head to head in their intrastate rivalry on Sunday.  The Steelers are in a ‘must win’ situation to prevent going 1-3 and digging themselves a huge hole in the AFC North.  The Eagles look to continue playing and capitalizing on some good football from last week against the Giants and go 4-1.

We’ve pointed out weaknesses both teams are looking to make self improvements on and exploit with regards to the other team.  Michael Vick and LeShady McCoy will be focal points for the Steelers defense, while the Steelers offense will look to capitalize on a weak nickel back and find ways to overcome the Eagles’ speedy defense on the edges.  The Steelers are nearly back to full strength for the first time this season – minus David DeCastro still.

My feeling is that it’s either going to be a very low scoring game with defenses clamping down causing offenses to make mistakes or we will see a ‘defenseless’ high scoring contest.  I’m still picking Steelers this weekend – especially now that James Harrison and Troy Polamalu return to defense.  Vick won’t find the lanes he’s been able to find all season and will go back to his usual 2-3 turnover type game.  Even though the Eagles secondary might struggle against the Steelers’ speedy wide receivers, the defensive line will plug running lanes and put lots of pressure on Big Ben from the outside to keep this game under control.

I’m taking the Steelers by 3 with a final score of 13-10.

Who do you have?