Steelers Wild Card Update: Ice, Rain Could Play Huge Factor
The Steelers will take on the Ravens later Saturday evening in what will be the Steelers first home playoff game since beating the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game back in 2010.
Seems like a lifetime ago after a very disappointing Wild Card showing in 2011 and two 8-8 seasons following that.
The Steelers will have an opportunity to shake off some of those demons from the last several years with a win against the Ravens. Of course it won’t come without added challenges.
The weather is a variable that must be taken into consideration on Saturday night. Early Saturday morning in Pittsburgh, the region saw a front move into place that brought ice then rain then ice then rain again. Road conditions were awful. How awful? Well the Pittsburgh Penguins canceled their morning skate, that’s how bad.
How serious are these icy conditions ? #penguins called off morning skate. Follow their lead: STAY OFF THE ICE
— Andrew Stockey (@astockeyWTAE) January 3, 2015
There’s been no reports of what Heinz Field looked like in the aftermath of that weather system. But, more rain is forecasted with on and off showers throughout the day and night. Temps should be steady in the low 40’s most of the day, which should help with ‘the melt’ as long as no more precipitation falls in the form of ice/sleet.
As Steeler Nation is all too familiar with, Heinz Field gets beat up during the course of a season. It does not hold up well and very easily becomes sloppy. The field was re-sodded after the WPIAL Championships and appears to be doing well after two back to back home games against the Chiefs and Bengals.
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However, if the game time conditions are rainy, cold, and a bit sloppy this could have a huge impact on the game. The ball gets slick in weather like this. Usually teams will pull back on their passing game and try to make significant gains on the ground.
Yet another complication for the Steelers.
With star running back Le’Veon Bell out with a knee injury, the Steelers have three options to carry the rock: Josh Harris, Dri Archer, and newly acquired vet Ben Tate. Harris should get most of the work load for the Steelers, and expect them to put someone like Will Johnson next to Ben for extra protection when he is in the shotgun.
Harris looks promising in carrying the load for the ground game, but he almost fumbled the ball last week against the Bengals during one of the few carries he had. Yet another solid trait from Bell was his sure hands once he was carrying the football. He is the second back only to Walter Payton to gain over 2,000 yards from scrimmage and not fumble the ball once all season. Sure could have used those hands in a game like tonight’s.
As of this morning, the rain is forecasted to stay fairly steady from about 4pm and continue throughout the entire game. We won’t see a game like back in 2007 when the Steelers hosted the Dolphins. Remember this one?
Keep the turnovers to one or zero, and the Steelers should have a great chance in beating these Ravens. Let’s hope the weather doesn’t play accomplice to any fumbles… unless they are against the Ravens.
Stay dry out there Steeler Nation.
HERE. WE. GO.
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