On Sunday, the black and gold meet up with the silver and black in a game that could very well renew a rivalry that seems forgotten.
With the Oakland resurgence pushing the Steelers temporarily out of the playoff mix, this game is huge in determining the playoff standings. If Pittsburgh wins the game, they catapult into playoff position while Oakland winning would result in them tightening their grasp on a wild card spot.
Currently, it’s hard to figure out how good Pittsburgh is at this point, having been plagued with so many injuries throughout the year. The Steelers will be without the versatile running back Le’Veon Bell, and are relying on the health of a beat up Ben Roethlisberger to guide them to victory.
What can Pittsburgh do to assure victory in this pivotal matchup?
- Ben Roethlisberger must be in full form
Last week, Roethlisberger returned from his knee injury, and despite a fantastic first drive leading to a touchdown, the team failed to score another for the rest of the game. The star quarterback looked rather shaky, and while everyone continues to deny he was rusty, it sure seemed like rust.
A week later, the Steelers must hope that Roethlisberger can return to full form if they want a chance to win this game. Especially without Bell, the passing game must be strong, and he needs to play like Ben Roethlisberger again.
On top of that, Ben in full form also means involving Brown into the offense. With Ben returning, it seemed that the horrible streak of Brown not getting the ball would come to an end, but it didn’t. Brown was unable to gain more than 50 yards receiving, and was barely used outside of the first drive.
2. DeAngelo Williams needs to play like he’s been playing
Raise your hand if you thought that DeAngelo Williams would be the solution this season? Now, put your hand down, you’re lying.
DeAngelo Williams has been a great replacement for Bell this season, having led the league in rushing yards the first two weeks (During Bell’s suspension). Once Bell came back, fans saw Williams’ role in the offense decrease, drastically, as expected.
With Bell going down again, all heads turn to Williams to be the guy to really make the offense two-dimensional again, and give the Steelers that spark they need to really take the offense to the next level.
In his limited play once Bell went down, Williams was able to fill the position fairly well, and managed to have a 55 yard scamper down the field setting the Steelers up in great position. Despite being old, DeAngelo is still extremely fast, and can burn defenses with ease.
If he is able to recreate some of the big plays he had for Pittsburgh earlier in the season, and last week, the offense could really explode as the Raiders will be desperately trying to slay a two-headed monster.
3. Secondary must step up
The Steelers defense this season has been quite impressive. Heading into the season, the defense was the biggest concern for this team, and now it seems to be the only thing keeping them afloat.
The defense is one of the best in the league at keeping their opponent’s scores low, and have been really good at causing turnovers, and getting to the quarterback.
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Yet, despite all their improvements, the secondary still seems to be burned fairly often. While they are great at stopping teams in the red zone, and limiting the amount of points scored, it’s still hard to argue that the team is great at stopping their opponents.
The defense is actually still ranked 20th in the league, which is two pegs down from last season. While it seems the defense has been great, they are still struggling at stopping the pass.
While the offense needs to roll, it’ll really be up to the defense to make the big stops, cause important turnovers, and cool off a quarterback who has been finding his array of weapons nicely the last few weeks.