Week 15: Titans @ Steelers
The Steelers were one of the only teams in the league last year that seemed to be able to contain Derrick Henry. After getting off to a huge lead early, Pittsburgh looked completely worn down by the end of the game as the Titans rallied back. Had this gone into overtime, Tennessee would have held the upper hand.
The Titans and Steelers are both quality football teams that don’t have a lot of holes. While Pittsburgh may not have as much success against the run this time around, their offense has a chance to be even better if they are able to exploit Tennessee’s weakness in pass defense. I think this could be a back-and-forth contest, but I have the Steelers claiming the ‘W’.
Prediction: Win (8-6)
Week 16: Steelers @ Chiefs
I would love to say confidently that the Steelers are going to march into Arrowhead Stadium and takedown Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, but I think that’s being overly optimistic. While I’m not saying that this can’t be done, I just don’t see Ben Roethlisberger being able to go toe-to-toe with arguably the league’s best quarterback.
A great defense can go a long way; however, they are oftentimes rendered useless against elite quarterbacks. We saw this when Aaron Rodgers shredded Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick can help slow down Patrick Mahomes, but they can’t stop him. Can Roethlisberger outperform him this year? I wouldn’t bet on it.