New York Jets @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Sunday 23rd January, 11:30pm UK Time

It seems like a long time ago that Rex Ryan announced shortly into the first episode of Hard Knocks that the Jets were going to win the Super Bowl; that they were the best and this was the year. Now, going into the conference championship for the second consecutive season they’ll be hoping to get past the hurdle they fell at last year.

The Steelers started this season under a cloud of controversy and talk of their starting QB being traded. Coach Mike Tomlin kept the ship steady and really it’s no surprise to see the Steelers competing – again – in the Championship game.

Heinz Field

Apart from the game this season, these teams hadn’t met since 2007. A lot has happened since then, like the Steelers winning the Super Bowl in 2008 and the resurgence of the Jets under Rex Ryan. Let’s take a look at the last few meetings

Week 15, 2010: New York Jets 22 – 17 Pittsburgh Steelers

Mark Sanchez

The Jets were coming in off a two game losing streak and had really struggled against the Patriots and the Dolphins. The offence was spluttering and the defence had been ripped to shreds against the Patriots. A win here was vital for them, but the Steelers almost won it. Two incomplete passes from the 10 yard line finished the game, but it was a close one.

Despite the loss, this week saw the Steelers book their post-season place.

Week 11, 2007: Pittsburgh Steelers 16 – 19 New York Jets (OT)

This was one of precious few high points for the Jets, who went 4-12 this year. The Steelers made the post-season but were knocked out by the Jaguars in the wildcards.

Week 14, 2004: New York Jets 6 – 17 Pittsburgh Steelers

and

Divisional Round, 2004: New York Jets 17 – 20 Pittsburgh Steelers (OT)

Despite a close play-off game, it was New Yorks for the taking. But when Doug Brien missed two field goals at the end of regulation the game was sent to overtime and the Steelers moved the ball down the field and a field goal kept them moving. They’d be stopped in the Championship game by the Patriots (who went on to beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX.

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Offensively for the Jets, they’re going to have to rely on their running game to open things up for the pass. LaDanian Tomlinson and Shonne Green are a good pairing, the right combination for a one-two punch out of the backfield. But they’re up against the team who are by some margin the best at stopping the run.

As we’ve seen across his first two seasons, Mark Sanchez can blow hot and cold. He can be calm, composed and lead the team and he can just as readily turn in a complete shambles of a performance. There’s been talk that he’s still adjusting after coming out of college early, that he’s still young, etc., etc. But when he’s good, he can be very good. Even when bad, he can still turn up for the 4th quarter so we can’t rule him out even if he’s struggling throughout the game. This will be a big game for Santonio Holmes, who as we know was traded by the Steelers before this season started. After he served his suspension he’s been back and on great form. He’ll want to improve on his 6 catches for 40 yards that he got in the week 15 meeting here.

Troy Polamalu

The Steelers’ secondary has been occasionally exposed, but is by no means a weak unit. And of course they have the game changer called Troy Polamalu. Jets’ QB Mark Sanchez  said of Polamalu that he “…plays like his hair is on fire, and he’s got a lot of hair, so that’s a lot of fire”. He does, he’s all over the place and rarely does he make a misstep.

I spoke yesterday about Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams, that they’re the dominant corners in the league at the moment. I don’t rank Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie quite as highly, but they are no slouches either. And they’re coming off the performance against the Patriots who they completely shut down. Cromartie is the weaker of the two, though has the physical gifts to make plays. The Steelers have receivers that are more experienced, and probably more explosive, than the Patriots do though so the battle in the secondary is going to be great to watch. With the physical game of Hines Ward, the deep threat of Mike Wallace and the good hands of Heath Miller, Revis, Cromartie and the others could have their hands full.

There’s a lot to admire about the play of Ben Roethlisberger. He’s big and strong, he can extend the play as well as anyone else out there and he’s got a killer pump-fake. I expect that a lot of the game will be decided on the ground, but when Ben does step back expect to wait for the play to develop. On those plays the Jets will hope to get to him like they managed with Tom Brady last week, and Bart Scott will be as dangerous as he ever is. But I think they’ll have a harder time getting to Roethlisberger.

This is a very difficult game to call. The Jets have momentum and a self-confidence (or arrogance, if you’d prefer) that means they’re going in expecting to win. The Steelers are proven winners and have more experience across the field, but they’re capable of making huge mistakes as we saw in last week’s first-half.  This one is practically a coin-flip for me.

Though I like the narrative of the Jets going into this game, ultimately I think the Steelers are better. It’ll come down to a couple of key plays, and it’ll be close, but the Steelers will get it done.

Graham Says:

I went with the Jets last weekend as I just think they are riding a wave of luck on a skill surfboard.  After knocking the highly fancied Pats out of the running they must also now have an unshakable belief that they can do it.

Some would say the Steelers present more of a challenge than the Patriots did, but I think we will see the Jets in the Super bowl this year.

Ben Roethlisberger

Craig Says:

This weekend will see two dominant defences face-off to settle the AFC Conference championship. The Jets take on the Steelers in what could be a gruelling encounter. The Steelers get through to the final after doing enough to clinch their division (by a divisional record of +1) resulting in a bye week, and then victory over the Ravens last week which I’m still bitter about. A collapse by the Ravens offence during the entire third quarter allowed the Steelers defence (who it has to be said, played out of their skins) to cause 3 turnovers and peg back the 14 point deficit from the previous half.

The Jets got through the Wildcard round beating the Colts AND then the Patriots, both on the road too. That in itself is impressive. Rex Ryan is obviously confident with his teams ability considering all the talking he’s been doing as of late, I just can’t help but think that it might come back and bite him in the ass.

The Steelers need to be respected, so in the build up to the game it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds. Obviously the trash talking with the Patriots was due to a massive rivalry between the two, but Ryan does love his mind games. If the Steelers play like they did in the second half last week then I can’t see them being beaten. The Jets were impressive against New England though.. It’s a tough one to call.

I can honestly see this heading into overtime and being won on a Field Goal. My gut is saying Jets win.

Image Credits:
Heinz Field – Natalie Litz
Mark Sanchez – TexKap
Troy Polamalu – Andy emcee
Ben Roethliserger – Alex Abboud

Dallas Cowboys
The new standing room tickets did not go down well with fans at the new Cowboys stadium.  Many fans could not see the field and some left during the game.

Standing tickets have been removed from many grounds due to the problems that they can cause.  It will be interesting to see how the organisation handles the situation.

Pittsburgh Steelers
Safety Tyrone Carter is expected to be recovered enough to play on Sunday against Cincinnati.  Carter is standing in for Troy Polamalu.

Now while most of these are for trucks that are the size of small English towns or for food at a price of a 5 year old’s pocket money, there are some real gems.

Three, in particular, made me chuckle this week…

Firstly, Troy Polamalu sells me some Head and Shoulders:

Then Brett Favre makes me dislike him just a little bit less at Sears:

Then Erik Estrada just cracks me up. Sure, it’s a Tony Stewart advert, but a) I’ve barely heard of him, and b) Erik Estrada steals the show like this was Scrubs or something. I can’t link this one to the NFL… but it’s ERIK ESTRADA, PEOPLE!

Victory may have come at a cost though, with Troy Polamalu suffering a sprain to his left MCL. Scans are still underway, but he could miss up to 6 weeks. We’ll keep you posted. Before he left, he’d been playing an amazing game. Between closing on Chris Johnson to take him down for a loss to a one-handed interception he was all over the place making plays. If he is out for any serious time, he’ll be missed but the Steelers still have a solid defensive unit.

Oakland Raiders
With Richard Seymour still not showing up in Oakland, they’ve taken William Joseph back on the books. Joseph had been released to create space for Seymour earlier this week. With just a few days until their game with the visiting Chargers, even if he did show up now it’s not known how much of a difference he’d make, or indeed how well he’d be received by him team-mates. Perhaps he thinks the whole deal is a bad dream, and he’s trying to sleep it off? Whatever is the case, he doesn’t seem to be handling the move in the right way. With neither the Pats or Raiders commenting, we assume that it’s haggling of some kind and hope that nothing has happened to him.

Interestingly, Coach Tom Cable let Joseph know that he might still be needed when the DT was released.

“The day they let me go, they released me, coach Cable said, ‘Don’t go nowhere’, I was just around, sticking around, seeing what was going to happen.”

Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but whatever reason Cable thought “Don’t go nowhere” was worth saying last sunday.

Arizona Cardinals
Receiver Anquan Boldin sat out practice yesterday with a sore hamstring and may not be good to go on Sunday against divisional rivals the 49ers.

Whilst he’ll be missed, if there’s one team spoiled at receiver it’s the Cardinals. Don’t expect the gameplan to change either way.

This year it’s all about fighting for every yard, and the new Pro-Tak system which allows for gang-tackles. I got this on release day and have been playing it, here’s my thoughts.

Overview
After opening the stunning box, with Larry Fitzgerald and Mactalksnfl favourite Troy Polamalu and loading the game, the first thing you’ll notice is that the presentation has been buffed and shined to an almost silly standard. Each stadium has facts and figures about it, delivered by Tom Hammond whilst some incidental activity takes place. I’ve seen fans at a tailgate, leap-frogging bollards, admiring statues and buying hats. That sort of thing. The stadia are rendered beautifully (I just played at Texas stadium and it looks amazing) but we’d expect that. Beyond the background, the players look great and are animated excellently. I’ve seen a few clipping errors and the running does lot a bit odd, but it’s really well done overall with all sorts of little touches that really add depth: from players calling for flags, to the Chain Gang being called on, to refs conferencing, on and on… that sort of thing.

Gameplay
The core of the game has not changed, as you’d expect, but the pace has been slowed. And I’m a big fan of this… now I’m used to it. I spent my first couple of games passing too soon and running for the smallest hole. Now I sit back and watch, you can see the pocket forming, the corners bumping their assignments as the play develops. I’m still having issues with leading them too far though, but am working on that. As a game though, passing works great.

The slower pace also helps the running game. You can see the gaps and follow your blockers much easier. Pro-Tak is a big part of this too, and you can battle your way through a crowded line as the players do in real life. More than in previous versions, you’ll need to pay attention to who’s running at you. Brandon Jacobs, for instance, ploughed through me for the entire first quarter until I adjusted and started hitting him low. It sounds obvious, and it is, but as EA would say “it’s in the game”. I’ve found running the ball easier than on previous versions.

Defense too. When attacking the QB, you get time to battle your man and watch the pocket shifting as the linemen battle it out. Playing in the backfield is still hard, but the pace makes things easier. I still get turned by a receiver (a lot), but in most cases I’ve noticed it before he’s got the ball and am able to make a good hit for a minimal game. Yes, the screen-shaking hit is still there.

Other Changes
Some things from previous versions are gone. The icons under the players? Gone. The intrusive play-calling system, that’s gone too and a much more user-friendly system is there that also makes it easier to bluff between the plays on screen. Oh yeah, want to run the Wildcat? Go ahead, it’s there.
Other subtle improvements are for the best too, like the fact the camera changes to ‘broadcast’ mode as a play ends. It’s the visual equivilent of the whistle – play until the camera changes. There’s a sort of button-mashing minigame for fumbles in the pile which is nice too, though will catch you out the first time it happens.

Franchise
Franchise mode has a reworked menu system, but the best addition here for me is The Final Point. A clip show presented by Fran Charles and Alex Flanagan that gives pretty simple overviews and previews of games, but which – more usefully – shows the standings and playoff picture and other league information. Each stage can be skipped directly too, and you can come out of it at any point. There is also an edition of this ‘show’ at hafltime, which is frankly a bit of a nuisance and something I wish it was easier to skip. The only useful part of it is the scores from other games going on, but the screen is up so quick you’ll only be able to take in one or two of them.

This year sees the introduction of online co-op, which is fun but harder than it sounds, and online Franchise. This is the game mode that everyone’s been waiting on, and could be great. My league is forming at the moment and I’ll give full thoughts on it at a later date. Incidentally, a printing error in the UK booklet means the code to unlock Online Franchise is not provided, but if you ring EA on 0870 243 2435 (UK only) and provide your GamerTag, they’ll enable your account on the franchise servers.

Sound
EA Trax is still here, and I’m hating it less and less each year as the fashion moves more and more towards guitar-based stuff. The first time I loaded it up, Madden 10 greeted me with Them Bones by Alice In Chains who are one of my favourite bands of all time. There are other good tracks too, and I look forward to the music now rather than wanting to turn it off.

The on-field sound is great, from the banter between the players to the hits, the rousing crowd. The tannoy guy is still there too and the whole audio experience is incredibly natural.

In Closure…
I’ve only played in Franchise, so haven’t taken a look at Superstar mode yet. Or the Madden Moments either. The standard mini-games are still present as well. There’s plenty to get into here. Overall it’s better than 09, and probably 08 too and I’m enjoying it a lot. Games have a great ‘flow’ to them, resulting in drives and results that feel natural. I thoroughly recommended it.

I have the Xbox 360 version, but it’s out on all the PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP and there is even an iPhone version coming that I’ll check out when it’s out.

Has anything changed?


Ben Roethlisberger has a civil suit hanging over his head, though by most reports he’s not let it affect him and has shown considerable poise in being the leader of the team.

Hines Ward is sitting out practice. Not, you might think, to save injuries to any defensive backs, but because he’s earned it and can be trusted to be in shape come the pre-season. With Santonio Holmes hoping to reproduce his post-season form in the pre-season, it falls to those two to lead the receivers with Nate Washington plying his trade in Tenessee now.

Along with Washington, Bryant McFadden and Larry Foote are also playing in new cities (Arizona and Detroit) which is going to need to see some adjustment on the defense. On the brightside, they still have Mactalksnfl favourite Troy Polamalu tearing up the backfield.

As with any defending champions, they start the season with nothing to prove yet everything to lose. After their last championship, they went a disappointing 8-8 but will surely have learnt lessons from that.

Baltimore Ravens' QB Joe Flacco lets one go

Joe Flacco will go into his sophomore season entrenched as starter and will look to build on his fantastic first season that took the Ravens deep into the post-season. With a little bit more protection, he can do great things as long as he keeps his form up. Something that is by no means certain for a second-year QB.

The Ravens second place finish last year means that they have potentially tricky matchups against the Colts and Patriots on their schedule this year (The Steelers have the Dolphins and Titans) those will be all games to watch to see how they’ll affect the division table here.

I was initially tough on the Bengals’ receivers, then I changed my tune and it’s one of the main things I’m looking out for from training camp. If healthy and productive, they could be a real threat as long as the running game backs them up.

If Andre Smith and the team can sort a contract out, he could be an immediate starter at tackle. The longer a deal isn’t in place is going to affect his gametime early in the season.

There have been a number of changes on the defense, but nothing that shouldn’t be able to be catered for. That said, I don’t like the look of this unit – they were weak in 2008 and could easily be weak again.

A big factor when considering their finishing spot is that the Bengals have four of their last five games on the road. This will be a tough run and if they’re still in contention at that stage it will be an important sequence of games. I feel they’ve improved since my First Look – certainly on offense – but am leaving them projected at third spot for now.

The rebuilding is well under way in Cleveland, with ex-Jet’s coach Eric Mangini making his mark. He’s also delved deeply into the roster from his old club in an attempt to improve the team across the board.

The big story here is Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn in the quarterback battle. You’d hope that it would be settled as soon as possible, but with both guys putting up similar numbers last season I wouldn’t be surprised to see them sharing time through the early part of the pre-season. My money is on Quinn at this point.

With so much happening with the team, they’re tough to get behind as contenders.

Summary
Like I said before, the crunch match is in week 16 when the Ravens travel to Pittsburgh in a match that will probably decide the division (assuming that one of them has not fallen apart by then).

I do like what’s coming out of Cincinnati, but not enough to bump them at this point. So it’s no change so far.

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Continuing our look at our favourite defensive backs, we take a look at the third player in our list.

We can’t vouch that these will be the best players in absolute terms, have the biggest fantasy upside or even be any good (though they might be)… but they’re players that we like to watch.

This time we look at Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu.

28 year old Polamalu will be looking to build on fantastic performances last season, which were topped off by a 5th Pro Bowl selection.  He also posted some very impressive stats with 7 sacks and 432 tackles.

Polamalu has been a permanent fixture in Pittsburgh after being selected in the 1st round of the 2003 draft. He was sure to get noticed too after giving it his all at USC which started with him playing both the safety and linebacker positions.

I don’t know if the hair helps him stand out, but he always seems like one of the hardest working players out there, and also the one I would least liked to be takled by!

Lets see him in action…

He has become a Father now too, and as we all know when you become a Dad, you become even more scary (oh and also become better at fixing things).  I  am looking forward to seeing what kind of an impact he has this year.

Interesting fact: Troy Polamalu has made the cover of Madden 2010.  Look out for the review here on Mac Talks NFL.

Previous favourite defensive backs:
Will Allen
Shawn Springs