Cincy Defense?

[Tasher]

Hey! According to all the reports we are only going to be playing 8 guys on defense! What is up with this? We are allowed eleven! No wonder Marvin keeps saying it is SO important that ALL ELEVEN guys play to stop the run. Well how are we supposed to do that if we only have 8 on the field? Pass defense might be a problem too, though.

The way the media makes it sound, since we are missing Odell, WaterBoy, and DJackson there is no possible way that we can win on Sunday. Well Hell! Lets just sleep in, phone it in to Pissburgh and get healty for New England, I say! Maybe even just sleep right through to the bye week (brings a whole new meaning, don't it?).

I sure do love getting my beauty rest.

Pissburgh, you better bring it, cause methinks that our eleven guys are going to be mighty Pissed Off, oh and there is precious little drop off from top to bottom of our roster.

Who Dey? Not You Dey!

[Kazkal]

k.

[Kirkendall]

Dude, we have Kevin Kaesviharn.

[Tasher]

k.

No sarcasm week during Squealer week, Kaz?

AP article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?sectio...&id=2597851

The running game the Steelers had Monday wasn't their usual

running game. Willie Parker was limited to 20 yards on 11 carries

after having 115 yards against Miami. That inability to run the

ball forced the Steelers to lean on rusty quarterback Ben

Roethlisberger for their offense.

Only there wasn't much of it as they were held to 167 yards.

"Everything is predicated off the run," wide receiver Hines

Ward said.

Roethlisberger figures to be sharper now that he's finally

played a game -- he missed the Miami game with appendicitis.

To get him going, the Steelers also need more production from a

running game that will be going against a defense missing two

starting linebackers, David Pollack and Odell Thurman. Pollack is

injured and out for the season and Thurman is serving a suspension

for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

[HoosierCat]

Well, you are the last to know, Tasher, because you don't pay attention to...me...HoosierFranken (old SNL joke about 10 people in the world will get) and my post in the "expert picks" thread:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5985568

A prediction for Pitt, based on the Bengals missing three defensive starters. I'm still trying to find the two beyond Dexter. I suppose he must be adding in Odell and Pollack...but Odell has been out all year so far; and Pollack was out for game one and appeared only briefly in game 2. In which we gave up more points than game 1.

But hey, sure, whatever...

[Kazkal]

Just diden't know what to say funny thought though how everyone is making sound like we can't replace these guys I love pollack but he really hasen't dont much to show this is a major loss + our depth is stepping up anyways...

[walzav29]

That does show how little the media follows Cincy. Pollack pretty much didn't practice or play in anything this year. It's been Jeanty the whole time. I hate to say it, but I get the impression that Odell was messing a lot more then we thought. Simmons and Johnson are more disciplined. We will miss Jackson though. That is a blow. We will not have to hear about the run D for a while if they hold Parker to under 70.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

That does show how little the media follows Cincy. Pollack pretty much didn't practice or play in anything this year. It's been Jeanty the whole time. I hate to say it, but I get the impression that Odell was messing a lot more then we thought. Simmons and Johnson are more disciplined. We will miss Jackson though. That is a blow. We will not have to hear about the run D for a while if they hold Parker to under 70.

Yeah. Of course, Pittsnurgh doesn't have Bettis, either, do they?

I'm definitely interested to see how they respond after getting humiliated on Monday night.

[derekshank]

That does show how little the media follows Cincy. Pollack pretty much didn't practice or play in anything this year. It's been Jeanty the whole time. I hate to say it, but I get the impression that Odell was messing a lot more then we thought. Simmons and Johnson are more disciplined. We will miss Jackson though. That is a blow. We will not have to hear about the run D for a while if they hold Parker to under 70.

Some of that will be the responsiblity of the offense. When we beat them last year, we held Parker to 71 yards, and the Steelers rushed for a total of 98 yards. They were forced to abandon their normal game plan because we were winning by 2 TD's.

The reason we gave up 31 was our pass defense. That should be much improved with a better pass-rush from our D-Line, and having Madieu back. Even without Dexter, we have an improved defense over what we beat them with last year.

I do think we'll notice Dexter's absence, but there is no comparison between Madieu and Ohalete. Our defense should still be a lot better than it was last year... and their offense isn't as potent without Randle El and Bettis. I just think we are the better team this year.

The Dexter and Braham injuries are the only big concerns of mine... but we know how to run the ball. If you'll remember, Ghiaciuc started against the Jags last year, and even though that was a loss... we still gained 364, and rushed for 132 yards against a very good defense. I think we'll be okay.