We control our own destiny within the division...

[RussBII]

Not that it matters much, but we can snag sole ownership of 2nd place with two wins in a row here...

6-6 with 4 to go? I think maybe 9-7 sneaks into the Wild Card round. We have the head to head tie breker with the Jets...

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

I said a couple of weeks ago, when everyone was saying that we were toast, that any chance we might have has more to do with the incompetency of other teams than it does with the Steelers.

[Starlifter]

It just sucks to have to rely on other teams to squeak in. And as appears likely, we would probably be heading to NE for the first round.

Hey, I hope we make the dance - but I'm not looking at usair to NY just yet.

[Eich]

Creative game plans that focus on what the current roster is able to do best (instead of what someone thinks the Steelers should do) coupled with some players getting and staying healthy, and it could continue to be an interesting season. Beating the Lions in the way that we did gave us a glimmer of hope for salvaging an otherwise abysmal season. Kudos to everyone involved with that win.

[buccoray61]

It just sucks to have to rely on other teams to squeak in. And as appears likely, we would probably be heading to NE for the first round.

Hey, I hope we make the dance - but I'm not looking at usair to NY just yet.

It does,but that's the price you pay for losing to the Titans,Vikings and Raiders.

[Flasteel]

It just sucks to have to rely on other teams to squeak in. And as appears likely, we would probably be heading to NE for the first round.

Hey, I hope we make the dance - but I'm not looking at usair to NY just yet.

If we are able to put ourselves in a position to be playing New England in the first round, they will have something to fear.

The entire league would have something to fear.

Sure we have a few weak teams left on the schedule, but we also have some good ones...and some rivalry games. Nothing is a gimme in this league and if we are able to run the table or go 5-1 the rest of the way, then I say we will be playing some damn fine football at that point.

I look at it like a 9 team race for one spot. We do have a chance of catching Cincy for the division title, but they would have to go in the tank. As for the rest of the teams in the wild card race, we don't need them to do anything more than stay who they are.
Cleveland
Baltimore
Miami
Buffalo
New York
San Diego
Tennessee
Oakland

If we go 6-0 or 5-1 down the stretch, how many of those other teams do you think can match that? We have the first three coming up on our schedule. We own the tie-breaker Buffalo and New York. Despite losses to Tennessee and Oakland (gag), they are operating with back-up quarterbacks and have very little hope of getting hot down the stretch.

We have Ben.

We also have better talent top-to-bottom and a veteran coaching staff that has been there.

I may be wearing some black and gold goggles, but I challenge anyone to make a better case for one of those other 8 teams.

[flippy]

If we win out and Cincy loses 1 game besides against us, we'll take the division. A lot of those other teams in contention play one another, so some of them will have to fall out of contention.

I don't care what you say about the Steelers losses, this team is on the upswing. And even in bad losses, we've shown some glimpses that we can play with anyone. We've actually got a number of guys on the team improving each week. And this could be a comletely different team come December/playoff time.

Who knows, we might be the hot team going into the playoffs and sneak in???

[NorthCoast]

It would be a mistake to look past the Browns. Currently ranked 5th in yds allowed (contrast that with Detroit at 25th). Browns are 17th in scoring defense, better than the Steelers 19th. The point is that although the Detroit win was big and a confidence builder, the Browns and Bengals have much better overall defenses. Interesting that the current over/under just moved to 41.5.

[Starlifter]

If we are able to put ourselves in a position to be playing New England in the first round, they will have something to fear.

The entire league would have something to fear.

Sure we have a few weak teams left on the schedule, but we also have some good ones...and some rivalry games. Nothing is a gimme in this league and if we are able to run the table or go 5-1 the rest of the way, then I say we will be playing some damn fine football at that point.

I look at it like a 9 team race for one spot. We do have a chance of catching Cincy for the division title, but they would have to go in the tank. As for the rest of the teams in the wild card race, we don't need them to do anything more than stay who they are.
Cleveland
Baltimore
Miami
Buffalo
New York
San Diego
Tennessee
Oakland

If we go 6-0 or 5-1 down the stretch, how many of those other teams do you think can match that? We have the first three coming up on our schedule. We own the tie-breaker Buffalo and New York. Despite losses to Tennessee and Oakland (gag), they are operating with back-up quarterbacks and have very little hope of getting hot down the stretch.

We have Ben.

We also have better talent top-to-bottom and a veteran coaching staff that has been there.

I may be wearing some black and gold goggles, but I challenge anyone to make a better case for one of those other 8 teams.

Well, I DID say after the 0-4 start that if we make the playoffs the plus to that is that we'd be a team on an unbelievable hot streak!!

[raycafan]

It would be a mistake to look past the Browns. Currently ranked 5th in yds allowed (contrast that with Detroit at 25th). Browns are 17th in scoring defense, better than the Steelers 19th. The point is that although the Detroit win was big and a confidence builder, the Browns and Bengals have much better overall defenses. Interesting that the current over/under just moved to 41.5.

Iam not a stat guy but how does the Browns offense compare in production to the Steelers.

[NorthCoast]

Iam not a stat guy but how does the Browns offense compare in production to the Steelers.

Generally sucky along with the Steelers. Browns are 28th in scoring (19.2 pt/gm), Steelers 20th (21.6). BUT, the last 3 gms the Steelers are averaging almost 10 pts above that average..... a very positive sign.