The Ridiculously Early 2015 Record Prediction Thread

[Discipline of Steel]

I think we can beat NE and here is why.
We have 5 preseason games to get ready and part of me would like to believe that extra game will help us be ready even if that means Jarvis, Shazier, Tuitt, and Archer gets a few more snaps under their belts which could make a worild of difference.

Other key factors:
1. NE can't prepare for a defense they have yet to see. (First year Butler will not show all his cards in the preseason).
2. Not only do they not have Blount but they also lost Vereen.
3. NE doesn't truly have a deep threat in the passing game and that will allow our unproven new secondary to at least cover less ground.
4. I would like to think DEFLATEGATE will come with some small penalty that might help us in some form come week 1.
5. NE's secondary and defense as a whole has their own question marks and I think our experienced offense can take advantage especially with the emergence of Bryant on outside. Wheaton is going to be our new Wes Welker in the SLOT and that is gonna be fun to watch this year. (WHEATON is the fantasy sleeper as Bryant and Brown will get all the attention)

I think the most important factor everyone is forgetting is that NE started off very slowly in 2014. This looks to be Pittsburghs peak year after a few downers and the lack of poor teams plays right into our hands given our propensity to play down to their level. 19-0 Baby

[Oviedo]

Oddsmaker installs Patriots as biggest favorites of Week One

Posted by Mike Wilkening on April 22, 2015, 12:13 PM EDT

The high temperature in Las Vegas is expected to peak around 80 degrees on Wednesday, and you are unlikely to see anyone wearing Santa hats or reindeer-emblazoned sweaters on the Strip, but for certain folks, Wednesday might feel a little like winter in the desert.

After all, the NFL point spreads are back on the board, available to be bet.

According to VegasInsider.com, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has already put up lines for every Week One game after Tuesday’s schedule release.

The biggest favorites of Week One? The Patriots, who are favored by six points over the Steelers in the NFL regular season opener.

The Cowboys are the second-biggest favorites of Week One. Dallas is favored by 5.5 points against the Giants in the first Sunday night game of the season.

Seven teams are road favorites in the opening week: Green Bay (at Chicago), Indianapolis (at Buffalo), Miami (at Washington), Carolina (at Jacksonville), Seattle (at St. Louis), Cincinnati (at Oakland) and Philadelphia (at Atlanta).

Below is the entire Week One NFL slate. Over-Unders are in parentheses, and home teams are in CAPS:

Week One lines (Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook)

Thursday, September 10

NEW ENGLAND -6 vs. Pittsburgh (53)

Sunday, September 13

Green Bay -4 at CHICAGO (50)

HOUSTON -1.5 vs. Kansas City (43)

N.Y. JETS -1 vs. Cleveland (41)

Indianapolis -3 at BUFFALO (4

Miami -2.5 at WASHINGTON (44)

Carolina -4 at JACKSONVILLE (43.5)

Seattle -3.5 at ST. LOUIS (44)

ARIZONA -2.5 vs. New Orleans (4

SAN DIEGO -2 vs. Detroit (46.5)

TAMPA BAY -3 vs. Tennessee (42.5)

Cincinnati -3 at OAKLAND (44.5)

DENVER -4 vs. Baltimore (53)

DALLAS -5.5 vs. N.Y. Giants (50)

Monday, September 14

Philadelphia -1.5 at ATLANTA (53.5)

SAN FRANCISCO -3.5 vs. Minnesota (42)

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/22/oddsmaker-installs-patriots-as-biggest-favorites-of-week-one/[/URL]

I love going in as an underdog. It is when we are favorites that we stumble. Throughout the preseason the players will hear how no one gives them a chance against New England! The home team in the opener never loses! Blah! Blah!

Lots of focus and motivation for that game.

Fixing the pass rush will be critical. It is job #1 which is why I hope they go pass rusher in the draft at #22. The game against the Pats will be the perfect opportunity for Jarvis Jones to prove me wrong, but can he by pressuring and burying Brady at least two times?

[squidkid]

10-6.
we are very fortunate to be playing the the likes of denver, indy, 49ers, cards and raiders at home. those games are winnable, on the road, not so much.

[Iron City Inc.]

Schedule is out. Draft is coming up. Time for some wild speculation!

I'm saying 10-6:

NE – L
San Fran – W
St Louis – L
Balt – W (home)
San Diego – W
AZ – W
KC – W
Cincy – W
Oak – W
Cle – W
Bye
Sea – L
Indy – L
Cincy – W
Den – L
Balt – L (away)
Cle – W

I've never been good at predicting wins n losses so I wont but I applaud the effort. Looking at that schedule and the difficulty I would say 10-6 is real good.

[Flasteel]

I love going in as an underdog. It is when we are favorites that we stumble. Throughout the preseason the players will hear how no one gives them a chance against New England! The home team in the opener never loses! Blah! Blah!

Lots of focus and motivation for that game.

Fixing the pass rush will be critical. It is job #1 which is why I hope they go pass rusher in the draft at #22. The game against the Pats will be the perfect opportunity for Jarvis Jones to prove me wrong, but can he by pressuring and burying Brady at least two times?

Not just as an underdog, but the biggest dog in the league for opening week. There is no way that won't get our team jacked. If we can go in there and pull off the win, it will lay the foundation for our season. Even without Bell, I like the chances that our offense will go up there and shred their defense. Hopefully that will be enough to get us the win.

I agree with everything else you stated as well.

[K Train]

Not just as an underdog, but the biggest dog in the league for opening week. There is no way that won't get our team jacked. If we can go in there and pull off the win, it will lay the foundation for our season. Even without Bell, I like the chances that our offense will go up there and shred their defense. Hopefully that will be enough to get us the win.

I agree with everything else you stated as well.

But what if they go in and get destroyed? Does that set the tone for the whole season? lol

[Shoe]

I think the most important factor everyone is forgetting is that NE started off very slowly in 2014. This looks to be Pittsburghs peak year after a few downers and the lack of poor teams plays right into our hands given our propensity to play down to their level. 19-0 Baby

19-0

Uh, you do realize that we play the Raiders?

[RuthlessBurgher]

All of our division rivals start the season on road as well.

CLE @ NYJ
CIN @ OAK
BAL @ DEN

[Moonie]

Looks like 8-8. We are never ready at the beginning of the year, and without Bell, I can't see a win until game 4.

If we end up 11-5, it will mean the team has changed a lot. That would be one great playoff team going 11-5 with that schedule.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Looks like 8-8. We are never ready at the beginning of the year, and without Bell, I can't see a win until game 4.

The opener against New England would be tough with or without Bell...I'll certainly give you that.

But the next game is at home against San Francisco. We may be without Bell for that game, but San Francisco just lost multiple d-linemen (Justin Smith, Ray McDonald), multiple linebackers (Patrick Willis, Chris Borland), multiple corners (Chris Culliver, Perrish Cox), multiple wideouts (Michael Crabtree, Stevie Johnson), plus a Pro Bowl guard (Mike Iupati) and a Pro Bowl RB (Frank Gore), and their head coach jumped ship as well (Jim Harbaugh). Plus, it's still Kaepernick vs. Roethlisberger at Heinz...I like our chances there, but that's just me.

The Rams should have an awesome defense (a front 7 of Chris Long, Aaron Donald, Nick Fairley or Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn, Akeem Ayers, James Laurinaitis, and Alec Ogletree is awfully good), but I'm hoping that Bell's suspension will be reduced to 2 games on appeal. We'll see. Anyway, I like Ben Roethlisberger over Nick Foles in his 3rd game in a new offense at Heinz. It's kinda odd that the team that brought us the Greatest Show on Turf has a defense potentially as good as ours from a decade ago, and the team that brought us the Steel Curtain and Blitzburgh has an offense potentially as good as theirs from a decade ago. Strength against strength, weakness against weakness...should certainly be an interesting game.

[Discipline of Steel]

19-0

Uh, you do realize that we play the Raiders?

Well I expect Oakland to be halfway decent this year so that makes them beatable.

[Notleadpoisoned]

10-6. Once again the offense will put up big numbers while the defense will remain substandard.

[hawaiiansteel]

Bill Cowher: Steelers are one good draft away from contention

By Daniel Sager

It doesn’t seem like too much time has passed between Bill Cowher hoisting the Lombardi Trophy as head coach of the Steelers and sitting in the CBS booth as an analyst on Sundays, but it’s already been nearly a decade since Cowher’s retirement. In that time, it seems as if he’s fought yearly speculation regarding an NFL return. With a 161-99 career coaching mark, Cowher certainly knows a thing or two about football, especially the Steelers, and he feels if they can secure a quality cornerback and pass rusher in the upcoming draft, then they are close to contention, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette.

“You’d like to upgrade the secondary and find a pass-rusher,” Cowher said. “It comes down to those two things. If they can get those two things, they’re not that far away from being a good team. When we were building in the 2000s, we were going to be a defensive team and one that runs the football. We had to win games like that. We had to build a defense.”

Cowher’s defensive units during his time in Pittsburgh were some of the toughest in franchise history. Even the great Steelers defenses of the late 2000’s had their groundwork laid by the man who brought the Steelers their fifth Super Bowl. Jerome Bettis was the ultimate smash-mouth running, and with the defensive to match, Cowher’s Steelers and Tomlin’s team of today are vastly different.

The 2015 Steelers will be an offensive juggernaut, just like they were last season. The defense still has catching up to do, and great defenders simply don’t grow on a tree. Even the good ones take coaching and training to determine their success, and even then the likelihood of finding a new Troy Polamalu or a new James Harrison is a long shot.

Cowher understood what it took to breed success; his coaching record shows it and his legacy demonstrates it. Tomlin has also enjoyed success, but also has something Cowher didn’t; a franchise quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger allows Tomlin to build a team around him, whereas the lack of a great quarterback sort of forced Cowher’s hand in regards to team building.

The Steelers won’t be built the same today as they were 15 years ago because the priority has been placed on speed on both sides of the ball. The Ryan Shazier’s and Kam Chancellor’s are the future, so Tomlin must make due with what’s available.

And Cowher is correct; this team isn’t far from competing. They did last season with a suspect defense, and can likely do the same this year. Cornerback and pass rusher are the team’s two biggest needs, and not coincidently, they’ve brought six pass rushers and nine cornerbacks to Pittsburgh for visits; a full 50 percent of their allotted visitation. If Pittsburgh can improve their defense at all, like Cowher mentions, they will compete right now, and well into the future.

[URL]http://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2015/04/23/bill-cowher-steelers-are-one-good-draft-away-from-contention/[/URL]