Why the Steelers will win Sunday against the Jets

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

I’m going to start this by saying quite honestly I have no concrete reason why the Steelers will win Sunday against the suddenly soaring New York Jets, except to say they have to. No Steeler team has started 0-5 since the 1965 season and that team finished 2-12. If the Steelers do drop this game on Sunday, they may match that inglorious record.

I had the fortune to marry into a family of New York Jets fans, fortune I say because I love watching their anguish year after year as the Jets find new ways to…well, “stink”.  For instance, Mark Sanchez’s butt fumble will live on in infamy, and it never ceases to make me laugh no matter how many times I see it.  Marrying into a Jets family also gives me the opportunity to attend the occasional game since my father in law and his friend hold season tickets. Once the Jets’ 2013 schedule was announced and I saw Pittsburgh was coming to town, I pounced, pleading for those tickets which I did indeed get. I’ve seen the Steelers play here in NJ three times, once in that classic 33-30 game against the Giants in 2004 and twice against the Jets. Problem is, anytime I’ve seen them play the Jets live, the Steelers have lost and thus I also lost bragging rights in my household.  So with the 0-4 Steelers playing a hot and confident Jets team, you can see why I would feel a little uneasy.

So why then am I boasting with confidence that the Steelers will win? Well, for starters it isn’t due to any earth-shattering personnel moves the team has made during their time off (did anyone feel any tremors with the Stevenson Sylvester-Kion Wilson transaction?) Of course there is the debut on new LT Levi Brown to excite us, right? Let’s be honest, this team has done zilch to improve itself, but I will grant the fact of how much could they really have done in two weeks?. I did see that DE Ziggy Hood will be benched in favor of fellow first round dud Cameron Heyward, I guess they’re trying to figure which of the lesser of two duds to keep this off season. I say neither!

Another reason the Steelers will win isn’t because “Iron” Mike Tomlin threw down the hammer and forbade table top games in the Steelers’ facilities starting today, I mean if that’s all he thought it would take, why didn’t he do that at the end of a win less training camp?  I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Tomlin is not exactly a mountain-mover when he talks, he is a poor motivator and if benching Hood and banning ping pong is the best he’s got…well that’s a problem. But hey, maybe guys were too distracted with air hockey and such to focus on winning, however; I’d hate to think that was the case. Candy crush, I can see being a distraction, but not air hockey or ping pong.

Thirdly, I’m not much inspired with what has passed for defense these first four games, zero forced turnovers and…..well, you’ve all seen it and quite frankly, I’m tired of writing about Dick LeBeau’s crew.

And Forget about Todd Haley, he’s on borrowed time in Steel town.

So then, why will they beat this Jets this Sunday?

Quite frankly and bluntly because they’re the Pittsburgh Steelers dammit!

That’s right, I said it, I will hide behind that sense of entitlement. The Steelers don’t go 0-5, they are not amongst the worst in the league, simply due to the fact that they are the Steelers and as Steeler fans, we will not accept it. Common football sense tells us that the Steelers will get beaten on Sunday, but sometimes we must toss common football sense aside and go with our heart. We cannot lose to the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets!  I cannot tolerate a week of growing confidence in HC Rex Ryan, I’m just waiting for his idiocy to come out and proclaim his team Superbowl worthy. I need the Steelers to win, just to shut Rex up. He’s playing it cool right now, saying they can’t overlook the Steelers and blah blah blah, but after all this is Rex Ryan and you know he fully expects to win  handily Sunday.

I don’t see the Steelers having a ton of success running the ball on against gang green, but I can see Ben putting this offense on his shoulders, Todd Haley be damned and just be Ben, extending plays and making something (good) out of nothing. Get Miller, Brown, Sanders, Moye and Cotchery running deep and exploit that secondary. We all know he’s going to be running for his life anyway, so why the heck not just wing it all over the field? I’m serious here, at this point, what is to lose? Maybe Bell, Dwyer or Jones will pop a long one or two because the secondary is playing pass.

Another reason the Steelers will win is because the Jets have had a tendency to play to their competition, albeit with a few exceptions. If the Jets are playing a good team, they rise to that occasion, if they are playing a mediocre team, they drop to that level. Since the Steelers are, at best, mediocre (and that’s being kind), I see the Jets playing likewise and I think the Steelers can capitalize on that and make the Jets pay. Look, I’ve been saying it for a while, the Steelers are not a playoff team, they aren’t going anywhere this year, but they especially aren’t going 0-5. I don’t think beating the Jets will start them on some hot streak where they will reel off win after win, they just aren’t good enough and their schedule is tough. However, I think there is enough pride in the few vets left (Polamalu, Ben, Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Clark, Heath Miller, Brett Keisel) to not allow the season to spiral totally out of control. Truthfully, I have no faith in Tomlin, nor Haley or even Lebeau at this point, none at all. However, I do have faith in the aura that is the Pittsburgh Steelers in their beautiful black and gold. And simply because of that, the Jets have no chance.