Pittsburgh Steelers: Going West To Battle San Diego Chargers
By Harv Aronson
Monday night the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to the west coast for the first time this season to take on the San Diego Chargers. Pittsburgh will return west November 12 when they take on the Seattle Seahawks and their Twelfth Man fan base. A midwestern trip to Kansas City takes place in a few weeks on October 25.
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Come Monday night though, it’s Michael Vick‘s second shot at leading the Steelers to a victory minus the partial game he played in St. Louis a few weeks back. Pittsburgh can ill afford to fall too far behind the unbeaten Cincinnati Bengals so the pressure is on to come home with a W in this one although it probably falls short of being a “must win.”
Martavis Bryant was scheduled to return from his suspension but after dinging his knee in practice on Friday he is now doubtful for Monday. The Chargers will always be a tough opponent, so Pittsburgh should expect a fight. Philip Rivers has his offense ranked third-best in the NFL in total offense with 411 yards-per-game, whereas Pittsburgh has dropped to 12th without Ben Roethlisberger grabbing the reigns. On defense, the Steelers are also 12th overall and the Chargers 15th.
Philip Rivers is currently leading the league in passing yards with 1,248 as Keenan Allen is his lead receiver with 33 receptions, one better than Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown. Both men trail league leading DeAndre Hopkins of Houston who has caught 42 passes.
On passing yards received, Brown is second in the NFL trailing Hopkins by an even 100 at 478. Allen is 100 behind Brown. On defense, Eric Weddle is San Diego’s leading tackler with 38. Lawrence Timmons is tops for the Steelers with 30. Stephon Tuitt with 3 1/2 sacks trails league leader Demarcus Ware by one. Jeremiah Attaochu leads the Chargers with a pair.
In protecting Michael Vick, Pittsburgh should have some success as the Chargers are near the bottom of the pack for sacks in the NFL with a team total of just five. To the contrary, the Steelers rank near the top with 14, just four behind the Denver Broncos who hold the top spot. Also as a team, Pittsburgh has picked off an opponent’s pass just twice, San Diego three times.
When Pittsburgh has the ball: When it comes to a backup quarterback, many have had to be thrown into the fire so far in 2015. It’s happened in Houston, Cleveland, Dallas, New Orleans, and of course highly publicized, in the ‘Burgh. If Bruce Gradkowski didn’t suffer a season-ending injury, there would be no Michael Vick wearing Black and Gold. But that’s the case and Vick is a proven commodity despite his lack of success the last few years. At 35, Vick is still dangerous and it’s conceivable that he can play better than what he has shown thus far. Monday night would be as good a time to start producing than ever. A win would be big for Pittsburgh with a home game coming next.
Getting Martavis Bryant back on the field would have been a plus for Vick and the offense. Expect a big dose of Le’Veon Bell especially since San Diego is surrendering 126.8 yards per game on defense. In addition, they are yielding 226 yards passing per-game. This could be the first game of the season where Steelers fans see a double dose of running with the combination of Bell and DeAngelo Williams. The Steelers are now more of a passing team with the dangerous weapons they have in the outsides, so there is no way the passing game will be abandoned in the absence of Ben Roethlisberger.
Expect San Diego to try to keep Michael Vick contained and in the pocket and give him plenty of pressure to try to force him into mistakes. In addition, they will do their best to contain the running game but the truth is that will be a problem for them to do so.
When San Diego has the ball: It’s all Philip Rivers here. As the San Diego offense goes, so goes Philip Rivers. Shut him down and their offense becomes inept. As opposed to the Steelers losing Big Ben but still being productive because of the talent of L’eVeon Bell, the Chargers don’t have a dual threat like Bell who can run and receive.
On the ground, the Chargers are led by rookie Melvin Gordon who thus far has rushed for 228 yards for a 4.1 yards-per-carry. Gordon is backed up by veteran Danny Woodhead who has added another 144 yards.
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Pittsburgh’s rush defense has been far from spectacular, so if they can get a good run stopping defense going and pressure Philip Rivers who is prone to making mistakes, things should work out well in the Steelers’ favor. In 2015, Rivers has thrown four interceptions in four games and has been sacked 12 times.
Intangibles: The Pittsburgh Steelers love themselves a Monday night matchup. Since the weekly game began back in 1970, the Black and Gold owns the fourth best record in the Monday night games. With 65 appearances, Pittsburgh has won 41 of those battles.
The most recent was last year’s 27-24 victory over the Tennessee Titans. As this game is on the road, it is in a city that has not been fully supportive of their team and when playing in San Diego, the Steelers often get a great fan showing from Steelers Nation. So expect thousands of Pittsburgh fans to be present.
Prediction: Initially, my gut reaction was that the Steelers would lose this game. After reviewing the stats for 2015 thus far, I now believe that Le’Veon Bell is going to have a monster night on the ground and in the air. Michael Vick will find ways to hit Antonio Brown, because you just can’t completely shut down the league’s’ best receiver. The defense has been playing a solid pass defense and that will be key in this game. Final score? Pittsburgh 27 San Diego 17.
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