Is the Steelers vs. Jets a “trap game”?

by Brian E. Roach (CannonsDontThun) on October 7, 2016

This Sunday the Steelers take on the New York Jets, and their interception machine Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Jets will come into Heinz field with a record of 1-3, having lost to Kansas City, Cincinnati and Seattle, and managing a victory at home against Buffalo.

The Steelers, as we all know, are coming off a big win against the Chiefs, and amazingly enough I saw someone call this game against the Jets, a “trap game”.

A “trap game” generally means a game that is played before, or after, a tough or rival opponent. The idea being that teams have a tendency to look past an opponent preparing for the following week’s game, or have a letdown after beating a tough or rival opponent.

Well, I don’t think Kansas City is much of a rival, nor did it appear that they were a tremendously challenging opponent. It’s hard to imagine that we are really in danger of “looking ahead” to the 1-3 Dolphins next week, so I think calling this a trap game is just silly.

What you can call it is a game against a lesser opponent in which the Steelers are expected to win.

Those kind of games have sometimes caused us problems. To add to that, we have a laundry list of injured players:

Marcus Gilbert (ankle)
Ryan Harris (shin)
Jarvis Jones (ankle)
Eli Rogers (toe)
Ryan Shazier (knee)
Cody Wallce (knee)
Robert Golden (hamstring)
Justin Gilbert (knee)
Anthony Chickillo (knee)
Ramon Foster (chest)
Darrius Heyward-Bey (shoulder)
Roosevelt Nix (back)

#Steelers out Sunday: Robert Golden, Ryan Shazier, Marcus Gilbert, Ryan Harris, Rosie Nix, Eli Rogers, Cody Wallace, J. Gilbert, & S. Golson

— Jacob Klinger (@Jacob_Klinger_) October 7, 2016

So what does all that mean for this game? Well, let’s get to it and find out what to look for this week.

Who plays Right Tackle on Offense?

Marcus Gilbert and Ryan Harris are out: that leaves Chris Hubbard as the last man standing.

Clearly this is not an ideal situation.

Here is something Pro Football Focus said about our line when they were ranking O-lines earlier in the year:

“The left tackle position is still concerning, and if anyone is injured, Pittsburgh doesn’t have a lot of depth”

And here is what they said specifically about Hubbard after the preseason this year:

“In his fourth season with the Steelers, Chris Hubbard has graded negatively for the fourth preseason in a row. After allowing two hurries in this game, he’s now surrendered eight pressures in total, and his run-blocking has graded in the bottom quarter among guards.”

The situation is not good. In fact, it’s dire enough that Maurkice Pouncey practiced at tackle as an emergency backup. Essentially, unless the Steelers make some kind of roster move, the well is dry.

If Hubbard is bad, or gets hurt we have nothing to fall back on (pending a roster move if it occurs) other than moving our center to tackle and probably putting B.J. Finney in at center.

Next man up has never been more critical.

I expect the Steelers to give Hubbard (if in fact that is who plays right tackle) help in the form of a back or tight end. Maybe toss David Johnson over there.

They can also help him out by running a lot of quick hitting plays, quick passes, and runs. (This is how Seattle exploited their aggressive line play last week.)

The Jets Defensive Line (Leonard Williams, Steve McLendon and Muhammad Wilkerson) is no joke. PFF has them ranked as the 10th best D-Line in the league. (That being said, they have KC ranked 7th, but admittedly that was with Justin Houston as a starter).

The O-Line play is going to decide this game in my opinion. Whatever can be done to help them I think will be done, but there is nothing left as far as depth. Let’s hope that whomever we put out there at right tackle can step up and hold the line.

Pittsburgh is the Jets “Philadelphia”

We haven’t won in Philly in 51 years. I know, I’m sick of saying it as much as you are sick of hearing it. The thing is, since the Jets and Steelers first began playing (1970), the Jets have only won once in Pittsburgh.

That was in 2010.

They are 1-10 in Pittsburgh, and 5-17 overall in the 22 games played between these two teams.

If trends keep playing in our favor, the fact that the Jets really don’t seem to like playing in Pittsburgh should help.

Let’s hope that trend continues.

Which Quarterback will stand out?

I know, I know! I hear you out there Nation, shaking your heads and saying “WTF?!?” I get it.

Clearly Ben is the better of the two quarterbacks. Clearly. But Ben doesn’t play well against the Jets, or at least historically he hasn’t. He’s 3-3 lifetime, and has only thrown 6 touchdown passes against them compared with 9 interceptions.

Ouch.

On the other hand, Ryan Fitzpatrick has never beaten the Steelers. Never.

He’s 0-4.

To top that off he’s been an interception machine so far this year, having thrown 10 through the first 4 games (which has him on pace to throw a ridiculous 40 interceptions – yikes!) Nine of those were thrown in the last 2 games.

He only threw 10 all of last year!

So which of these guys breaks the mold and has the better game?

My money is on Ben. He’s playing at a higher level than he has at any time in his career. He has more weapons than he’s ever had before, and if he can get just a little time, the Jets secondary, including Darrelle Revis (who may be out for this game), isn’t as good as their reputation is.

Ben could have another 5 TD game if the O-line can give him the time.

Ring the Bell

Le’veon had a great first game, and I think he’s going to need to have a great second game too, and that might be tough. The Jets are ranked 3^rd overall in rush defense. It’s not going to be easy sledding, especially with a make shift O-line.

However, get “Juice” in space, and throw it to him, and maybe that changes things a bit. The Jets are 27^th in passing, so maybe this is a game where Le’Veon gets 100+ yards in receiving, and less than 100 rushing.