The Steelers 2017 Schedule in 4 Quarters – Part 4
11-1! Yes, Nation, that’s where I left the third quarter off at and where I expect to see things as the fourth quarter of the season opens.
If this is the case, then there is every chance the AFC North is already wrapped up. I expect the Bengals and Ravens to be sitting at 6-6 while the Browns remain the conference afterthought sitting at 2–10. But hey, it’s already twice as many wins as they had in 2016.
Fourth Quarter – Ravens, Patriots, @Texans, Browns
The home stretch starts with the final primetime game against the Ravens, which included three home games and one road trip. There is every reason to think the Steelers are playing for the number one seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs during these final four games.
Of course, there is another team likely vying for the same thing; the New England Patriots. They will come into town during the fourth quarter of the season. Can the Steelers pull off another 4-0 fourth quarter to match their best season total at 15-1?
Maybe, maybe not.
At what point does Mike Tomlin consider resting his starters? Is it week 16 or 17?
I’m sure that will depend on seeding. When that seeding is locked up, would Landry Jones getting another start in last regular season game really be such a bad thing?
Week 14 – Baltimore
The last of the primetime games finally arrives, and it’s a doozie. It’s Steelers/Ravens on a Sunday night. The Steelers will be looking to avenge their only loss of the season, and the Ravens will be, well, probably trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
Despite picking the Ravens to win in Baltimore, I clearly don’t believe they are a better team than the Steelers. They always play Pittsburgh tough, but the Steelers are simply the better team. This time around I believe we might see one of the rare blowouts that occur in this series. The Steelers will be firing on all cylinders, and the truth is they always seem to play better the second half of the season.
This one goes to the good guys (the Steelers).
Steelers 42 – Ravens 17
Week 15 – New England
The boogie man is back! This is the game I imagine most of Steelers Nation, and probably most of the members of the Steelers themselves have circled on the schedule.
Last season the Patriots got to take advantage of a hurt and less than full capacity Steelers team, and Landry Jones still came close to beating them. The Patriots are not the same team on the road that they are at home. Yes, they win a lot, but they don’t win by as much!
The Patriots have been the beneficiaries of playing in one of the weakest divisions in football. Having the Jets, Dolphins and Bills provide five or six wins a year. It’s a great head start towards locking up the number one seed.
Much as this will make me vomit in my mouth, there is no denying the Patriots are a really good team. Perhaps even a great team… excuse me. The truth is, they haven’t had to match up with the Steelers at full strength, and I don’t think they can.
I don’t believe it will be a blowout. I don’t think it will be easy, but I do think the Steelers will win this game, and in effect, lock up the number one seed in the AFC. That’s what’s on the table here. (I hear you Raider fans, but listen, I don’t think so fellas, not this year!)
The Steelers win the rematch and move to 13-1 with two games left.
Steelers 42 – Patriots 35
Week 16 – Houston
This is the iffy game on this part of the schedule for me. Not because I think the Texans will have found the next great QB in Tom Savage or Deshaun Watson. In fact, if Watson is playing at all I’ll be surprised. He needs time to learn in my opinion.
The question here is do J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney both stay healthy all year and are the Texans in the conversation for the AFC South title. I don’t know about the first, and frankly, I’m not sure about the second – the Titans may have a thing or two to say about it.
The thing is, will this game – a Christmas Day game, be a letdown for the Steelers? They could be 13-1, with the division locked up, and maybe the number one seed in the conference clinched as well. Coming off of what will be a big emotional win over New England, does this game get them fired up?
I don’t know, and that is what worries me. Maybe they stay focused and maybe they don’t want to let up. I think it’s unlikely that Tomlin rests the starters at this point, and to be honest, I think they will need this win to actually “lock” the number one seed in.
Still, is that going to be enough?
I think there is a good chance that the Texans will want this game more than the Steelers do. The question is, do they have the talent to take it?
In the end, I don’t think so. The Steelers are perfectly designed to attack the weaknesses of the Texans, and I think that the Steelers play Grinch to the Texans on Christmas Day (I can’t believe I just wrote that).
Steelers 30 – Texans 17
Week 17 – Cleveland
As seems to be the case more often than not, the Steelers close the season with the Browns. You have to go back to 2009 to find a year where the Steelers haven’t ended the season with a team from Ohio: the Bengals once, and the Browns seven times.
The only way the starters play in this game is if the number one seed is still on the line, or, if the backups get hurt. I don’t think either of those is likely if the Steelers come into this game at a staggering 14-1. What I expect to see is Landry Jones get another start, and to watch every backup get time on the field.
If Ben, Bell, Brown, and Bryant have made it to this point relatively unscathed, I expect them all to be deactivated for the game. That would mean Josh Dobbs will get a helmet for the first time as well.
The downside of that is that the Browns may be a much better team at this point in the season. They will have an entire schedule to start to put things together and there is every chance that the Steelers second team players will not be able to pull off another overtime victory.
The Steelers close the season with their backups giving the Browns their fourth win of the season.
Browns 28 – Steelers 21
Conclusion
14-2.
That’s the number I came up with earlier when I first looked at the schedule, and I’m sticking with it now. We’ll see what the season looks like after training camp and the preseason, but barring any catastrophic events, this is what I expect.
For the sake of completion, I expect the Ravens to come in second at 9-7 and miss the playoffs again. The Bengals regret not drafting some offensive lineman and fall to 7-9. Marvin Lewis’ tenure with the team ends too.
The Browns improve but still pull up the rear at 4-12. They will NOT have the first pick in the draft!
That’s my outlook on the season Steelers Nation – all I have left to say to the team is this: make it so!
