This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4) will be playing the Carolina Panthers (2-12) at Heinz field. This is the last home game for the Steelers, as well as the last Thursday night game of the NFL season. All is not lost after the loss to the Jets last week…if the Steelers can win out; we get the #2 seed in the AFC. The Panthers are playing for something else entirely. They are playing for respect, jobs for next year, and the number 1 pick in the draft.
Jump for our Predictions on this game and the rest of Week 16.
Bam:
The Panthers suck and I think the Steelers will play angry, physical football this week. Polamalu will likely sit out but the Steelers are a good enough team to beat Carolina without the all-everything safety. If this one is close, I’ll be disappointed…
Steelers 27 Panthers 13
Brian:
What do you need to say about Carolina? They’re bad. Management is pushing John Fox out and a spectacular loss to a contender would help that process. Even though the Steelers never seem to blow out bad teams, I’ll say Pittsburgh wins.
Steelers 35 Panthers 7
George:
Here are the rankings for the Steelers and Panthers in several categories from Football Outsiders and Advanced NFL Stats:
| Team | Overall | Pass Offense | Run Offense | Pass Defense | Run Defense | Special Teams |
Penalty Rate |
| PIT | FO-3; ANS-3 | FO-3; ANS-9 | FO-13; ANS-16 | FO-4; ANS-5 | FO-1; ANS-1 | FO-14 | ANS-28 |
| CAR | FO-30; ANS-31 | FO-31; ANS-32 | FO-32; ANS-15 | FO-7; ANS-13 | FO-23; ANS-13 | FO-16 | ANS-19 |
My guess is you didn’t need these rankings to know Carolina’s one of the worst teams in the league, but it’s helpful nevertheless. However, the fact that the Panthers are strongest defensively against the pass, and especially against No. 1 and 2 receivers, makes me think this game will be a lot closer than it would appear on paper. The Panthers are also last in the league against tight ends, so look for Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth to be targeted even more than they were last week.
With the game at home, the Steelers appear to have the advantage in this one. Both Football Outsiders and Advanced NFL Stats pick the Steelers to win. They must keep the penalties down, though, if they don’t to let the Panthers back in the game. I’ll be skeptical until they show they can do that.
Steelers 24 Panthers 17
Matt:
This is a game that most people are looking at as an automatic win for the Steelers. I am one of those people. There is no reason the Steelers shouldn’t dominate this game, even without Polomalu playing.
The Steelers missed out on a great opportunity last week, and I think the message all week was to close things out. The Steelers can’t give the Ravens the division, because I think everyone wants to avoid New England for as long as we can. The best way of doing that is getting the #2 seed, and not having to play them till the Conference Championship Game. The first step in that process is beating Carolina. The Steelers will be playing aggressive football, and playing it with a purpose. This should be a blowout.
Steelers 27 Panthers 9
Below are the Staff Picks for the rest of this week’s games.
STAFF PICKS
|
WEEK 16 |
Bam |
Brian |
George |
Matt |
|
2010 Record |
147-77 |
138-86 |
139-85 |
141-83 |
|
Carolina @ Pittsburgh |
Pittsburgh |
Pittsburgh |
Pittsburgh |
Pittsburgh |
|
Dallas @ Arizona |
Dallas |
Dallas |
Dallas |
Dallas |
|
New York Jets @ Chicago |
Chicago |
Chicago |
Chicago |
New York Jets |
|
New England @ Buffalo |
New England |
New England |
New England |
New England |
|
Tennessee @ Kansas City |
Tennessee |
Kansas City |
Kansas City |
Tennessee |
|
Washington @ Jacksonville |
Jacksonville |
Jacksonville |
Jacksonville |
Jacksonville |
|
Detroit @ Miami |
Miami |
Miami |
Miami |
Detroit |
|
San Francisco @ St. Louis |
St. Louis |
St. Louis |
San Francisco |
St. Louis |
|
Baltimore @ Cleveland |
Baltimore |
Baltimore |
Baltimore |
Baltimore |
|
Houston @ Denver |
Houston |
Houston |
Houston |
Houston |
|
Indianapolis @ Oakland |
Indianapolis |
Indianapolis |
Indianapolis |
Indianapolis |
|
San Diego @ Cincinnati |
San Diego |
San Diego |
San Diego |
San Diego |
|
Seattle @ Tampa Bay |
Tampa Bay |
Tampa Bay |
Tampa Bay |
Tampa Bay |
|
New York Giants @ Green Bay |
New York Giants |
Green Bay |
Green Bay |
Green Bay |
|
Minnesota @Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
|
New Orleans @ Atlanta |
New Orleans |
New Orleans |
Atlanta |
Atlanta |
