Week 2

New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Time: 4:25

TV: CBS

Site: Heinz Field

Last Meeting: 1/23/11, W 24 – 19

New York Jets on Aerys: The Green Room

The Steelers look to earn their first win in their home debut as they take on the New York Jets. Injuries continue to plague the Steelers, as James Harrison and Troy Polamalu are listed as questionable for the game. The bright side? The Steelers will get back Ryan Clark, who did not play in Denver, as well as Ramon Foster and Marcus Gilbert, who had early exits in Sunday night’s loss in Denver. The New York Jets will also be without Darrelle Revis, who is out with a mild concussion.

Keys to the Game: Offense

For the most part, I liked what I saw from the Steelers’ offense last week. Granted, I did miss most of the fourth quarter, but there’s a lot of potential there. The main problem is that the offense fell into the old habit of settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. As the game illustrated last week, you can hold onto the ball all you want, give your defense all kinds of time to rest, but it doesn’t do much when you only put 3 points on the board instead of 7. The Steelers have to score touchdowns this week.

As an outspoken Heath Miller fangirl, I loved how much he was included on offense. Towards the end of last season, Ben Roethlisberger didn’t go to the tight ends very much, and the offense stalled. Coincidence? I think not. Todd Haley wants to use Miller more and I wholeheartedly support this plan. C’mon Ben. You have plenty of receiving weapons. Use them.

The rushing game needs a little work, but I loved that Haley was committed to the running game last week. The patchwork offensive line did no favors to the running game, but you play with the team you have, not the team you want. Jonathan Dwyer expects to get more carries, and I look forward to see if he can get more yards on the ground.

Keys to the Game: Defense

It’s simple. Play Pittsburgh Steelers Defense. Tackle early, tackle often, and cause general havoc. Outside of Larry Foote, the defense took week 1 off last week. They gave Peyton Manning all kinds of time to make plays, and gave up big plays of touchdowns. I don’t care who you’re playing, if you give any offense those kinds of opportunities, they’ll make you pay for it.

Basically they should not let Mark Sanchez look like Peyton Manning.

LaMarr Woodley talked the tough talk on the interwebz this week, declaring that the Steelers would not go 0-2. That’s fine and dandy, LaMarr, and I support this plan, but you need to show up this week. Sacks, fumbles, interceptions, safeties, tackles for a loss, all of the above. I don’t really care. Pick one or two and get your friends to do the rest, LaMarr.