Finally, the lulling preseason games are over and the grueling regular season can get underway for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Saying that the Steelers' schedule is difficult this season is like saying water is wet. It's a no brainer to determine that it will be a challenging year. However, they have the opportunity to start off right on Sunday when they take on what you could call an "easier" team than what the rest of the season's opposition is proposing.
Pittsburgh will take on the Houston Texans for the third time in history. Each team claiming a victory on the road. Hopefully the pattern does not stand true for Sunday's game to start at 1 p.m. at Heinz Field. Pittsburgh has yet to lose a home opener since 2000.
Most of the Steelers are finally healthy and in shape for the game. Concerns of Larry Foote have been dismissed as Tomlin has expressed his confidence in his return against the Texans. The greatly missed Troy Polamalu will be back in the lineup to help contribute to the defense. And we are all praying to the sweet Lord above that rookie Rashard Mendenhall's mental stability has recovered after fumbling the football three times in two games.
To add to the line up, C Justin Hartwig finally stole the spotlight from Sean Mahan as Mahan was shipped off to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With Mahan off the roster, the Steelers were able to aquire tight end Sean McHugh from the Detroit Lions.
Under the official title as captain, Big Ben Roethlisberger will look to lead his team to another AFC North Championship. Despite falling short of a strong playoff rally last season, Roethlisberger threw impressive numbers during the season, proving that he is much more of a threat in the air than some may have predicted. Last season alone he threw 32 touchdowns and a total of 3,154 yards. He also managed to cut his interceptions in half from 23 in 2006 to 11 in 2007. Add all of those numbers up and you get an impressive 104.1 quaterback rating, falling just under Tom Brady.
You can also expect to see a lot more out of second year linebackers LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons this season. The biggest hole that has most likely left the most question marks is whether or not the shoes of guard Alan Faneca can be filled. Chris Kemoeatu is most likely to be the one to come closest to taking on the challenge.
With the second half of the 2007 season proving to be less than subpar, the Steelers have a chance to start off the 2008 season with a clean slate and with a solid victory over the Texans. Game time is set to kick-off at 1 p.m. We can only hope Jeff Reed won't be the only point scorer for this game.
Closure.
8 years ago
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