Steelers hope to break Philly jinx
MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT
Steelers 20, Eagles 14
Oct. 24, 1965 at Franklin Field, Philadelphia
After quarterback Bill Nelson got hurt in the 1965 preseason, Steelers Coach Buddy Parker called the Philadelphia Eagles and offered young defensive lineman Ben McGee for veteran quarterback King Hill. But young Dan Rooney, the newly installed first lieutenant under his father, Art Rooney, nixed the deal. Parker insisted, and when he didn’t get his way he resigned. So young Rooney promoted assistant coach Mike Nixon to the head job two weeks before the start of the season. It didn’t seem like it at the time, or during the entire 2-12 1965 season, but the Steelers were on their way to turning it around. The win at Philadelphia — the last time the Steelers won there — was accomplished with Nelson completing 6 of 16 passes for 79 yards. The star was safety Jim Bradshaw, who intercepted three passes and returned one 82 yards for a touchdown. Eagles quarterbacks Hill and Jack Concannon combined to throw four interceptions that day.
TALE OF THE TAPE
“The wide-9 defense Jim Schwartz runs in Philly has those party-crashing defensive ends who get up the field out of a track stance pointing right at the tackles. Those ends, Connor Barwin and Brandon Graham, will head up an eight, nine-man rotation up front. They keep fresh hound dogs up front and keep coming after you. It gets tough because they’re two-deep at every spot up front and that creates a situation where the O-linemen need to know all of the tendencies and techniques. They run five big ones — defensive linemen — across the board, so it’s man-on-man blocking and it’s a WWE battle royale. The best way to beat it is to trap it, run screens and run play-action. But before you can do any of that you have to run the ball and that is going to be a job.” — Steelers Radio analyst Craig Wolfley.
TOP QUESTION
Can the Steelers break the Philadelphia jinx?
The Steelers are 0-1 at the new Lincoln Financial Field with the lone loss coming in the brutal nine-sack knockout by the Eagles in 2008. Before that, the Steelers were 0-3 at Veterans Stadium, 3-8-1 at Franklin Field, 3-12 at Shibe Park and 0-1-1 at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium. The Steelers have to go all the way back to the Baker Bowl to find a Philadelphia field at which they won more than they lost. The Steelers were 2-1 there from 1933 to 1935. A win today would not only break an 8-game and 51-year losing streak in Philadelphia, it would give the Steelers a .500 record at a football field in Philly, which has not been an easy feat.
GAME BREAKDOWN
What to look for from the Steelers this afternoon (4:25 p.m.) at Philadelphia:
On Offense: Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley echoed the sentiment that the Steelers must find a way to run on the Eagles’ rotationally fresh front four (and five), “starting with Fletcher Cox on the inside,” Haley said. To that end, the Steelers have the NFL’s leading rusher, DeAngelo Williams, but they’re unlikely to forget they have the AFC’s No. 1 receiver against the NFC in games since 2010, when Antonio Brown entered the league. Brown is coming off a 4-for-39 performance against Cincinnati, which was the least productive game for Brown with Ben Roethlisberger in four years. Last year, after Brown was held to a 6-for-47 performance with Roethlisberger by Cincinnati, Brown responded the following week with a team-record 17-for-284 performance against Oakland. This week, with Markus Wheaton returning at less than 100 percent, expect Brown and Roethlisberger to find rookie Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills — starting again for the injured Leodis McKelvin — early and often.
On Defense: Dick LeBeau had his Steelers defenses feasting on rookie quarterbacks during his tenure as defensive coordinator, but last season first-year coordinator Keith Butler didn’t have the opportunity. Today he does, but Carson Wentz, the second pick of the draft, hasn’t been playing like the usual rookie. He’s the first rookie quarterback in 45 years to start and win his team’s first two games without throwing an interception. And he’s doing it in a way that has hurt the Steelers over the years: by throwing to backs and tight ends and throwing “heavy in the misdirection passing game,” according to Mike Tomlin. However, the Eagles’ top receiving tight end last year, Zach Ertz, will miss the game with a rib injury. The top receiving threat out of the Eagles backfield is speedy Darren Sproles, who’ll be met by the equally speedy Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier.
PREDICTION
The Steelers don’t win in Philadelphia, and they don’t — like so many other teams — win under the following scenario: follow a win on Monday night with a win the following week and then a road game. The Steelers are 0-3 under Tomlin when asked to win on the road after two such games. Of course, the Steelers have Roethlisberger and an angry and determined Brown going up against a rookie cornerback, as well as a maturing defense going up against a rookie quarterback. So let’s lean on the latter points, but be wary of the lousy site and situation and keep the prediction tight. Steelers, 23-20.