The Steelers would love to say that they control their playoff fate, but the reality is the defending Super Bowl champions might have to get by with a little help from their ... enemies. The Steelers are preparing for the unfathomable, with the likely possibility that they will have to pull for Tom Brady and New England to beat Houston and Carson Palmer and Cincinnati to beat the New York Jets in the final week of the NFL regular season. "Whoever we need help from, we want them to just do whatever it takes to win," cornerback Deshea Townsend said after Sunday's 23-20 victory over Baltimore. "Let Tom come in and make sure he gets his arm in motion for the first quarter and throw about five touchdowns." At 8-7, the Steelers are one of a handful of teams in contention for an AFC wild-card spot, but clinching a playoff berth will depend not only on them winning next Sunday at Miami, but also teams with a tiebreaker edge losing. "It's kind of disappointing because you put yourself in the situation where you have to rely on other people to get you in the playoffs," Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. "If we had taken care of business early in the year, we wouldn't be looking at who is losing. Now, we have to rely on that." Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Woodley is 100% right. I see no reason for the Bengals to not rest their starters if New England beats the Texans. So unless the Bengals backups can somehow beat the Jets we're going home with a sour taste in our mouth.
