Alot is said about the amount of pressure both these teams put on the QB. The Steelers have 42 sacks so far this year, one for every 10.05 pass attemepts, and the Cowboys have 40, one for every 9.85 pass attempts. Alot of that attention is probobly due to both defence's having MVP caliber pass rushers in Ware and Harrison, as well as dangerous "sidekicks" like Woodley, Timmons, Ellis and Ratliff. But to me the matchups on both sides that will determine the outcome of this game occure more in coverage than pressure. Here are the two I think will settle it. Anthony Henry on Santonio Holmes Henry is a physical CB who never really had great speed, and he is deteriorating fast. Players like Holmes have given him trouble in the past and its only gotten worse this year. If they are matched up most of the game I expect either some big play's from Holmes, or about 8-10 12 to 15 yard catches (With Henry giving a 7 yard cushion). The X Factor in this matchup is Pac Man, who is expected to play in the Nickle. He has been by far our most effective CB with a YPA under 6. How much he play's is key Jason Garrett's use of Witten Everytime Dallas play's a team with a great Safety, there fans say "We will just put X player on Witten and we'll be fine" it doesnt work that way with Garretts offense, which is geared to create mismatch's. Against 3-4 teams, Garrett likes to get Witten matched up on the ILB, and he has been successful. With Wittens downfield ability, those matchups can mean 25-30 yard gains. Lebeau is one of the best DC's in the game, and right now is probably the Top Dog 3-4 DC out there, so if anyone can keep Polomalu matched up on Witten its him, but at the same time that will move Troy around alot and leave other area's vulnerable. To me this is the key matchup the Steelers defence has Thoughts????
Its going to come down to which defense plays better and both are good defenses. I think if barber doesent play its going to be a huge hit to the dallas offense and the steelers will have the edge. If the dallas D can get to big ben with no problem then they will win. I think thats what is going to hurt the steelers in the long run in the playoffs when they play the better defensive lines.
Barber is a blow, but Choice is a very good backup. Pretty much a Barber clone. Running comes down to the line, if we cant run well with Choice, I really dont think we would have run well with Barber
Lawrence Timmons was drafted 2 yrs ago primarly for this matchup , Timmons has the ability to match up with most any TE ,RBs and WRs in the game because of his speed and physicality . I look for him and Troy to take turns on Whitten . Troys main matchup will be TO just like in 2004 effectively taking him out of the game .
The one thing I think you overlook and that could be a huge factor is the way the Steelers will use Heath Miller.
Trust me, I know how much trouble we have had with TE's :icon_sad: Its just not as bad a matchup as Holmes/Henry would be
Witten will have a 100 yard game if he is matched up with Timmons. You just cannot put a LB on him, its like putting a LB on a WR. The teams that have had the most success against Witten put CB's on him
Choice has to come into the game and be perfect, thats alot to need from a rookie his blitz pickup recognization has to be amazing or it will be a long day
From what I hear, Pittsburgh has been using mostly 4 man rush's this year, so they havent really been using "blitz's". That could change with a rookie HB, but that could work in our favor. The last 4 man rush defense that blitzed us alot was Chicago last year
he missed at least two important blitz pickups last week, lucky Romo felt the pressure and scrambled thats the only issue ive got with Tashard
He was considered a good blocker coming out of GT, so hopefully thats something they worked on this week
