Tonight sees the return of the NFL as the road to Super Bowl 50 begins and we have a mouth-watering encounter for opening night with Ben Roethlisberger's Steelers heading to Gillette Stadium to face an old foe in the form of Tom Brady and the defending champions New England.
The Steelers will look to gate-crash tonight's party at Foxboro as the Patriots unveil their fourth Super Bowl winners banner before giving the team a heroes reception as they step on to the field especially Tom Brady who has an to endure a troublesome offseason with the drama of 'Deflategate' and he more than anyone will be glad to get back to playing football. The last time the Patriots were involved in controversy was back in 2007 with 'Spygate' which seemed to ignite a spark in Bill Belichick's team and saw them finish the regular season 16-0 so who would bet against Bill and Tom pulling off one more masterclass this season just to rub further salt in to the wounds of Roger Goodell.
An undefeated season is a long way away and admittedly talking about one is crazy especially in week one plus as we know going unbeaten doesn't guarantee you a Super Bowl ring as the Pats found out back in 2007 (ask Peyton Manning too) but those demons were put to rest back in February so now its onwards and upwards. The quest for a fifth championship will be very tough especially against a Steelers team that has a powerful offense led by their two time Super Bowl winning quarterback. Big Ben and Mike Tomlin are quite the force themselves and they will have prepared their game plan very well for tonight looking to exploit a Patriots secondary that has seen Revis and Browner depart which I am sure will take a few weeks to sort out.
There are suspicions that Devin McCourty will move to corner but as the linchpin of the teams secondary at his normal position of safety taking Devin back to his old position at corner where he endured some struggles early in his career could be a risk especially as he himself has said that if he is moved to the outside that he hopes it isn't permanent. It will be interesting to see how Malcom Butler kicks on after his Super Bowl heroics especially as he will see a lot more snaps this season following the departures mentioned above.
With there being concerns regarding New England's secondary the Steelers will look to use Big Ben's rocket arm to exploit any holes downfield and he could well do so as he has arguably the most dynamic receiver in the NFL at his disposal in Antonio Brown. Brown is poised to have a fantastic year but without Martavis Bryant opposite him for the first four games of the season due to suspension as well as the fact that the brilliant Le'Veon Bell is suspended tonight as well so the Steelers’ game plan could become rather predictable.
When coming up against Bill Belichick it is very hard to spring a surprise on the Patriots head coach and considering that without Bell the Steelers will lack any real threat in the running game it will be interesting to see if Mike Tomlin has anything up his sleeve. Wide receiver Markus Wheaton will get a chance in these first four games to prove his worth to the Steelers offense without Bryant as he will step up to WR2; Roethlisberger will have to release his passes quickly which does basically sound like using a recipe for success that has worked so well for Tom Brady and the Pats over the years against themselves tonight.
That will be key to any success the Steelers have offensively tonight especially as the Patriots front 7 on defense this year looks incredible so running the ball on them will be extremely difficult as well as passing in the middle of the field as Jerod Mayo, Dont'a Hightower and Jamie Collins are three incredible linebackers who know how to get the job done. The loss of Mayo to a season ending injury last campaign appeared to be troublesome for New England at first but in fact it increased the responsibility for Collins and Hightower which sky rocketed their development with the two excelling in pressure situations which ultimately gave the defense a new identity and was truly influential in helping the Pats win the Super Bowl last season.
On the flip side of things the Steelers defense is not what it once was in terms of your typical hard defense that themselves and the Baltimore Ravens are known for over in the AFC North. The Steelers are going through a transitional stage on that side of the ball and despite the fact that Tom Brady won't have former Steeler Lagarrette Blount to hand the ball of tonight everyone knows that Brady is more than comfortable in throwing the ball 35-45 times tonight and getting the job done through the air. If anything that will suit Brady as I am sure he is so pumped up and fuelled with the fire inside to get on the field tonight to just get back to playing football and show why he is the greatest quarterback of all-time.
The 4 time winning Super Bowl QB is also without wideout Brandon LaFell but his rapport with Julian Edelman is impeccable so you can expect the two to have a great season together. Danny Amendola will look to kick on following his impressive postseason and establish himself in the offense. The most exciting sign for Patriots is Scott Chandler being paired with superstar Rob Gronkowski as this could be the new two-headed monster that the team has longed for at the tight end position. The Patriots will be incredible in the red zone tonight with these two on the field especially with Edelman and Amendola running the slants and then when Blount is back you can add a power running game in to their arsenal which will only make the red zone offense more devastating.
The Steelers will try their best to catch the Patriots off guard and may even throw in some surprise nickel and dime packages on defense but a New England win appears to be well on the cards tonight. With the red zone threat mentioned above despite the Patriots having some uncertainties in their own running game they'll be able to pass their way through the Steelers as they don't have the personnel to jam the Patriots weapons at the line and stop them. With opening nights there are usually fireworks but they are also prone for error as during the early weeks the teams get a feel for the new season with what is working and what isn't but with this old rivalry being renewed I think we can expect more fireworks than anything else with Tom Brady bringing home a victory to a crowd of happy Patriots!
Prediction: Steelers 17-27 Patriots
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| Big Ben has two wins to Brady's 5 in their head to head |
