Sunday, January 11, 2009

San Diego Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers

This should be the 2nd best game of the weekend.

This is a rematch of the Week game that produced the only 11-10 game in NFL history

The hot Chargers have won 5 in a row, including last week's OT win over The Colts in San Diego. The Chargers now have to travel to Pittsburgh where I'm sure it will be cold and windy.

Pittsburgh, looking for its first playoff win since its Super Bowl XL victory over the Seattle Seahawks is led by their #1 ranked defense--#1 against the pass and #2 against the run.

Key for San Diego: With LaDainian Tomlinson likely out with a groin injury, Darren Sproles needs to come close to matching his 328 all-purpose yards, including 105 rushing yards, that he had against the Colts. I don't see him replicating those numbers against the Steeler's stout D.

Key for Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh's ability to protect Roethlisberger, who had been sacked 40 something times this year and given up many interceptions/fumbles as a result of being blitzed. Protection will give Big Ben the ability to exploit San Diego's horrible secondary. I am not too confident in the ability of Willie Parker and Melwelde Moore to beat the 11th ranked San Diego Run D. They would then need to score a lot of points off of turnovers.

Pick

Pittsburgh: 17
San Diego: 10

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