31-year old OLB James Harrison wants to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award again this season and he is showing it on the field.  Harrison has played in all 7 games for the Steelers this season and he has 41 tackles, 8 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss, 4 forced fumbles and he has defensed 2 passes.  Harrison is the straw that stirs the drink for the Steelers’ D as he lives in the opposing backfield.

The Steelers’ D picked up for a lack of offense with a game winning effort.   The Steelers were winning 13-10 heading into the 4th quarter when OLB LaMarr Woodley returned a Brett Favre fumble 77 yards for a TD.  But, the Vikings’ Percy Harvin then returned a kickoff 88 yards for a TD to bring the Vikings closer to the Steelers with the score now standing at 20-17.  Brett Favre then engineered a long drive at the end of the game but then Keyaron Fox picked off a pass that went off a Vikings’ player that he returned 82 yards for a TD with only 1 minute left in the football game!  James Farrior was all over the place in this game for the Steelers as he finished with 15 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 pass defensed and he had 1 QB hit.  CB Ike Taylor also was busy finishing with 10 tackles in this game.  OLB James Harrison was also all over the place for the Steelers in this game as he finished with 7 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tackles for a loss and 3 QB hits.  The Vikings controlled the ball in this game as they had it for 36:58 and they rolled up 386 total yards on offense (89 rushing, 297 passing) but the Steelers made enough plays to win the game.

The offense didn’t do much for the Steelers yesterday.  Ben Roethlisberger was so-s0 completing 14 of 26 passes for 175 yards with 1 TD pass.  Rashard Mendenhall has solid carrying the ball 10 times for 69 yards (6.9 ypc).  Mike Wallace was the leading receiver for the Steelers in this game with 72 yards on 3 receptions (24.0 avg) with a TD grab.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 19 yards (9.5 ypc) in this game.  Santonio Holmes (2 rec, 59 yards) and Heath Miller (6 rec, 38 yards) each pitched in for the Steelers in the passing game.  The Steelers finished up with 259 total yards in this game (106 rushing, 153 passing) on offense.  The Steelers improve to 5-2 on the season.

The Minnesota Vikings (6-0) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) will get together at Heinz Field and it should be a great game to watch.  The Vikings will likely still come out running the ball against the Steelers with Adrian Peterson who shredded the Ravens’ D for 143 yards rushing last week.  That should worry the Steelers a little bit as the Ravens had a better run defense coming into last week than they did.  The Steelers are only allowing 74.5 yards rushing per game this season but that is mostly because teams are having success throwing against them this year (200.7 yards per game).  Brett Favre has been outstanding this season (109.5 QB Rating) and he will likely have success against the Steelers’ D as long as the Vikings O-Line gives him time to throw the football.  WRs Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin will likely keep the Steelers’ CBs busy deep.  On the short stuff Favre prefers to use TE Visanthe Shiancoe and Chester Taylor. 

The Vikings are allowing 248.5 yards passing per game and star CB Antoine Winfield will likely be out for this game.  Those two factors will lead the Steelers to throw the ball early and often in this game.  WRs Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Mike Wallace and TE Heath Miller will cause matchup problems for the Vikings’ D in this game.  But, the Vikings bring the heat in the passing game as they already have 21 sacks this season.  Ben Roethlisberger has been great this season but he sometimes gets careless with the football when he gets popped a couple of times in the game.  DE Jared Allen (7 1/2 sacks) is the master of the big play for the Vikings’ D so the Steelers’ #1 priority has to be to keep him away from Big Ben.  The Vikings have a big defensive line so they should be able to handle Rashard Mendenhall in the running game.

PREDICTION:  VIKINGS 27, STEELERS 24

Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace have been outstanding this season for the Steelers.  Hines Ward is having the best season of his NFL career by far this season as he has caught 41 passes for 599 yards (14.6 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  It appears that Ben Roethlisberger has finally warmed up to the idea of getting the ball to Hines Ward down the field which was a job reserved for only Santonio Holmes coming into this year.  Santonio Holmes has caught 28 passes for 438 yards (15.6 avg) with 1 TD grab this season.  He has been very solid again this season but he has not turned into a dominant receiver yet in the NFL.  Still, he is very good.  Rookie Mike Wallace jumped right past Limas Sweed on the depth chart but that’s not saying much.  Wallace has caught 18 passes for 296 yards (16.4 avg) with 1 TD grab this season.  He has the potential to move into the starting lineup down the road when it comes time for Hines Ward to hang up the cleats.  Until then though the Steelers are more than happy to have him as the #3 WR for the near future.

The Steelers beat the Browns again yesterday as it’s starting to sound like a broken record in this “rivalry”.  Ben Roethlisberger had another good game yesterday as he completed 23 of 35 passes for 417 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also lost a fumble in this game.  Rashard Mendenhall did not play too well in this game as he carried the ball 17 times for 62 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run but he also lost a fumble.  Mendenhall added 2 catches for 15 yards (7.5 avg) out of the backfield yesterday.  Willie Parker also had a rough time yesterday carrying the ball 7 times for 26 yards (3.7 ypc) and he also lost a fumble to the Browns in this game.  Hines Ward (8 rec, 150 yards), Heath Miller (5 rec, 80 yards, TD) and Santonio Holmes (5 rec, 104 yards) all had outstanding games for the Steelers yesterday.  Rookie WR Mike Wallace pitched in for the Steelers with 2 catches for 50 yards and he also had 1 carry for 21 yards.  The Steelers finished up with 543 total yards on offense (140 rushing, 403 passing) in this game as they had possession of the football for 36:46!

The defense was outstanding as usual for the Steelers yesterday as they only gave up 7 points in this game.  CB Ike Taylor (6 tackles) and DE Brett Keisel (6 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 fumble recovery) led the way for the Steelers in this game on D.  But, linebacker Lawrence Timmons was the game changer finishing with 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 tackle for a loss and a forced fumble.  The Steelers only gave up 197 total yards to the Browns in this game.

The only blip on the screen in this game for the Steelers was on special teams as they were dumb enough to kick the ball to Joshua Cribbs.  He returned a kickoff 98 yards for a TD before the light went on over the special teams coach who started to have the ball kicked away from him.  The Steelers are now 4-2 on the season as they are now tied for first place in the AFC North with the Bengals.