You can tell it has been a down year for the Steelers when they are only sending two players to the Pro Bowl.  31-year old linebacker James Harrison has played in 15 games for the Steelers this season and he has made 76 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, forced 5 fumbles, defensed 2 passes and he has 10 sacks.  It was Harrison’s second awesome season in a row and it’s too bad the Steelers didn’t know what they had in him earlier in his career.  32-year old NT Casey Hampton is back in the Pro Bowl due mostly to his name recognition.  He has played in 15 games for the Steelers this season and he has made 40 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and he has 2.5 sacks.

The Steelers got another big victory despite getting outplayed once again.  The Steelers prove that it is much better to be lucky than good.  Ben Roethlisberger was so-so completing 17 of 33 passes for 259 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  Rashard Mendenhall had a awful game rushing for 36 yards on 17 carries (2.1 ypc) with 1 TD run but he also lost a fumble.  Santonio Holmes (5 rec, 86 yards, TD) and Mike Wallace (3 rec, 83 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Steelers yesterday.  The Steelers finished up with 286 total yards on offense (48 rushing, 238 passing) in this game.

LaMarr Woodley led the way on defense yesterday for the Steelers with 10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 sacks, 2 QB hits and he defensed 1 pass.  James Farrior also had a solid game with 8 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception.  Ziggy Hood and Ike Taylor each pitched in with a interception apiece in this game for the Steelers.  The Ravens finished up with 323 total yards on offense (175 rushing, 148 passing) in this game.  The Steelers are still alive for the playoffs with a 8-7 record but they need a lot of help to make it.

The Steelers really miss safety Troy Polamalu because no team is scared to pass against them without him on the field.  Polamalu has played in 5 games this season for the Steelers and he has made 20 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss, defensed 7 passes and he has 3 interceptions.  Despite the defense still having decent numbers they really miss Polamalu because they don’t have anyone outside of James Harrison who can make game changing plays on that side of the ball.

I personally think that Ben Roethlisberger is having the best season of his career in 2009.  He has played in 13 games for the Steelers this season and he has completed 302 of 446 passes (67.7%) for 3,849 yards with 22 TD passes and 11 INTs (100.6 QB Rating).  He has been sacked 43 times this season but a lot of that is just him holding the ball too long trying to make a play downfield so it’s hard to blame the O-Line for that.  He has also carried the ball 33 times for 68 yards (2.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs this year.  With Roethlisberger all things are possible so the Steelers are not out of the playoffs quite yet.

The Steelers got really lucky last week against the Packers and I think that luck will run out this Sunday.  The Steelers will likely come out of the locker room throwing the football against the Ravens.  The O-Line must protect Roethlisberger well or he will start throwing the ball to the Ravens.  The Steelers must have balance in the offense this week as throwing the ball every down won’t get it done against the Ravens.  That means that Rashard Mendenhall must have success against a Ravens’ D that is only allowing 99.5 yards rushing and 3.6 yards per carry this season.

The Steelers will likely have to stop the Ravens running game first and that will be easier said than done as Ray Rice is one of the most underrated running backs in the whole NFL.  But, the Steelers are only allowing 83.1 yards rushing per game and 3.6 yards per rush this season.  The Steelers have no choice but to blitz Joe Flacco early and often because their secondary sucks.  Look for Derrick Mason and Todd Heap to have big games on Sunday.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 21, STEELERS 20

The Steelers have placed 24-year old WR Limas Sweed on the reserve/non-football injury list due to illness which will end his season.  Sweed played in 9 games for the Steelers this season and he caught 1 pass for 5 yards and he made 1 tackle.  In his first two years in the NFL, Sweed has played in 20 games in which he has caught 7 passes for 69 yards (9.9 avg) and he has also made 3 tackles.  Sweed flat out sucks and the Steelers will be better without him.  They should just cut him after the year is over as WRs that can’t catch a football are worthless.

The Steelers have lost long snapper Greg Warren for the rest of the year.  He played in all 14 games (0 starts) for the Steelers this season.  He has now played in 69 games (0 starts) in his five years with the Steelers.  The Steelers have signed Jared Retkofsky to replace Warren as the long snapper and he has played for them before.  He should do a decent job for them the rest of the way.

The Steelers have signed 38-year old WR Joey Galloway.  Galloway played in 3 games earlier this season for the Patriots and he caught 7 passes for 67 yards (9.6 avg).  He has now played in 188 games in his NFL career and he has caught 689 passes for 10,777 yards (15.6 avg) with 77 TD grabs.  Galloway also has carried the ball 63 times for 496 yards (7.9 avg) with 1 TD run in his career.  The Steelers will likely use Galloway as the #4 WR the rest of the season.  I really like this signing for the Steelers because if Galloway has anything left at all he will help them the last couple of weeks and in the playoffs if they are lucky enough to make them.

The Steelers pulled out a improbable win because of Ben Roethlisberger who hit rookie WR Mike Wallace with a 19 yard TD pass on the last play of the game!  It was a very interesting game as Roethlisberger opened the game on the first offensive play with a 60 yard bomb to rookie WR Mike Wallace for a TD and his only other catch of the day was on the final play of the game.  Ben Roethlisberger completed 29 of 46 passes for 503 yards with 3 TD passes and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 1 time for 7 yards.  Rashard Mendenhall pitched in with 38 yards rushing on 11 carries (3.5 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 6 passes for 73 yards (12.2 avg.).  Hines Ward (7 rec, 126 yards) and Heath Miller (7 rec, 118 yards) led the way for the Steelers through the air.  Santonio Holmes (3 rec, 77 yards) and Mewelde Moore (3 rec, 25 yards, TD) also pitched in for the Steelers in the passing game yesterday.  The Steelers finished up with 537 total yards on offense (65 rushing, 472 passing) in this game.

The defense was awful for the Steelers yesterday.  CB William Gay led the Steelers with 6 tackles but he probably missed just as many and he was get burnt quite often in the passing game.  Casey Hampton pitched in with 5 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1/2 a sack and 1 QB hit.  The Packers finished up with 436 total yards on offense despite only having the ball for 24:38 as the Steelers’ D sucked yesterday.  The Steelers are now 7-7 and they kept their playoffs hopes alive with this amazing victory.

This is not the kind of team the Steelers want to play right now as the Packers have won five games in a row while the Steelers have lost five games in a row including games to the Browns, Chiefs and Raiders.  The Steelers will have to protect Ben Roethlisberger to have any chance of winning this game.  That is because the Packers have 29 sacks this season and they also have a excellent secondary who will make Big Ben pay if he tries to force the ball to Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes or Mike Wallace.  The Packers already have 23 interceptions this season.  The Steelers will have to throw the ball because yards will likely be hard to come by on the ground as the Packers are allowing only 85.0 yards rushing and 3.6 yards per carry this year.

On defense the Steelers must get to Aaron Rodgers or he will pick them apart.  He is 9-0 this season in games in which he has been sacked less than six times in a game.  Rodgers does a great job of spreading the ball around so the Steelers will likely pay if they double either Greg Jennings or Donald Driver.  Rodgers also likes throwing to his TEs (Donald Lee and Jermichael Finley) a lot which will test the coverage of the safeties.  The Steelers can also expect Ryan Grant to be coming at them on the ground due to the easy time the Browns had running the ball against them last week.  It’s do or die time for the Steelers tomorrow and it doesn’t look too good for them.

PREDICTION:  PACKERS 27, STEELERS 17