The Steelers need this game and a ton of help to make the playoffs but the Dolphins are in the same boat so this will be a fight tomorrow in Miami.  The Steelers should be able to move the ball both on the ground and in the air against the Dolphins but they can’t afford to turn the ball over.  With that in mind the Steelers should try to run a balanced offense because if they get into a throw it every down mode they will have to keep OLBs Joey Porter and Jason Taylor away from Ben Roethlisberger.  Because when he gets hit a few times he tends to make mistakes with the football.  To help protect him they should make sure that they give the ball to Rashard Mendenhall at least 20 times tomorrow.

The Steelers’ D has been pretty awful lately and the Dolphins could give them some problems.  Even though that Ricky Williams is dinged up he will likely give it a go against a suddenly soft Steelers’ run D.  Chad Henne is pretty good at spreading around the ball in the passing game so the Steelers need to get after him with the pass rush.  If he has time to throw the ball he will likely torch the corners of the Steelers who have a total of ZERO interceptions this season.

PREDICTION:  STEELERS 21, DOLPHINS 20

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

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

The Steelers have owned the Browns lately as they are 19-3 against them since they returned to the league in 1999.  But, the Steelers are playing bad enough that the Browns will likely give them a challenge tonight.  After all, they did make Bruce Gradkowski look great last week and Brady Quinn is a better QB than he is.  With Hines Ward iffy for tonight’s game and the weather expected to be nasty look for the Steelers to come out running tonight.  Rashard Mendenhall should have a outstanding game tonight against the Browns who are allowing 154.2 yards rushing per game and 4.5 yards per carry.  If he gets tired then Willie Parker should get in on the action.  In the passing game look for the Steelers to keep it short with TE Heath Miller getting most of the action.

The Steelers must stop the Browns’ running game and that shouldn’t be too hard as the Browns are averaging 98.9 yards rushing and 3.7 yards per carry so far this season.  If the Steelers stop the running game it will put the Browns in long passing downs which will benefit the CBs and safeties.  The Steelers will be blitzing all night long to see if Brady Quinn can handle the heat or not.  The Steelers also have to kick the ball away from Josh Cribbs or this game will be a lot closer than most experts think it will be.

PREDICTION:  STEELERS 17, BROWNS 14

Ben Roethlisberger is back for the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) this week on the road against the Oakland Raiders (3-8).  The Steelers really need to win this game and they shouldn’t have a problem doing that, especially since Big Ben is back.  Ben should do most of his work handing the ball off though, as the Raiders give up 161 rushing yards per game.  Rashard Mendenhall should be able to carry the load for the Steelers offense and I expect a big game out of him.

The Steelers defense has not been playing very well at the end of games, but hopefully for the Steelers’ sake they can build a big enough lead that it wont matter.  Bruce Gradkowski is the starting quarterback for the Raiders and he has a 66.3 QB rating this season so the Steelers defense should be able to contain him and the Raiders pathetic passing game.  Justin Fargas is the running back, and I think the Steelers stellar run-defense will shut him down.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Pittsburgh Steelers 28, Oakland Raiders 7