W2W4: Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Jets

behindthesteelcurtain

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

October 13^th, 2013

W2W4: Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Jets

The New York Jets will be back home on Sunday afternoon after a great win on Monday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons to host the (0-4) Pittsburgh Steelers, who are coming off a bye week from their loss in London England against the Minnesota Vikings.

- Barnes to IR

In the win against the Falcons the Jets did suffer a pretty big loss in the fourth quarter, as Linebacker Antwan Barnes had his knee buckle while rushing Matt Ryan, and will be out for the rest of the season. Barnes has played in 41% of the Jets snaps this year, as they have been using him as a pass rush specialist, and he was producing quite well in the role, with two sacks, and a team-leading 12 hits on the Quarterback. To replace Barnes the Jets resigned Linebacker Ricky Sapp, who was waived by the team on Saturday.

- Steeler Domination

In the match-up history between the the Jets and the Steelers it has been completely one-sided in favor of the Steelers. All-time the Steelers are a remarkable 18-4 against the Jets with two post season victories, most recently in the AFC Championship game of 2010. this season however the Steelers look old and just simply not good, as their once feared defense hasn’t forced a turnover, and only has four sacks. The Steelers however do have two weeks to prepare for the Jets and their rookie Quarterback Geno Smith, so the Jets need to be aware of some cleverly designed zone blitz's from one of the greatest defensive minds in football in Dick Lebeau.

- Suspended Winslow

Jets Tight End Kellen Winslow will be out on Sunday's game due to being suspend for four games by the NFL for violating the performance enhancing drugs rules. It will certainly be a big loss for Smith and the offense, as Winslow was having a good season, leading the team in catches with 17. What it means for the Jets is that they will need Jeff Cumberland to really step up into the starting role, which is something that he looked capable of doing during Monday nights win, but the loss of Winslow will certainly hurt the Jets offense for the next four games.

- Cro A Go

The good news for the Jets coming on Saturday is that they expect Cornerback Antonio Cromartie to be playing on Sunday. Cromartie injured his knee on Thursday during practice in a non-contact injury, which usually means bad things for a player, but Cromartie seems to have avoided anything major and it is being called a hyper extended knee. The Steelers offense with Ben Roethlisberger has become pretty prolific through the air so having Cromartie on the field will be a welcomed sight for the Jets coaching staff.