Seattle TE Jerramy Stevens vs Polamalu. If JS occupies TP efficiently enough then things open up for the Seahawks WR's who are better than the Steelers CB's. In turn, this will open up Seattle's running game. Mack Strong and the OL can keep the Steelers front 7 in check. Further, The height advantage Jurevicius & J Stevens have will be key in the red zone.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (blackadder)</div><div class='quotemain'>Seattle TE Jerramy Stevens vs Polamalu. If JS occupies TP efficiently enough then things open up for the Seahawks WR's who are better than the Steelers CB's. In turn, this will open up Seattle's running game. Mack Strong and the OL can keep the Steelers front 7 in check. Further, The height advantage Jurevicius & J Stevens have will be key in the red zone.</div> Polamalu is all over the place...and the WR of the Seahawks are battered and bruised...with the way the LBs preform its gonna be a rough day for the short passes and the running game...Chris Hope is very overlooked but he is very quick to the ball...Townsend has very good field vision...Ike Taylor and McFadden shut down the best WRs in the business (Harrison and Wayne)...Jurevicius and Stevens will have advantage in the red zone but with the LBs ability to play deep and be quick to the run will help deal with the height advantage...
The only team to effectively shut down Alexander all season has been the Redskins. They've proven they can win w/o him. The same can't be said for the Steelers IMO. In their favor(epecially Willie Parker) however is the fast track at Ford Field. Neither team is particularly good at playing from behind IMO, so time of possesion will be key.
Actually Shaun was held in check by Dallas & Jacksonville. Both are 3-4 defenses. Something that people tend to ignore....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bakes781)</div><div class='quotemain'>The only team to effectively shut down Alexander all season has been the Redskins. They've proven they can win w/o him. The same can't be said for the Steelers IMO. In their favor(epecially Willie Parker) however is the fast track at Ford Field. Neither team is particularly good at playing from behind IMO, so time of possesion will be key.</div> he had the easiest teams to run on as well...of course he's gonna be able to run well on houston, SF, atlanta, arizona, and an Indy team resting its starters...all the teams that should have stopped him did just that...Dallas held him to 61...Wash held him to 93...and it took him 30 carries just to get 110 against NY:G...oh yeah Philly held him to 49...they had undeniably the easiest schedule...My MVP vote went to Larry Johnson...one of the hardest schedules with splitting carries most of the season and he still almost caught Alexander...I think Al Micheals said it best "had the season been three more weeks he would have caught him".
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cowher&Frown Co.)</div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bakes781)</div><div class='quotemain'>The only team to effectively shut down Alexander all season has been the Redskins. They've proven they can win w/o him. The same can't be said for the Steelers IMO. In their favor(epecially Willie Parker) however is the fast track at Ford Field. Neither team is particularly good at playing from behind IMO, so time of possesion will be key.</div> he had the easiest teams to run on as well...of course he's gonna be able to run well on houston, SF, atlanta, arizona, and an Indy team resting its starters...all the teams that should have stopped him did just that...Dallas held him to 61...Wash held him to 93...and it took him 30 carries just to get 110 against NY:G...oh yeah Philly held him to 49...they had undeniably the easiest schedule...My MVP vote went to Larry Johnson...one of the hardest schedules with splitting carries most of the season and he still almost caught Alexander...I think Al Micheals said it best "had the season been three more weeks he would have caught him".</div> Bringing up the fact that Alexander only ran for 49 yards against Philly is rediculous. Thats a game the Seahawks won 42-0 and Shaun had 0 carries in the second half because Holmgren was just trying to protect his stars from injury. I also hate hearing about how much trouble the Seahawks had against Dallas. It's true that they struggled, but neither Darryl Jackson or Bobby Engram played in that game because of injury and as a result the Cowboys played 8 and 9 guys in the box and pressed the Hawks backup recievers. The Steelers won't be able to use that kind of game plan against the Hawks on Sunday. Finally even if you ignore the above two facts, Seattle was 3-1 in the four games you mentioned so stoping Alexander is not the key to beating the Seahawks. Seattle doesn't use Alexanders running game to open up the pass, it's the other way around. They come out passing and force the other team into cover 2 type defenses and then go to the run.
