Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Atlanta Falcons: Complete Week 15 Preview for Pittsburgh
One down, three to go for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers will win the AFC North with victories in their last four games. They won the first, and next up is Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
The Falcons (5-8) can win their division too, but it won't take a winning record to take the NFC South.
It also hasn't taken a winning record to beat the Steelers (8-5) this season. Three of the Steelers' losses have come against teams with a combined 9-30 record. That includes their 35-32 loss at home to the New Orleans Saints two weeks ago. The Saints (5-8) are tied with the Falcons for first place in the NFC South.
After Sunday's 42-21 scalding of the Bengals in Cincinnati, the Steelers figure to be ripe for a letdown.
They have struggled against teams with losing records, but the Falcons aren't just any team with a losing record. They trailed 31-7 at halftime Monday night at Lambeau Field but kept fighting before finally going down 43-37.
Now the Steelers' white-knuckle secondary has to deal with the league's No. 8 offense, which is led by Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, if he's healthy.
Despite the records, a Steelers loss wouldn't be as surprising as a respectable showing by their defense.
As powerful as the Falcons offense is, however, the Steelers offense also will have some say in how this game turns out.
The Steelers are ranked second in the NFL with 427 yards per game. Only the Colts have produced more. The Steelers also are second only to the Colts with 303 passing yards per game.
Rather than try to figure out how to stop losing to inferior teams, the Steelers just need to outshine the Falcons on offense.
Week 14 Recap
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The jungle motif that encircles the field at Paul Brown Stadium has become almost as welcoming for the Steelers as the steel pattern at Heinz Field.
The Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 42-21 Sunday to improve to 10-2 at Cincinnati during the Ben Roethlisberger era.
With the win, the Steelers (8-5) remain in control of the AFC North. They are a half-game behind the first-place Bengals (8-4-1) but will win the division if they win their last three games.
Pittsburgh put on a 25-point pyrotechnic display in the fourth quarter to overcome a 21-17 deficit. It's the most they've scored in the fourth quarter since they scored 28 in a 45-24 win over the Jets in 1986, according to Pro Football Reference.
The Steelers also became the first team to score at least 22 points in a quarter four times in the same season, according to Andrew Siciliano of the NFL Network:
"Steelers scored 25 points in 4th quarter Week 14, the first team in @nfl history to score 22+ points in a quarter 4 times in one season.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) December 11, 2014"
It was the third time this season the Steelers scored 40 or more points, which is a franchise record.
The 1995 Steelers hit that mark twice in the regular season and once in the playoffs. In one of those games, they won 49-31 at Cincinnati. Neil O'Donnell threw for 377 yards in that game. No Steelers quarterback threw for 300 yards at Cincinnati since then until Roethlisberger threw for 350 on Sunday.
He threw touchdown passes to Heath Miller, Le'Veon Bell and a 94-yarder to Martavis Bryant that widened the Steelers' lead to 35-21 in the fourth quarter.
Bryant became the fourth player in NFL history to score seven touchdowns in his first seven games, according to Jon Zimmer of NFL.com:
". @Steelers' Martavis Bryant is 4th player in @NFL history with 7+ TD catches in 1st 7 career games
— Jon Zimmer (@NFLhistory) December 7, 2014"
Bell ran for 185 yards and two touchdowns and caught six passes for 50 yards. He joined Walter Payton as the only players in NFL history to gain more than 200 yards from scrimmage in three straight games, according to Dale Lolley of the Observer-Reporter of Washington, Pennsylvania:
"Bell and Walter Payton are only two players in #NFL history to have three consecutive games with 200-plus total yards #Steelers
— Dale Lolley (@dlolleyor) December 7, 2014"
There were no such milestones for the Steelers defense. A.J. Green caught 11 passes for 224 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown that gave the Bengals a 21-17 lead. Andy Dalton made the Steelers defense look like it was playing in a Sunday-morning hangover league by running 20 yards for a touchdown; it was the longest touchdown run ever by a Bengals quarterback, according to Bengals.com.
The Steelers offense will have to keep producing at a dizzying pace to get past the high-flying Falcons on Sunday.
News and Notes
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Jones' Status Up in the Air
Falcons receiver Julio Jones injured his hip Monday night at Green Bay and will be a game-time decision, according to NFL.com.
Jones, who leads the league with 1,428 receiving yards, would be a matchup nightmare for the leaky Steelers defense. But he hasn't practiced all week and is listed as questionable.
The 6'3", 220-pounder has turned in two straight career games. In Week 13, he caught 10 passes for a career-high 189 yards as the Falcons defeated the Arizona Cardinals 29-18. On Monday night, he surpassed his career high again with 259 receiving yards on 11 catches in the Falcons' 43-37 loss at Green Bay.
Jones' 259 receiving yards were the most in the league this season in a single game.
Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau says he expects to see Jones on the field Sunday. "They're in the same situation we are in which every game is critical. He'll be there if he possibly can," LeBeau told Ralph Paulk of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Bell Earns Honor
Le'Veon Bell was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career, according to Pro Football Talk.
He ran for 185 yards on 26 carries in Sunday's 42-21 win at Cincinnati. He also caught six passes for 50 yards to go over 200 total yards for the third straight week.
The second-year running back is second in the NFL to the Cowboys' DeMarco Murray with 1,231 rushing yards and second to the Bears' Matt Forte among running backs with 71 receptions.
Bell, Brown Are Top Steelers Pro Bowl Vote-Getter
Bell is sixth, and Brown is seventh on the list of overall Pro Bowl vote-getters, according to NFL.com.
Bell had 518,872 votes through 4 p.m. Wednesday, and Brown had 491,301.
Bell is second to the Cowboys' DeMarco Murray in votes among running backs. Brown is the leading receiver, and Ben Roethlisberger is fifth among quarterbacks.
Maurkice Pouncey is the No. 2 center behind the Cowboys' Travis Frederick.
David DeCastro and Lawrence Timmons are seeking their first Pro Bowl honor. DeCastro is ninth on the list of guards, and Timmons is the No. 4 inside linebacker.
The Pro Bowl will be nonconferenced for the second year in a row, so the voting encompasses the entire NFL.
Steelers in No Mood to Rest
Even though head coach Mike Tomlin gave his players the day off on Monday, about 50 of them still came to work to lift and watch film, according to Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network:
"Mike Tomlin gave his players day off. Roughly 50 still showed up to lift, watch film. LT Kelvin Beachum: "There's no time to take days off."
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) December 8, 2014"
Maurkice Pouncey, Shamarko Thomas and backup offensive lineman Cody Wallace were among the players to show up, according to Steelers.com. As soon as Tomlin announced the off day in the locker room after Sunday's win at Cincinnati, some of the veteran players immediately spoke up and suggested it would be a good idea to come in anyway.
Steelers Significantly Improve Playoff Chances
The Steelers' win over the Bengals increased their chances of making the playoffs from 32 percent to 58.7 percent, according to MakeNFLPlayoffs.com.
That's the fifth-best chance of any team in the AFC, which is fitting since the Steelers currently occupy the No. 5 playoff seed in the conference.
Falcons on Short Week
This is the second time in three weeks the Steelers face an NFC South team that's coming off a Monday night road game. It didn't do the Steelers much good against the Saints, who beat them 35-32 at Heinz Field six days after falling at home to the Baltimore Ravens.
Roethlisberger Seeks First Win Over Falcons
The Falcons are the only opposing team in the NFL that Roethlisberger hasn't beaten, according to Pro Football Reference.
The Steelers are 12-2-1 all-time against the Falcons. That ties their best winning percentage (.833) against opponents that still exist in the NFL. They're 5-1 all-time against the Panthers.
That nugget actually doesn't bode well for the Steelers. They had gone .888 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before dropping to 8-2 with their loss in Week 4.
Despite the Steelers' historical success against them, the Falcons have antagonized them in their most recent meetings. The last three games between them have gone to overtime. Each team has won once, and the other was a tie.
The Steelers defeated the Falcons 15-9 at Pittsburgh in their 2010 season opener. Rashard Mendenhall ran for a 50-yard touchdown in overtime. Roethlisberger didn't play in that game because he was serving a four-game suspension.
In 2006, the Falcons defeated the Steelers 34-31 in overtime. Charlie Batch replaced Roethlisberger in that game after he suffered a concussion. The Steelers were in field-goal range at the end of regulation, but a false-start penalty forced a 10-second runoff, and they didn't have time to attempt the field goal. The Steelers finished 8-8 that year and would have made the playoffs with one more win.
Tommy Maddox led the Steelers to a 34-17 fourth-quarter lead over the Falcons at Pittsburgh in 2002. But Michael Vick led Atlanta back and forced overtime. No one scored in OT, and the teams settled for a 34-34 tie. The Steelers finished 10-5-1 that year and would have had home-field advantage throughout the playoffs had they beaten the Falcons. Instead, they lost at Tennessee in overtime in the AFC divisional playoffs.
Injury Report
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| Player | Position | Injury Status (through Fri) |
| William Gay | CB | Probable (quadricep) |
| Marcus Gilbert | OT | Probable (ankle) |
| James Harrison | LB | Questionable (knee) |
| Maurkice Pouncey | C | Probable (ankle) |
| Ike Taylor | CB | Doubtful (shoulder, forearm) |
The Steelers probably won't have to worry about Ike Taylor getting burned again. He hasn't practiced all week. William Gay, meanwhile, returned to full practice Thursday and Friday after not practicing Wednesday.
According to Jim Wexell of Steel City Insider, Taylor won't play Sunday but James Harrison will.
"Ike Taylor doubtful but he wont play. James Harrison questionable and I expect him to play.
— James C Wexell (@jimwexell) December 12, 2014"
Right tackle Marcus Gilbert is expected back after missing two games with a knee injury. He took part in full practices all week.
Outside linebacker Jarvis Jones and nose tackle Steve McLendon returned to action on Sunday and came out of the game healthy, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Jones missed 10 games with a dislocated wrist, and McLendon missed two games with a shoulder injury.
Steelers.com was used for injury report information.
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X-Factor and Matchups to Watch
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William Gay vs. Julio Jones
Julio Jones and Ike Taylor both are banged up, and it's unclear if either will play Sunday.
The Falcons need Jones more than the Steelers need Taylor at this point, so don't be surprised if Jones is on the field Sunday.
Even if Jones and Taylor both play, it would behoove the Steelers to put William Gay on Jones and not Taylor. The 34-year-old Taylor allowed A.J. Green to catch eight passes on nine targets last week, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Green had 11 catches in the game.
Gay has graded out as the Steelers' best defensive back this season, although that's not much of an accomplishment. The Steelers are tied for 24th in the league with eight interceptions. Gay has two of them, and he's returned both for touchdowns.
Jones leads the NFL with 1,428 receiving yards and is second to Antonio Brown with 93 catches. Before he recorded a career-high and NFL season-high 259 receiving yards on Monday night, his previous career high came the week before against the Arizona Cardinals. He caught 10 balls for 189 yards in the Falcons' 29-18 home win. Jones burned Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson with eight catches on eight targets for 171 yards and a touchdown.
The Browns' Joe Haden held Jones to two catches on seven passes thrown into his coverage in Week 12. He also intercepted a pass intended for Jones in the Browns' 26-24 win at Atlanta.
Gay is no Haden, however, and neither is Brice McCain nor Antwon Blake.
Antonio Brown vs. Desmond Trufant
Not only is this expected to be a high-scoring game, but the race for the NFL lead in receiving yards will play out on the Georgia Dome fast track.
Brown is second in the league with 1,375 receiving yards. Jones has 1,428. Brown figures to face a stiffer challenge from Desmond Trufant than Jones does from the Steelers cornerbacks.
The Falcons' first-round draft pick (No. 22 overall) in 2013, Trufant is the fifth-ranked cornerback in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. He held the Browns' Josh Gordon to three catches on eight passes thrown his way in Week 12 and intercepted one of them.
Brown and Jones also are the NFL's top two players in receptions. Brown leads that category with 105. Jones has 93. The Colts' Vontae Davis is the only cornerback ranked ahead of Trufant who the Steelers have faced this season. But Davis was injured early in that Week 8 game at Pittsburgh and didn't cover Brown.
As long as Trufant stays healthy, he'll theoretically be the best cornerback to cover Brown this season. But he'll probably need some help, and the Falcons are last in the NFL with 287.8 passing yards allowed per game.
Terence Garvin vs. Devin Hester
Devin Hester, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-2000s team as a punt returner, will face the Steelers for the third time in his career.
The Steelers lost to the Bears in 2009 and 2013, but didn't allow Hester to score a touchdown in either game. It will be up to undrafted second-year linebacker Terence Garvin, among others, to keep that record clean on Sunday.
Garvin leads the Steelers with 11 special teams tackles, according to PFF. Shamarko Thomas grades out as their best special teams player but has just two tackles.
Hester has averaged 15.4 yards on 15 punt returns this season, fourth in the NFL. The Rams' Stedman Bailey leads that category, but he's returned just one punt for 90 yards.
The 32-year-old Hester, a three-time first-team All-Pro, holds the NFL record with 14 career punt-return touchdowns. He had one this year in the Falcons' 56-14 win over Tampa Bay.
Jacoby Jones of the Ravens is the only returner to score a touchdown on the Steelers since the beginning of the 2011 season. He scored on a 63-yard punt return in the Ravens' 13-10 win at Heinz Field in 2012 and on a 108-yard kickoff return when the Steelers beat the Ravens 43-23 in Week 9 this season.
Kelvin Beachum vs. Osi Umenyiora
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin mentioned left tackle Kelvin Beachum's matchup against Falcons defensive end Osi Umenyiora on Tuesday at his weekly press conference, according to Urban Media Today.
Umenyiora, a first-team All-Pro in 2005 who won two championships with the Giants, has 2.5 sacks this season, which is second on the team to fellow defensive end Kroy Biermann, who has 3.5. As a team, the Falcons have 15 sacks this season, tied for the Bengals for last in the league. The Bengals didn't sack Roethlisberger last week.
PFF ranks Beachum eighth among NFL tackles overall and fifth in pass blocking. For all of the early-round draft picks the Steelers have used on offensive linemen in recent years, the left side is manned by Beachum, a seventh-round 2012 draft pick and undrafted Ramon Foster.
Steelers X-Factor to Watch: Le'Veon Bell
Who else?
This game figures to be an aerial slugfest between Roethlisberger and Ryan. Roethlisberger is second in the NFL with 4,055 passing yards, and Ryan is fifth with 3,802.
The Falcons are last in the league in total defense and last against the pass. The Steelers are 23rd against the pass.
The one thing the Steelers can do, however, that the Falcons can't is move the ball on the ground. Bell is second in the NFL with 1,231 rushing yards. The Falcons' top rusher is 31-year-old Steven Jackson, who has run for 652 yards and is averaging 3.7 yards per carry.
If Roethlisberger and Ryan are just throwing the ball up and down the field all day, this game will come down to whoever has the ball last. The Steelers need Bell to help them grind out some long possessions and keep Ryan and Jones off the field.
Prediction
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This game appears to have loss written all over it given the Steelers' fortunes against teams with losing records and their vulnerability on defense.
These are not the 2005 Steelers. This isn't the kind of team that can win four in a row in the heat of the playoff race. There's at least one more loss lurking on the schedule.
But that loss won't come Sunday.
The Falcons rank last in the league defensively with 410.8 yards allowed per game. The Saints are No. 31 (398.7) and held the Steelers to 16 points in the first 57 minutes just two weeks ago.
But one thing the Saints have that the Falcons don't is a rushing attack. New Orleans is No. 9 in the league in that category. The Falcons are 23rd. The Saints took control of the game at Heinz Field when Mark Ingram ran for 64 yards in the second quarter. The Falcons won't be able to do that.
If any team can control this game on the ground, it's the Steelers, but the ball will be in the air a lot. Buckle up.
Prediction: Steelers 39, Falcons 37
NFL.com was used for statistics unless otherwise noted.
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