Week Eight Preview: Steelers Set to Host Champion Giants

If you are into hard hitting football between two of the leagues best, than mark your TV’s for Sunday’s 4:15pm EST showdown between the Champion New York Giants and the AFC North leading Pittsburgh Steelers at Hinez Field. It’s a matchup of two teams that love to hit, and two teams that are both very good, coming into the contest at 5-1 and looking to make a statement.

The Steelers laid yet another beating on the Bengals Sunday 38-10, and have won three straight after their only loss in week three in Philly. They have won five of six with a defense allowing just 14.8 points per game, and just 69.7 yards per game on the ground. They also boast a solid offense, as they are putting up about 300 yards per game and 23.5 points.

The Giants are also pretty good in their own right. Eli Manning and company bounced back nicely after their only loss of the season to the Browns two weeks ago with a solid 29-17 win at home vs the 49’ers. The love to run the ball, putting up 169.7 yards per game on the ground, and have a top notch offense all the way around with 28.3 points per game and 395 yards of offense per contest.

In other words – something is going to give Sunday in the Steel City.

Pittsburgh wants to keep its strangle hold on the AFC North, and will look to play keep away from the Giants. With Willie Parker looking to get back in the lineup, the running game could have a pretty good 1-2 punch with he and Mewelde Moore, who had 120 yards vs Cincy last week. The Giants allow just 84.5 yards per game on the ground, and it could come down to what ground game gains more in this battle.

Ben Roethlisberger is having another solid year, with 1163 yards passing and 9 TD’s and just three picks and a QB rating of 98.1. He will look to do what others have done vs New York this year, and that is pick on Aaron Ross and take some deep shots with Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. If the Steelers can hit on a few of those, that would be a bonus.

Don’t sell Manning and the Giants passing game short though. Plaxico Burress would love nothing more than to stick it to his old team, and with the way Manning and Burress are on the same page, look for the two to hook up a lot in this game. The Steelers will miss Bryant McFadden, who broke a bone in his arm vs the Bengals which will hurt the Steelers secondary.

This is going to be a great battle between two teams that could possibly see each other again in early February in Tampa Bay for all the marbles. While the Giants are playing well, the Steelers are playing just a tad better, and at home they come out with a hard fought win to move to 6-1.