[quoteb191aac="RverDag"]I did forget about the Colts, whenever you have a Manning under center these days you have a shot but I wouldn't put Pittsburgh in the category of top teams. Yeah, they're the champs but their O-line looks worse than last year, Mendenhall had 1 good game and the rest of the RB's look hella slow...it'll be on Big Ben to carry the team to the playoffs, and of course that vaulted defense. The Jets, gotta love their swagger.
As per the Saints, I don't think they have enough pieces on defense like Philly or Minnesota does. Certainly those 3 teams are the top teams in the conference along with New York.[/quoteb191aac]
The Jets make the list due to their defense and the better-than-expected play by the rookie Sanchez. For that same reason, you have to keep Pittsburgh in mind until they lose a few more they shouldn't have. Like the Jets, they have a good defense and Big Ben is better than Sanchez right now. The Steelers couldn't run last year either...that wasn't your Dad's Steelers that won it all. Mendenhall doesn't add or detract from that running game for the very reason you listed - the O-Line.
I think vaulting the Steelers defense (either by sealing them in a physical structure or by jumping over them) is the key to overcoming such a [ib191aac]vaunted[/ib191aac] group.
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