Steelers hope to start playoff run against Dolphins
Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell will make his first career playoff start today against the Dolphins
Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell (26) is tackled by Giants strong safety Landon Collins earlier this season at Heinz Field.
PITTSBURGH – For all of his postseason success, there’s been one thing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hasn’t done in his career – win an AFC Wild Card playoff game at home.
Roethlisberger is 0-2 in home AFC Wild Card playoff starts, having lost to Jacksonville (2008) and Baltimore (2015).
He’ll get a shot to turn that around at Heinz Field in the opening round of the AFC playoffs when the Steelers (11-5) host the Miami Dolphins (10-6) today.
The common thread in both of those games was a complete lack of a rushing attack because of late-season injuries to Pittsburgh’s leading rushers.
In Pittsburgh’s 31-29 loss to Jacksonville, 1,000-yard rusher Willie Parker was out after suffering a broken leg in a Week 16 win at St. Louis. That left backup Najeh Davenport as the Steelers’ starter against the Jaguars and he carried 16 times for 25 yards as the Steelers managed just 43 yards on 26 attempts.
Against the Ravens, Le’Veon Bell suffered a sprained knee in a Week 17 win over Cincinnati that clinched the AFC North title but robbed the Steelers of his services six days later against the Ravens. Ben Tate was signed off the street and started, gaining 19 yards on five carries before fumbling. Josh Harris led the Steelers with 25 yards on nine attempts.
The Steelers and Roethlisberger will have no such health issues this time around.
The Steelers hope to make a long playoff run this year. To do that, they’ll rely heavily on their running game.
Bell will make his playoff debut today against the Dolphins and nobody is happier about that than Roethlisberger.
Even if Bell were not playing, however, Roethlisberger would be ready for this game.
“If you’re not excited to be in the playoffs, something is wrong with you,” Roethlisberger said.
But, after not having Bell for the past two playoff appearances and wide receiver Antonio Brown in last year’s season-ending postseason loss at Denver, the Steelers can’t wait to see how things play out with their stars available this time around.
“We are happy everybody is back,” said Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley. “But at the same time, as I told the group, just because (they) are there, it doesn’t mean it’s just going to happen. We have to go out and execute and play our best game. I don’t feel like we have done that yet. That has been kind of our thing, just trying to play to our potential. We have done it in spurts. The teams that get hot and play their best football, are the teams that have a legitimate shot of continuing to play now, and we need to be one of those teams.”
It’s hard to argue Pittsburgh’s success, however, when Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown are on the field together. Since Bell’s rookie season in 2013, the Steelers are 28-14 when those three all play. They’re 14-13 when at least one of that threesome does not.
One of those 14 losses when all three have been on the field together came earlier this season in Miami.
The Dolphins briefly knocked Roethlisberger out of that game with a meniscus injury that required surgery, and running back Jay Ajayi rushed for 204 yards as the Dolphins intercepted a hobbled Roethlisberger twice and won, 30-15.
“We kind of know what they were at the time,” said Ajayi, who rushed for 1,272 yards in his breakout season. “It’s a whole new team. The playoffs, they’ve gotten some guys back, we’ve gotten some guys. It’s kind of like a whole new game for us, I would say. So it’s just about us reading our keys, sticking to our game plan, executing. It’s a common opponent of course; but if we just handle what we need to do, I think we’ll be alright.”
To that point, the Steelers will have several players back for this game that did not play in the first one, inside linebacker Ryan Shazier and right tackle Marcus Gilbert among them. They’ve also settled on Sean Davis, who did not play in the first game, as their starting strong safety, while James Harrison and Bud Dupree have settled in as the starting outside linebackers. Harrison was a part-time player in the first game, while Dupree was on injured reserve at that point.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, will be missing some starters, most notably at quarterback, where veteran backup Matt Moore will start in place of injured Ryan Tannehill.
Like most of his teammates – Miami only has 12 players who have appeared in a playoff game – Moore will be making his first career playoff start.
“Guys are going to be excited, I’m sure,” said Moore. “But I think for the most part, there is a really good understanding that this is a team game, you don’t need to be Superman and just play within the scheme and the system and you’ll be all right.”
The Steelers, who have 37 players with playoff experience, already know that, though Bell admits he’ll be extremely excited after being forced to watch his teammates the previous two years.
But he also knows at the end of the day, it’s still a football game.
“I don’t want to go into a game thinking that it’s my first playoff game or it’s a playoff game,” said Bell, who has averaged 139 yards rushing per game in his past six starts.
“When we played Baltimore two weeks ago, I wasn’t going into it thinking this was for the division. I just wanted to go and play football. That’s what I do. I don’t want to think too much about the game. I want to play football, have fun and do what I do. The rest of it will come naturally.”
Temperatures are expected to be in the low 20s. To simulate that, the Dolphins had their kickers work with frozen footballs during the week. … The Dolphins are making their first playoff appearance since 2008. … Miami leads the postseason series, 2-1. … The Steelers have not allowed a defensive touchdown return since Week 3 of the 2013 season, a span of 61 games. The Rams, who didn’t allow a return for 63 games from 1974-1977 have the longest streak in NFL history.