Oct 7, 2016 3 min read

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With both right tackle Marcus Gilbert and backup Ryan Harris out this week for the Steelers, it’s not a great time to be facing the New York Jets, who have one of the best defensive lines in football.

Chris Hubbard is first in line to replace Gilbert and you can expect the Steelers to give him plenty of help. Hubbard didn’t look very good playing offensive tackle in the preseason, so it will be interesting to see what that Steelers do if he begins to struggle.

The team has toyed with putting center Maurkice Pouncey at right tackle and B.J. Finney at center, something that’s possible this week because Ramon Foster will be back at left guard.

That’s the really bad news for the Steelers.

The good is that the offense looked pretty unstoppable last week against the Chiefs – a team that beat these Jets 24-3 just two weeks ago.

Of course, a big part of that game was the Jets turning the ball over 8 times in 11 possessions. In fact, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions last week in a 27-17 loss to Seattle and cut his turnovers in half after throwing six against the Chiefs.

The Steelers can’t count on Fitzpatrick throwing a bunch of interceptions again this week, but he will take chances.

And with No. 2 target Eric Decker out, you can expect Brandon Marshall to get at least 10 targets in this game.

Quincy Enunwa actually leads the Jets in receptions out of the slot with 23, so I expect the Steelers to use William Gay in the slot as they did last week, even with Sean Davis back.

Robert Golden is out this week, so the Steelers can use both Davis and Jordan Dangerfield at strong safety and slide Gay into the slot when Artie Burns comes on in the nickel.

Burns leads the Steelers in pass defenses with four. He’s getting his hands on the football and his first interception is coming soon.

Though the Jets are tough up front, they are weak in the secondary. Safety Calvin Pryor is struggling in coverage, as is just about everyone. Darrelle Revis has been struggling as well, but won’t play in this game.

That leaves the Jets with Buster Skrine, Marcus Williams, Darryl Roberts and rookie Justin Burris at cornerback. Ben Roethlisberger, who has thrown three or more TD passes in five consecutive home game, should have success against that group.

The Steelers will be wearing their bumble bee throwback jerseys for the final time in this game. Teams are given five-year windows to wear the throwbacks and this is the final year for the bumble bees. The Steelers are 3-2 when they wear those throwbacks.

Pittsburgh will have to contain Jets running backs Matt Forte and Bilal Powell, who are both solid receivers out of the backfield. It would be good to have Ryan Shazier for this game to help handle that, but he’ll be out again this week as the Steelers try to get his knee 100 percent healthy before their showdown with New England in a couple of weeks.

Pittsburgh is a 7-point favorite in this game, and though it won’t be easy, I expect the Steelers to hold serve in this one.

Take the Steelers to win, 30-17, pulling away late.