Even though the Steelers have gotten off the schnide offensively, this week¹s game against Atlanta looks to be what we always expect from our team: powerful defense. That¹s the key to this week¹s match-up and it¹s something that our boys can deliver. Although rusher Warrick Dunn is 5th overall in the league with 511 yards, quarterback Michael Vick is the play maker on this team with 401 rushing yards and an 8.7 yard per carry average. What our defense needs to do is make toast out of Vick when he scrambles from the pocket.

There are two additional elements to our game that will make all the difference in the world this week. That would be the awakening of both Big Ben and Troy Polamalu. Ben seems to have recovered some of his form and is threatening to crawl out of the QB rating cellar with a near flawless game last week that ended with Charlie Batch taking snaps in the last quarter. And as evidenced by his hair-raising interception, Troy is back to his full disruptive self stuffing runners in the backfield and causing costly penalties for the other team. It¹s a thing of beauty to see our two powerhouse players come back around and I look forward to watching their continued progress.

Here¹s how I see this week¹s match-up:

Offense
We¹re still in the middle of the pack ranked at 17th in the league by amassing an average of 316.4 yards per game. Of course, this average is due largely in part to the over 450 yards of offense in last week¹s game against Kansas City. Ben was spreading the ball around and our receivers were able to get the balls into their hands. Look for this trend to continue and improve this week. Though each of the players on our receiving corps of Ward, Wilson, Washington, and Holmes have below 200 yards each, the lowest yard per catch average is Ward with 11.5. And as everyone knows, it only takes 10 yards to get that first down. However, Ben needs to be aware of DeAngelo Hall who alone has accounted for 4 of the Falcons 8 interceptions on the year. Though Ben improved his stats by lofting two beautiful TD passes last week, his 7 interceptions on the year lets opposing defenses know that he¹s prone to throwing to the guys in the wrong jerseys.

The best offensive news is Fast Willie Parker. Last week saw Willie not only getting 2 TDs against the Chiefs, but also bursting through the defense for 109 yards on the ground. With Atlanta¹s run defense ranked as 17th in the league, look for Willie to have another stellar performance. Najeh Davenport was also a big help adding another 78 yards to the ground game. Though he seems to be plagued by injuries, he looked just fine running rampant on the field, averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Combined with FWP, they make a good one-two punch in the running game.

Defense
Though Joey was out of the lineup last week and looks to be out again this week, we didn¹t seem to fall off in our defensive production. With the addition of former Œ95 Super Bowl first team defender Chad Brown who was back to his QB sacking ways, we were able to pressure the seemingly unflappable Damon Huard forcing him to throw his first interception of the year. Our defense was on fire and I expect that to continue.

As mentioned before, the biggest concern is Michael Vick. During a post game interview, he once thanked Kordell Stewart for opening the door to slash-type players like himself. I personally don¹t view him as a Slash; I see him as a running back who likes to throw the ball occasionally. He¹s the second leading rusher on the team, trailing Warrick Dunn by only 110 yards. If he were facing any other team, I would predict that Vick would surpass Dunn this week as the leading rusher. However, he¹s facing a stout Steelers defense that is ranked 7th in the league against the run, allowing an average of only 78.4 yards per game. With Troy up to full speed, I don¹t expect them to get that many yards. I look for Polamalu to cover Vick like a cheap suit. My favorite move is when he turns his back on the QB and looks like he¹s going to drop into coverage only to whip around and blitz from the outside. This scheme has proved effective in the past at catching less nimble QBs off guard and putting them on their asses and I expect it to be served up to the elusive Michael Vick this week.

I also look for the emerging rookie Jerious Norwood that everyone seems to be talking about officially welcomed to the NFL this week with a heaping helping of smashmouth.

Special Teams
All I can say about this squad this week is that at least when we fumbled the ball in the Kansas City game, we were able to recover it.

Borrowing a page from Peter King...
Other Football Thought of the Week
If I were an Offensive Coordinator in this league, I would be afraid of losing my job every day that got up for work. It doesn¹t seem like anyone is safe right now. After the bloodletting this week, I¹m surprised that Lovie Smith of the Bears didn¹t get rid of his OC after they came back and beat the Cardinals with no offensive scoring other than a field goal.

Non-Football Thought of the Week
Even Tom Jackson on Sunday NFL Countdown agrees... Mario Lopez is going to waltz away with the trophy in this season¹s Dancing With the Stars, even beating out hoofer Emmit Smith.

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