Wild Card Playoff Thread: Jacksonville Jaguars

It's go time, people. The Steelers could use those four guys above, but Chris Hoke will have to do.

No Steelers Player Was Injured in the Writing of This Post

Mike Tomlin will get to flex his coaching muscles this week. With Trai Essex the only thing standing between Ben Roethlisberger and another jaw transplant, it's going to take some Steve Spurrier-style coachin' 'em up to make this thing work. And I'm not even talking about that no-tackling defense.

Alright, it's not that bad (it is, but let's focus on the positive): there is some speculation that Faneca could move to left tackle and Keomeatu could start at left guard. I don't know if that's necessarily and upgrade, though; Faneca's a guard. For all the "woe is us-ing" we were doing when envisioning what Big Ben's mangled body might look like with Max Starks protecting his blindside when Marvel first went down, Starks was still a better option than Faneca. Or, at least, Starks > Faneca and Kemoeatu.

Whatever happens, the Steelers have very little margin for error. Actually, they had very little margin for error with a relatively healthy roster; now they have no margin for error. Which means, I suppose, Willie Reid will assume the Duce Staley memorial game-day sweats. I'm interested -- in a train wreck sorta way -- to see Jeremy Bloom play but that's a curiosity better left to the preseason, I think.

I believe ESLM mentioned this in the previous thread and I agree: I have no idea what to expect Saturday. The Steelers could win by 21, lose by 21, win on a last-second Skippy special, or Big Ben could get sacked for a game-deciding safety as time expired. Anything short of an alien spaceship landing in the middle of Heinz Field and Myron Cope emerging from within wouldn't shock me, frankly.

Good news, though: Ambassador Gretz is on the job.

Oh, by the way, I've moved the HSS Draft Project post down the page. It created way too much confusion, and I'll revisit it in a few weeks. I have about 15 bowl games on the DVR, and I plan to go through them at some point before the last weekend in April. Actually, I hope to do it before the combine. More on that later, though.

Happy New Year, Jeremy Bloom Lovers

Jeremy Bloom, all 5-8, 145 pounds of him, will save us all. Let's just pray it snows, say, 12-18 inches in Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Then it'll be on like Donkey Kong. Or something.

The Steelers Have Till Saturday to Fix the Run Defense

Saturday, 8 p.m. EST. That's when we'll see if Dick LeBeau has concocted some crazy scheme to stop the Jags for running for 300 yards. After watching the last month of Steelers football, I have my doubts. Unless there's a tackling camp this week, I don't know what LeBeau can do to fix things.

And I'm not even thinking about who may or may not be injured. (Hello, Trai Essex!)

HSS Wishes You a Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus (Because We're All About Inclusion)

Thanks to the Browns being the Browns (Derek Anderson for the Pro Bowl!), the Steelers win the AFC North. Pretty solid work for a team with no offensive line to speak of, injuries up and down the roster, and a part-time special teams coach.

Oh, and happy holidays, people. You're all getting the 2008 HSS wall calendar for your continued patronage. FREE!

Let's Go Bengals Game Thread

Here's to hoping the Bengals can go 60 minutes without imploding.