NFL Week 15 Monday

DOLPHINS @ STEELERS - 8:15 PM

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Steelers coming off a huge win. They needed it too because Pittsburgh was chanting "Fire Tomlin" during the Buffalo game the week before.

Controversial non-catch call.

That win put Pittsburgh back in the driver’s seat in the AFC North but they can’t afford to let up now that Baltimore beat Cincinnati.

This isn’t gonna be easy because Miami’s on a warpath.

They’re still mathematically in it and the way they’re playing... I think the Dolphins believe that they’re the Cinderella story. Confidence is contagious.

Asterisk... they did lose a game on Monday night in 2020 to Washington (reschedule for COVID).

Tua’s never played a game here before.

We know it’s gonna be cold.

We know the history. Both wins were against the Jets.

But we just saw the Dolphins offense look pretty good in cold weather last week... granted it was against the Jets.

The way the Dolphins are running this offense right now... they’re built to play in cold weather. This is not the same type of McDaniel offense we’ve seen in the past few years. This is a physical downhill rushing attack.

Pittsburgh’s defense has had problems with the run this year.

Look at their last 5 games... yes they played tough opponents but the Steelers are getting run on right now. In the last 5 games, the Dolphins lead the NFL in rushing and the Steelers are dead last in rush yards allowed.

No TJ Watt.

Dolphins offense is in good shape.

Obviously I don’t love Tua on the road in cold weather... but the way Miami’s using Tua right now... there’s not a ton of pressure on him. The ball’s out of his hands extremely fast. He’s not dropping back to pass a ton. In his last 4 games, the most pass attempts we’ve seen from Tua in a game is 23.

On the other side of the ball, we know Miami’s playing some great defense right now. Can Pittsburgh move the ball? The Dolphins haven't allowed more than 17 points in a football game since October.

The concern for Pittsburgh is the offensive line... specifically LT.

Week 12 - Broderick Jones injured. Calvin Anderson comes in and finishes the game at LT. Calvin Anderson gets injured during practice that week... so the following game in Week 13, Andrus Peat starts at LT. In Week 14, Andrus Peat gets a concussion. So now starting at LT for the Steelers is Dylan Cook. They had to bring him up from the practice squad. He’s got 13 career snaps in the NFL.

We’ve seen the run game fall off the last couple games.

Are we expecting Pittsburgh to run the ball here? Cuz Miami’s been excellent against the run.

Miami’s defense is in great shape.

As far as Rodgers... he played great last week in Baltimore. The Steelers were weirdly aggressive in this one. We've seen a pretty conservative gameplan from the Steelers on offense for most of the season... they came out looking to make some big plays and it was successful.

But he didn’t look good at all the week before that. He couldn’t do anything against Buffalo.

Miami’s got great numbers against the pass in their last few games but they haven’t exactly seen pro bowl QBs.

DOLPHINS +3.5