Now Let's Get Out There And Two-Hand Touch Them To Death

Amid the inevitable fallout of media brain drippings coming from Ben Roethlisberger's return against the Browns to the wholly unexpected drama that came with James Harrison being unjustly pronounced being the scourge of "clean" football, it's been hard to remember at times this week that the Steelers have a fairly tough road game on their hands Sunday in Miami. I trust the team did a better job tuning out all the reactionary bullshit than I did, but then I have to focus on that kind of stuff. I doubt Steelers players spent an inordinate amount of time reading blog comments bleating, "FUKK HARRISON HGH THUG I DON'T CARE HE NEVER FAILED A DRUG TEST HE'S ON STEROIDS LIKE ALL THE STEROID STEELERS!"

Whatever. Silverback may have been stuck with an inflated fine to placate the media, but he's still in the line-up for Sunday, which is really all I care about. Of course, there's the sad reality that no one knows how the NFL plans on enforcing its new guidelines for it considers illegal hits. This obviously affects everyone, not just the Steelers, though I imagine Harrison in particular and the Steelers defense in general will be given closer scrutiny than some others because of the comments from Harrison and Mike Tomlin this week about the soundness of the hits against the Browns.

The Dolphins are an interesting case. They're 3-2, yet Miami is one of the three teams with winning records and negative net points. A lot of that has to do with the 41-14 drubbing by the Patriots they suffered on Monday night a few weeks back. I actually thought they looked fairly good in that game outside of the disastrous special teams play that threw them into an insurmountable deficit. I know that's a glib way to discount something that probably cost them a 30-point swing, but you can't count on things going awry like that every game. They certainly looked improved in that aspect in their overtime win last week in Green Bay. That said, somehow Miami is winless at home and undefeated on the road.

Chad Henne being as inconsistent as he is, it's hard to foresee what kind of performance you're going to get out of their offense. When he's on, their attack is potent, if not likely to burn you with huge plays. That said, even with Brandon Marshall on the team and Davone Bess emerging as a minor star in his own right, the Dolphins are still dependent on the running game working to be in a game. Even with Brett Keisel out, the Dolphins face a steep obstacle in the Steelers defense getting the run game going.

In the Week 17 Pittsburgh victory in Miami last year, Ricky Williams was held to only 31 yards on 12 carries. Of course, Miami fell behind early in that game, at one point trailing 27-10. And they were without Ronnie Brown, who had been lost for the year earlier in the season. That they were able to close the gap to a 30-24 final bespeaks the Steelers late-game struggles, but so far that luckily doesn't seem to be a problem again this year. If the Dolphins fall behind 17 in the second half on Sunday, I doubt the final minutes will be quite as dramatic.

Marshall has fared well in two career starts with the Broncos against the Steelers, catching six passes for 77 yards in 2007 and posting 11 catches for 112 yards in the Monday night game in Denver last year. I think he'll get his stats, but similar in the way the Steelers let Roddy White appear to have a big game in Week 1. While White posted a lot of yards, Matt Ryan had his lowest QB rating targeting him comapred to any other Falcons' receiver.

Mike Wallace had a lot success going deep against the Browns. I mean, yeah, if Wallace is going to have success anywhere, it's on fly routes. Vontae Davis was getting killed by double moves from Greg Jennings last week, so it wouldn't be surprising if the Steelers tried to exploit that a few times on Sunday.

Just as we waited to see how Ben would respond last week after his suspension, we stuck with the uncertainty of how the NFL will come down on hits on receivers and how defenses approach what they perceive will be that standard. It's a good thing both these teams can run the ball. The more passing, the messier it's going to be.