What to Look for in the Jets-Steelers AFC Championship Game

Filed under: Jets, Steelers, NFL Playoffs, NFL Predictions, NFL Analysis

In back-to-back weeks Rex Ryan and the Jets defense have flustered Peyton Manning and flumoxed Tom Brady. But to get to the Super Bowl they'll have to fixate on stopping Ben Roethlisberger.

While the Jets under Rex Ryan are known as a blitzing team, it's a controlled blitz. Against the Steelers in the regular season, New York never sent more than five rushers on a pass play. Here are Pittsburgh's numbers against the different rush packages. Spikes to stop the clock are not included in the stats.

No. of Rushers	C	A	Yds	Y/A	Sacks
3-man rush	7	12	66	5.50	-
4-man rush	10	16	126	7.88	2
5-man rush	6	13	72	5.54	1

It won't be easy, but then the Jets have proven pretty good at doing the hard work in recent weeks.

To get a better idea at what may happen on Sunday, we can look back at the teams' regular-season meeting. Obviously the Jets and Steelers will be changing up some of what they do, but there still are trends that can tell us some things about Sunday.

One of the first things that stood out from charting the first game is one of the hallmarks of the Rex Ryan defense -- they don't send nearly as many crazy blitzes as you may expect. Ryan's pressure packages are much more about confusion than sheer numbers. Against the Steelers, the Jets never sent more than five men on a pass rush. And they only sent five men on only 32 percent of the Steelers' pass plays.

What the Jets like to do is make it appear as if they are sending an all-out blitz, then send rushers off the edge from another direction. Often it ends up being a four-man rush, but with a defensive back or linebacker coming from outside the tackle that gives the offensive line difficulty in figuring out how to block everyone.

The Jets will need to play a little better against the run as well. Rashard Mendenhall ended up rushing for 99 yards in the first meeting and the Steelers averaged 5.8 yards per carry.

The Jets game was probably the Steelers' offensive line's best performance of the season -- even if the game will largely be remembered for Jonathan Scott's blown block that led to a crucial safety. The Jets sacked Roethlisberger three times and pressured him on eight other snaps. For Roethlisberger, getting pressured on less than 25 percent of his passes must feel like a huge breather.

Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2011/01/20/what-to-look-for-in-the-jets-steelers-afc-championship-game/

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