Steelers Bye Week: Friday Night Five Questions

The Pittsburgh Steelers are off this week, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to let you have the week off. As usual, I have five questions for you that I would like you to answer concerning the Steelers. If you will, please answer each as thoroughly as possible.

I hope that all of you enjoy your weekend and we should have quite a few interesting games to keep our eyes on in Week 12.

1. It certainly would be fun to watch the Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns all lose this weekend with the Steelers off on their bye, but the chances of that happening are slim. With that being said, which one of those three teams is the most likeliest to lose in your opinion and why?
2. The Steelers stand to get cornerback Ike Taylor, safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker Ryan Shazier all back for their Week 13 game against the New Orleans Saints after the bye week. Which one of the three do you think is needed back the most and why?
3. Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown already has 88 catches through the first 11 games of the season. Should he catch 36 more passes in the final five games, he will move into second place on the NFL’s all-time single-season reception leaders list behind former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison, who caught 143 passes in 2002. Brown, however, will need to average 7.2 receptions a game to achieve that 124 number. First, will he hit that number and second, if he’s just short of the number heading into the season finale and the Steelers can’t improve their playoff seeding, do you dress him and let him play?
4. Cornerback Cortez Allen hasn’t played a snap on defense in the last three games. In those three games that Allen hasn’t played, the Steelers defense has allowed 55-of-87 passes (63.2%)  to be completed for 698 yards and six touchdowns. If Taylor is indeed able to make it back for the game against the Saints after the bye week, would you also let Allen resume being the third cornerback off of the bench to play opposite him in the nickel defense, or would you continue to let either Brice McCain or Antwon Blake be the third man in?
5. In the last two games that the Steelers have played, wide receiver Markus Wheaton has been the primary kick returner and he’s returned eight of them during that span for a 25.6 yard average. Are you willing to stick with Wheaton moving forward or would you like to see rookie running back Dri Archer get another shot to show what he can do?