Sunday’s Week 10 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions at Heinz Field certainly looks like a cakewalk on paper, as the Steelers are 5-3 and trending in the right direction, while the Lions are 0-8 and have played the worst football of the season in their most recent game, a 44-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Ford Field.
Coming off of a bye week though, which allows for self-scouting and a longer time than normal during the week in practice to correct some issues, Steelers’ veteran defensive coordinator Keith Butler is expecting to get Detroit’s best football, which falls in line with what Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin has been preaching all week about the hapless squad from the Motor City.
On Thursday during his weekly media session, Butler praised the Lions and said that along with Detroit’s best football coming on Sunday, there are no chumps in the NFL, and that anything can happen any given week.
“Well, if you look at Detroit, what they’ve done. they’ve kind of played well and then kind of had an off day; played well, kind of had an off day. Well, they had off day versus the Eagles last time they played and they’ve also had a bye week,” Butler said to reporters Thursday, according to audio provided by the team.”So I think we’re going to get their best football. There are no Triple-A teams that we’re going to be playing in the National Football League. Everybody’s good. Just so happens that they happen to be oh and eight. They had a chance to win a lot of the games.
“You look at the Rams game – Rams are a good football team. They were close, real close, about as close as us in the Bears to close, you know? So, I think that’s going to be the way it is the National Football League. There are no chumps in this league, and so we got to play and play well to get this next week, because we’re going to get their best game. No doubt in my mind.”
Though the Steelers historically struggle in games like this under Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh’s leadership is saying all the right things. Talk is cheap, though.
The Steelers should be able to handle this game, if we’re being honest. The Lions’ offense is pretty bad overall and shouldn’t pose much of a threat to a Steelers’ defense that is starting to find its game again, while the Detroit defense is a rag-tag group that has some talent in the secondary, but not much else.
Make no mistake though: Aside from the Week 8 loss to the Eagles, Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell has Detroit fighting tooth and nail, even biting kneecaps each week in an effort to get a win.
Any given Sunday, folks.
