Party Football Promo - Week 5

[Schwartzy61]

ESPN Insider Scouting Report...

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Why To Watch
These teams know each other well, having split two games during the regular season. The Steelers go in confident and riding a late-season surge, while Cincinnati is coming off two losses in a row. Last Sunday's trouncing in Kansas City is some cause for concern even though the Bengals rested several players.

This is a game of contrasting styles. Pittsburgh is a blue-collar, physical team and will try to control the clock with the running game and intimidate on defense. Cincinnati uses a high-flying offense to force opponents into an up-tempo style of play and is a tough group to match up against.

Defensively, the Bengals are not dominating, but they are opportunistic and create a lot of turnovers. The team that imposes its will and style of play will win. There aren't any secrets between these bitter divisional rivals.


When the Steelers have the ball

Rushing: There is no mystery to what the Steelers want to do on offense -- run the football, wear down the Bengals, control the clock and keep the more explosive Cincinnati offense on the sidelines. Although it has had some injuries, Pittsburgh's offensive line is bigger and more physical than the Bengals' defensive line. Cincinnati's front seven really gets pushed around by offenses that have a power running attack, and that's exactly what the Steelers have.

The Steelers will run Jerome Bettis inside, especially in short-yardage and goal-line situations, but Willie Parker will get the bulk of the carries. His explosiveness and outside speed will put a lot of pressure on the Bengals. Parker is really developing as a cutback runner and can really accelerate through the hole. The Cincinnati defensive line gets into trouble at times because it doesn't play sound gap control defense and is really vulnerable to runners who break the play against the grain.

The left side of Pittsburgh's offensive line, guard Alan Faneca and tackle Marvel Smith, can be very effective at sealing the backside, as Parker starts right and cuts back left. Another area of concern for the Bengals is their third-down defense. Because the Steelers are so good at running the ball on first and second downs, they wind up in a lot of third-and-short situations, which for them is often a run situation. The Bengals must play disciplined and physical up front, especially on first and second downs, and they must get off the field after third downs.


Passing: The Steelers have utilizing a fairly basic and "safe" passing game in recent weeks, and they sometimes treat it as an extension of their run game. Part of the problem is Ben Roethlisberger's sore thumb, which limits his vertical throws. The reality is that Pittsburgh just doesn't like to take a lot of chances throwing the ball. The Steelers threw the ball only 16 times in Week 17 versus Detroit, and that number won't likely increase against a Cincinnati defense that leads the NFL with 44 takeaways and 31 interceptions.

The Pittsburgh offensive line has struggled at times with pass protection and could likely use a lot of two-tight end sets with Heath Miller and Jerame Tuman. That will give Pittsburgh better protection and also be a tough matchup for the Bengals' linebackers, who will be on the field a lot because the Steelers' base offense and running game keeps the Cincinnati nickel package off the field.

Also, the Steelers' run game forces the safeties up into the box more than they would like, and play-action opportunities versus single coverage gives this conservative Pittsburgh pass offense some potential big plays if Roethlisberger picks his spots correctly. Look for a couple of gadget plays, such as a halfback pass, as the Steelers try to take advantage of a secondary that intercepts a lot of passes but also gambles a lot and jump routes.

When the Bengals have the ball

Rushing: Although we think of the Bengals as mostly a high-flying passing team, they quietly run the football very effectively with Rudi Johnson. He is a power back, and most of his production comes between the tackles and after contact. He has great balance and a low center of gravity, and the Steelers must wrap up on their tackles.

The Bengals have most of their success running left behind LOT Levi Jones and LOG Eric Steinbach. However, the Steelers have arguably the best run defense in the league. Led by nose tackle Casey Hampton, the Steelers win at the line of scrimmage, push offensive linemen back into the backfield and eat up blockers to allow the linebackers to flow to the ball and make tackles.

This is a tough game for SS Troy Polamalu. The Bengals have so many passing weapons that Polamalu will likely be forced to play a lot of Cover 2 schemes as a deep-half safety, which takes him out of the box in run support. The Steelers need their front seven to get the job done in run defense without secondary help.


Passing: The strength of the Bengals their explosive passing attack, and the biggest weakness for the Steelers is their pass defense. The Bengals will try to lure the Steelers into man-to-man matchups versus their three-wide receiver package along with running back Chris Perry, who is an excellent receiver out of the backfield. Although Perry has a bad ankle, the Steelers do not have a linebacker who can match up with him in coverage.

Pittsburgh would probably be best served to play a lot of Cover 2 schemes in a "bend but don't break" style, though that would hinder its zone blitz package and force Polamalu to play deep zones in coverage, which is not his strength. More than likely the Steelers will play some "man free" schemes with free safety Chris Hope as a center fielder and both corners playing closer to the line of scrimmage. That would allow Polamalu to freelance and blitz a lot, which is his strength.

However, none of the Steelers corners can turn and run with Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and with Hope in the middle, he can help out on only one receiver. The key for the Steelers is their pass rush and blitz. If they don't get to Carson Palmer and disrupt his timing, he will pick this Steelers secondary apart.

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Biggest point...since Cincy beat Pittsburgh and basically locked up the division 4 weeks ago, Pittsburgh has won 4 in a row, while Cincy eeked out a win vs. lowly Cleveland, and lost to crappy Buffalo, and got embarrassed by the not playoff bound Kansas City Chiefs.

I'd go with PIT in a close one...

[LesJ]

Tornado hit a block down the road, right across from my son's school killing electricity until this morning (and my cable modem connection until just now basically), so I missed question #1 as well. Given the fact that a gas station roughly two blocks away from us and one block from where my son was in school was totally obliterated, I don't really feel like complaining about much of anything. I just feel lucky the worse thing to come out of the ordeal was a minor loss of utility service and missing out on a silly party poker football question.
Good luck this week!
Les

[radii]

Dear Richard,

Thank you for contacting us.

As all the NFL Games in the coming weeks will be played on Sunday rather than Monday, the touchdown promotion has been brought forward by a day. Hence, points need to be earned from Mondays through Fridays while questions will be asked from Tuesdays to Saturdays.

Please note the website has been updated with this information on the 27th of December.

Please go through the link for more information on the Touchdown promotion.

http://www.partypoker.com/news/event...all_promo.html

As you have not earned the required number of points yesterday, it would not be possible for you to answer today's question.


Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

Balaji
Poker Customer Care

[radii]

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Tornado hit a block down the road, right across from my son's school killing electricity until this morning (and my cable modem connection until just now basically), so I missed question #1 as well. Given the fact that a gas station roughly two blocks away from us and one block from where my son was in school was totally obliterated, I don't really feel like complaining about much of anything. I just feel lucky the worse thing to come out of the ordeal was a minor loss of utility service and missing out on a silly party poker football question.
Good luck this week!
Les

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Are you in Atlanta? The ones that were reported in Norcross/Lilburn were not far from me. Glad to hear everything is alright.

[Sniper]

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We understand your concern. However, the change of details for the TouchDown
Promotion was updated on the website on Saturday.

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Just WOW... I say send in your response to the question anyway!!!

This is so sneeky... I'm goimg with... this promotion is costing Party far more than they expected!

[Schwartzy61]

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[ QUOTE ]
We understand your concern. However, the change of details for the TouchDown
Promotion was updated on the website on Saturday.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just WOW... I say send in your response to the question anyway!!!

This is so sneeky... I'm goimg with... this promotion is costing Party far more than they expected!

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I'm gonna try and see what they say. What should I say is the reason though? Should I just be like I can't see the question or provide no explanation whatsoever? I'm gonna send them an answer but I want to know what some of the people around here think I should put as my reason behind sending them an answer? THey already told me I couldn't so how should I explain it away?

[Sniper]

I suggest waiting till tommorrow when you see question #2 and then just saying you couldn't see question #1... at least for the record you answered the question (and play a bit more than usual today) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Sarge]

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I'm gonna try and see what they say. What should I say is the reason though? Should I just be like I can't see the question or provide no explanation whatsoever? I'm gonna send them an answer but I want to know what some of the people around here think I should put as my reason behind sending them an answer? THey already told me I couldn't so how should I explain it away?

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How about telling them that no one looks at the promotion on the News and Events page once it is originally posted and they have obtained the details of the promotion. I personally check the News and Events page nearly every day and unless you open the 'Touchdown' icon you would have never known. They moved the 'Blackjack Masters' promo back to the breaking news (they are either re-promoting it or changed it) but never moved the 'Touchdown' promotion. I played enough yesterday to get the question but would have never checked for the question if I hadn't checked 2+2. I'm not as harsh on PP as a lot of posters here, but this change is ridiculous. They could have just as easily put a pop-up like the scratch offs up when you logged on.

[ur2god]

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You are gonna have to lay some good odds for that bet to get any takers! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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Get this, the promotion page was evidently updated on Saturday to reflect the changes. Hmm, wonder how nobody mentioned this on 2+2. Oh well...guess I'll just sit out this week on Party...not like they care or anything...

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this is bs, last night it said the first question
was going to be availiable weds. damn liars

[LesJ]

I live in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I work in Louisville and as I frantically left work yesterday a TV reporter erroneously reported that my son's school had been leveled. Actually, a gas station across from my son's school had been leveled, but my drive home was fast and furious to say the least. Crazy day.
Les