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The Texans-Titans Rivalry hasn't been the same since the passing of Bud Adams late in 2013, but that doesn't mean we Texans fans will be rooting for them to win anything anytime soon. Tonight one of the NFL's most storied franchises--the Pittsburgh Steelers, owned by the Rooney family--will be taking on the Tennessee Titans, whose franchise history dates back to the founding of the American Football League under the name of the Houston Oilers.
Ben Roethlisberger followed up two six TD games against the Colts and Ravens with a dud against the "vaunted" New York Jets last week. Big Ben, head coach Mike Tomlin, Antonio Brown, and James Harrison, among others, hope to go into their Week 12 bye with a victory and a 7-4 record, sitting atop the AFC North. They will be hoping that Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount find more running lanes against Tennessee's Jurrell Casey, Ropati Pitoitua, and Kamerion Wimbley, than they did against Rex Ryan's defense.
Roethlisberger will seek to regain his form against the hapless Tennessee Titans, who languish at 2-7 and are on their third starting QB of the season. Having decided that Jake "the Hurt" Locker and Charlie Whitehurst are not their QBs of the present or future, Ken Whisenhunt has turned to Zach Mettenberger of selfie fame. Mett will be hoping that 4/5 of his OL plays up to the level shown by rookie Taylor Lewan, especially facing Dick LeBeau's defense, which includes the likes of James Harrison, Cameron Heyward, and Jason Worilds.
The Men from Steel City lead the all-time series record at 41-31-0, but lost their last game against the Titans by a touchdown in 2013. There is a real fear among Steelers fans that their team plays down to the level of their opponents, and they will be going into battle missing Troy Polamalu and Ryan Shazier, both ruled out with injury, but are fortunate that Delanie Walker was unable to recover from a concussion suffered against the Ravens.
Enjoy Battle Red Blog tonight as we watch Jon "Chucky" Gruden and Mike Tirico say inane things while we watch history being made (according to the Elias Sports Bureau, tonight's game will feature the most letters in starting QBs' surnames in NFL history, surpassing the previous record of Big Ben versus our former starting QB, Ryan Fitzpatrick). I'll finish with the usual entreaty to be kind to one another.
Live from Methopotania, it's Monday Night Football!