Hurricane Sandy Won’t Disrupt Steelers-Giants Game of the Week

Jason Bridge-US PRESSWIRE

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, there has been some concerns over the likilihood of the defending New York Giants hosting their Sunday matchup against Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers in what is sure to be this weekend’s game to watch.  Luckily, the weather should clear up in time for a matchup of the league’s best.

During the week, the weather in New York brought about record flooding and blacked out millions of people living in the metropolitan area.  Now, the cleanup begins in anticipation for Sunday’s scheduled 4:25 p.m. kickoff.

“We’re going to proceed with the plans and continue to do so until we hear otherwise,” Tomlin said.

The Steeles will, however, be without their superstar safety Troy Polamalu, who is sidelined with a strained right calf for the fourth consecutive game.  Right tackle Marcus Gilbert will also be out with a right ankle injury and is listed as 2-3 weeks away from a return from the injury reserve list.  Meanwhile, running backs Rashard Mendenhall (Achillies) and Isaac Redman (ankle) are expected to play against the Giants, as is linebacker James Harrison, who has dealt with a nagging knee injury for the entire season.  All three reported to their individual workouts on Wednesday and could be a difference maker in this Sunday’s matchup.

Who has the upper hand?

The Steelers are still an elite defense, even with their injuries building up.  They rank second behind the San Francisco 49ers, allowing just 274.1 yards per game.  They are a good tackling team that locks down offenses in the red zone and doesn’t let up a lot of points per contest (17 points per game).

But their road ahead isn’t easy.  The Giants are playing some of their best football on this side of their 2011 championship.  They beat the Cowboys 29-24 in Dallas this past week from a game-winning catch by Victor Cruz that led the last drive down the field in the fourth quarter.

Still, the Giants have to prepare with Hurricane Sandy in their backyard.  They’ll be dealing with some practicing issues at their facilities in New Jersey this week.

“We’ve made some adjustments to try to accommodate in anticipation of some issues that we might have,” head coach Tom Coughlin said about the practice facilities.  “Starting [practice] late this afternoon, for example.  But I don’t think that’s going to inhibit anything.  We’ve been hard at it.  The coaches have been hard at it.  We had pretty much a full day yesterday.  I gave a little time for family time and everybody took their laptops with them and we reconvened yesterday.  But I don’t see any issue that has stopped us from sticking with our normal routine.”

This could very well be a coin flip considering the intangibles that the Hurricane Sandy might bring in each team’s ability to practice.