How They'll Lose

Week 8 vs. Pittsburgh

So, the Birds squeak one out against a fair-to-middlin' Browns team and eke one out versus the banged-up Ravens squad and everybody's all like, they're gonna go undefeated. Guess what? Ain't happening. You know it, I know it, and perhaps most importantly, Duce knows it.

It'd be easy to sit back and figure the Steelers are prime for a letdown, what with them having just knocked off the undefeated Patriots and facing blood enemy Cleveland next week. In fact, most teams would lose this game to the Birds. But Pittsburgh, as much as it pains me to say, is different. (And yet, somehow, the Eagles are giving 1 1/2 points. Dear gamblers, that's what they call a sucker line.)

For one, this Roethlisberger kid is the second coming of His Highness John Elway. No shit. He's for real.

Two, after using Jeff Garcia and Ray Lewis as motivational tools, T.O. ain't got nothing to fire him up for this game.

And three, Duce Staley has plenty to be fired up about, namely a need to show Big Red that he was one veteran he shouldn't have cast aside so easily. Which kind of sucks since—as we all saw during his seven-year stint here—Duce plays pretty well pissed off. Yeah, he'll run for 125, maybe 150 yards. At least two TDs. And then, there will be no undefeated teams left.

Steelers 24, Eagles 23.

—Brian Hickey

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