Just how rare is it to get a win in Pittsburgh?

If you read the articles in The Linc this morning you might have caught the following line in Ruben Frank's piece.

It's pretty simple to Reid. If the Eagles can go into Pittsburgh, where the Steelers almost never lose and were coming off a bye, and come within one second of a win, within one play of a win, they can play with anybody.

Not one to usually take things on face value, I decided to check Roob's facts about the Steelers at home. Specifically as it relates to NFC teams.

I had to go back to 2008 to find the last NFC team that went into Pittsburgh and won. That was the Giants on October 26th of that year. You'd have to go back to 2003 to find another loss to an NFC team in Pittsburgh. All told, since 2003 the Steelers are 16-2 at home against the NFC.

2 NFC teams in the past decade have gone into Pittsburgh and came out with a win. Ironically, the only other NFC team to not lose in Pittsburgh over the past 10 years was the Michael Vick led 2002 Atlanta Falcons who managed a 34-34 tie.

Since 2008, the Steelers are 25-8 overall at home, with 3 of their losses coming against Baltimore. So in 4 years only 5 or 6 different teams have gotten a road win in the Steel City.

None of this changes the facts of the game on Sunday and of course and mistakes are still mistakes... but does this change your perspective at all?

We got into a long discussion yesterday about the merits of this current Eagles team and I basically took the position that I was pretty satisfied with where they stood. I think 3-2 is a fair representation of how they've played and it's almost the best we might have hoped for given the schedule. This team has now beaten the defending champs and a legit Super bowl contender in the Ravens while losing to the Steelers (who clearly never lose to NFC teams at home) and the Cardinals who are 4-1 (and were at home). That same Cardinals team beat the Patriots as well, so its not like they've padded their record with cupcake wins (although you could say that about the Giants lol).

3-2 is not bad. There is no question that things have to improve, the offense has to start scoring and not turning the ball over... But the great thing about this year is that there is time to improve. They've built a base of wins. Last season, they were cooked by the time they really hit their stride. If this team starts humming in the second half of the season as they so often have under Andy Reid, they'll be chasing a top playoff seed, rather than just an 8-8 record and super long shot at a playoff berth.