Tebow coasted into the playoffs after securing the top spot in the division. He wasn’t at his best because he didn’t have to be, just like in individual games.
The KC from week 17 (7-3 loss) game may look bad but Romeo Crennell is really good at devising defensive plans to hold down certain teams. And KC, having played Denver once already (and watching the Patriots play them) had their number.
Pittsburgh is a banged up offense. They aren’t the same without Roethilisberger (Burger) running around outside the pocket, he is what makes the Pitt offense go. Now their lead back is out. With Hines Ward not contributing much it is basically Wallace and Brown for the Steelers and thats it. If Champ can limit one of them then they should be able to live with just the other guy beating them.
Denver is @ home where they wear defenses down with the running attack and the Steelers are an old defense primed to wear down. The Mile High air will get to them, it has already gotten to Ryan Clark who won’t play in the game because of health concerns. Clark is the Steelers surest tackler in the secondary, without him they could have some troubles against the run.
Chuck Norris is a Bronco fan.
The Denver pass rush is going to eat the Steelers oline for lunch. Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil are hard to block for anyone, no way the Steelers line and a banged up Burger are going to escape them.
Playoff time is Tebow Time.
Why Pittsburgh will win:
This is child’s play for Pittsburgh. Denver is not even good, just look at who they beat: Miami, Oakland, KC, Jets, San Diego, Minnesota, Chicago – these 7 wins coming in an 8-week stretch.
Burger will be four weeks removed from his injury by game time. Practically an eternity for the indestructible man.
Pittsburgh made the Super Bowl last year and lost to far and away the best team in the league. Plus if you remove the two Baltimore losses, Pittsburgh only lost to Houston(with Schaub) and San Fran, both playoff teams. Denver had to rely on six straight comeback wins to just go 8-8.
Losing Mendenhall isn’t good, but it’s not like it is a massive drop off to Dwyer or Redman. Pittsburgh is a passing team now anyways.
There is just no way any Steelers defense is going to lose a game to a run-only offense helmed by a QB that can’t throw.
The Denver D looked good for a couple of weeks but where has it been lately? They are just frauds who got lucky against some bad QB’s.
Hines Ward decaying, or um, retiring, will provide inspiration for another road warrior Superbowl run, like in 2005 with the Bus.
John Fox has been way too conservative in his decision-making down the stretch. He has punted on 4th and short and in opponent territory several times. Isn’t this team uniquely designed to be able to pick up 1 yard when they need to?
The final verdict? The only way I can see the Steelers losing this game is if Burger is really a shell of the player he actually is. Pittsburgh is a veteran team that can win lots of ways. Without the QB injury they are probably best team in the AFC. The Broncos on the other hand just aren’t good. They never beat anyone good and couldn’t win when they needed to down the stretch. Steelers win. But the spread is another story.
Check out these results: 23-20 Colts, 32-30 Cards, 24-17 Bengals, 13-9 Chiefs, 13-9 Browns. Those are the scores of the Steelers road victories. They only went 5-3 all year on the road, losing to every good team they faced. Out of all those games they won by more than 9 points just once, early in the season is pass friendly Arizona. All those good points for Denver were not enough to convince me that they could win but can they keep this one close? I think so. Pittsburgh rarely blows teams off the field and they are the master of letting teams hang around and yet still feeling totally in control of the game. With the injury to Burger I don’t see the Steelers scoring many points and despite what some people think Denver will get a few. For the sake of the playoffs I am going to get hyper specific on you:
Steelers 17, Broncos 9 – With the likely highlight being Denver settling for a 4th quarter FG in Steelers territory despite everyone in the world knowing they are cooked if they don’t finish that drive with a TD, John Fox will be unwavering.