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Steelers @ Tebows

  

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  1. 1. Who wins?



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TIME: 04:30 P.M. EST

VENUE: Sports Authority Field

 

 

 

The defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers head into the playoffs with Ben Roethlisberger nursing a severely sprained left ankle and Rashard Mendenhall out with a torn ACL.

 

They still might be in better shape than the Denver Broncos, who are also dealing with injuries to key offensive personnel and have been struggling mightily behind Tim Tebow.

 

Making matters worse for the AFC West champs, they also have to contend with the league's best defense.

 

With the Steelers' offense banged up, their defense looks to frustrate Tebow and the Broncos, who back into Sunday's wild-card game in Denver on the heels of three straight losses.

 

Pittsburgh (12-4) lost Mendenhall, the team's top rusher, late in the first quarter of last Sunday's 13-9 win over Cleveland. The injury to his right knee leaves third-year running back Isaac Redman and rookie John Clay as the only healthy ball carriers on the roster.

 

Redman ran for 92 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries against the Browns, but also lost two fumbles.

 

"Now that we've got (the fumbles) out of the way, we tell him 'You're the feature guy, you need to prepare for it,'" tackle Max Starks said.

 

Pittsburgh would benefit greatly if Redman can make some plays to take the pressure off Roethlisberger, who hasn't been as effective since injuring his ankle against Cleveland on Dec. 8. He re-aggravated the injury in the regular-season finale after sitting out the previous week, and said Wednesday his ankle felt like a "five" on a scale of one-to-10.

 

While Roethlisberger expects to play, his protection might not be as good as hoped with starting center Maurkice Pouncey likely to sit out due to a sprained ankle.

 

In the two games he's played since initially hurting his ankle, Roethlisberger has thrown for 551 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions for a 62.2 quarterback rating. In his first 13 contests, he had 21 TDs to 11 picks, averaging 1.66 more yards per attempt, for a 95.6 passer rating.

 

While Roethlisberger hasn't been at his best lately, he's been considerably better than Tebow.

 

After being the talk of the NFL while engineering amazing comebacks during Denver's six-game winning streak, Tebow has seemingly lost his magic as his team hasn't won since. He has four interceptions and two fumbles in the last two games, and is coming off a brutal performance in last Sunday's 7-3 loss to Kansas City, misfiring on 16 of 22 passes and throwing for 60 yards with a pick for a 20.6 QB rating.

 

The Broncos (8-8) still managed to win the division thanks to Oakland's loss.

 

"I think that he's probably going through what a lot of newly starting quarterbacks go through in that you get enough looks on people on film, then you get ideas about comfort zone and things about how you can potentially play him," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "I think people are gathering more information about him."

 

Despite sputtering into the playoffs, Tebow isn't concerning himself with what happened in the final weeks of the regular season.

 

"The three losses haven't shaken my confidence," said Tebow, who has completed 41.1 percent of his passes and is averaging 146.3 passing yards during the skid.

 

Now he's got the difficult task of facing a Pittsburgh team that is first in total defense (271.8 yards per game), passing defense (171.9) and points allowed (14.2).

 

The Steelers, who have allowed a league-low three touchdowns in six games since Week 12, will be welcoming back linebacker LaMarr Woodley, who spent the second half of the season dealing with a strained left hamstring.

 

They won't have safety Ryan Clark available, though, because of a sickle-cell trait that becomes aggravated when playing at higher elevations. Clark also didn't play in the Steelers' last game in Denver, a 28-10 win in 2009 in which Roethlisberger threw for 233 yards with three TDs.

 

Ryan Mundy will make his third career start in Clark's place.

 

Going up against Pittsburgh's stout defense, John Fox and the Broncos' offensive staff are likely to be even more cautious to prevent Tebow from making more mistakes.

 

"We have to put him in position where he can succeed," Fox said. "We'll try to give him some better pass plays to operate."

 

Denver's offense revolved around a ground game that led the league in rushing and set the franchise single-season mark with 2,632 yards. Willis McGahee ran for 1,199 of those and Tebow finished with 660 on the ground, but continuing that pace could be tough because of a couple injuries.

 

Right guard Chris Kuper, the leader of a young line, broke his left leg against the Chiefs and is done for the season, while fullback Spencer Larsen might miss the game with a sprained MCL in his left knee. On the other side of the ball, safety Brian Dawkins has been ruled out due to a neck injury.

 

Although the odds seem to be stacked against Tebow, Roethlisberger and the Steelers know what the unorthodox quarterback is capable of.

 

"I think he's a winner. I think he finds ways to get it done," said Roethlisberger, who has nine TD passes and a 115.8 passer rating in three games in Denver. "People say he can't throw the ball, he can't do this. He finds a way to win."

 

Roethlisberger should know. The two-time Super Bowl champion is 10-3 all-time in the playoffs - the third-best record of any QB with at least 10 postseason starts since 1950 - and has won seven consecutive games in January.

 

One of those playoff victories came over the Broncos in the 2006 AFC championship, Denver's last playoff appearance.

 

These teams have split their six playoff meetings, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl five times.

 

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press.

 

Gonna be closer than it should be, which means that Tebow is going to win :yep:

Edited by Vin
  • Upvote 1

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:Steelers: 27

 

:Broncos: 6

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I want to believe. Our gameplan is the same that any team needs to utilize to win. Get interior pressure, with Pouncey out this is our best chance of winning, we collapse the pocket and force Ben to use that shitty ankle. Make him make the bad throws, force the line to hold and kill their offense.

 

On Offense, we can't be afraid to run the ball. Yeah Harrison and Woodley and all of those beasts are still on that defense, but if we get away from what we do well (Read-Option) We're toast. Incorporate some Play Actions, and make sure our primary receiver gets seperation. Against Taylor and Gay that's a seriously difficult task, but if we can outmuscle them with our blocking, it might force them to play off that extra yard or so. Tebow needs to be less gunshy and just rip at it, otherwise we will lose without a fight.

 

:Broncos: 16

:Steelers: 14

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I see this game..as a game where things seem to be lining up for the Broncos from Steelers misfortunes. Maurice Pouncey, Ryan Clark, Rashard Mendenhall are all out with injuries...Ben is suffering from a bum ankle that severely limits his mobility and alters his throwing motion. Ben will run out of the shotgun...edge rush is needed desperately by the Broncos..and what's two better ways to do it by Von Miller and Dumervil..but it starts with inside penetration first. If the Broncos can force one on one matchups on the outside by occupying the three interior lineman with their NT...than they can at least contain Pitt's offense. Offensively, the run game and TE's need to be Tebows best friends. Realistically Denver can win this, but it's going to take everything that they have.

 

Low Scoring Game.

 

:Steelers: 12

:Broncos: 9

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Since Ben Roethlisberger first injured his ankle in Week 14, the Steelers have scored just 23 points in 10 quarters with Roethlisberger under center.

 

At his most effective when he's able to extend plays by rolling out of the pocket, Roethlisberger has struggled as his high-ankle sprain has limited his mobility. He insists he tweaked the injury in Week 17, meaning he could be in for another afternoon of remaining confined to the pocket in Sunday's Wild Card game. If that's the case, a Steelers team missing C Maurkice Pouncey and Rashard Mendenhall could struggle to score points.

 

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazett

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Steelers have a lot of injuries so I think this game will be a lot closer than it should be, but the Steelers will still be on top.

 

:Steelers: 16

:Broncos: 6

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Tebows have won three of the last 4 games vs the steelers.

 

Tebows - 12

 

Steelers - 10

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Anybody but the Broncos and I'd bet against Pittsburgh.

 

:Steelers: 20

:Broncos: 6

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Ben Roethlisberger is active for and starting Sunday's Wild Card round game against the Broncos.

 

The Steelers' Week 18 inactives are RB Mewelde Moore, FS Ryan Clark, CB Cortez Allen, C Maurkice Pouncey, LB Mortty Ivy, DE Al Woods, and OT Jamon Meredith.

 

 

 

Broncos declared TE Julius Thomas, S Brian Dawkins, FB Spencer Larsen, DE Derrick Harvey, FB Austin Sylvester, LB Mike Mohamed, and OT Ryan Harris inactive for Sunday's Wild Card round game.

 

Thomas, a fourth-round project out of Portland State, finished the regular season with just one catch for five yards in five appearances. Dawkins will be replaced by a combo of David Bruton, and rookies Quinton Carter and Rahim Moore.

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Wow we almost gave the game away in the first Q again.

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gotta say, Tebow has actually looked pretty good so far

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Steelers didn't allow a 100-yard receiver all season; Demaryius Thomas has over 100 on two receptions already.

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Steelers didn't allow a 100-yard receiver all season; Demaryius Thomas has over 100 on two receptions already.

 

Which is why Ike Taylor is simply having an off game. I guess he's bad all of a sudden.

Edited by BayAreaBomber

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Which is why Ike Taylor is simply having an off game. I guess he's bad all of a sudden.

 

Anybody's capable of having an off-day. It's just a much bigger deal when it happens in the playoffs, for obvious reasons.

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Ike is good, but Thomas is a physical specimen.

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Ike is good, but Thomas is a physical specimen.

 

88 Club. :yep:

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:Steelers: 20

:Broncos: 6

 

Well, at least I nailed the halftime score...in reverse. :p

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That win by three touchdowns prediction ain't looking too good, Sarge.

 

And also the one that said they wouldn't get into the endzone on offense.

 

Steelers getting handled right now.

Edited by Thanatos19

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NBB mad.

 

The guy is a leader. Once he learns how to also be a QB, Denver will have themselves a franchise QB.

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Tebow's playing well, but the Steelers just started falling apart in the 2nd quarter. And it hasn't helped that all three of their starters on the defensive line are injured.

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^ Same with Big Ben. He's getting a bit antsy back there in the pocket..plus when he tweaked that injured ankle when he got sacked...their offense isn't doing too well and the Broncos are using some of that magic Tebow dust to capitalize when Pittsburgh can't.

 

I thought it'd be a close game and I'm sure it'll still end up being decided by 10 points or less but I'm still surprised to see Denver up 20-6 at the half...how long can Denver hold this lead?

 

Also, isn't Zack at this game?

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NBB mad.

 

The guy is a leader. Once he learns how to also be a QB, Denver will have themselves a franchise QB.

The guy is a leader, no doubt. If he starts to play like he is today on a consistant basis, I will give him props. I'm just not going to buy into the guy because he's had one good game against a team that has been destroyed by injuries.

 

I do have to say though, I am impressed with him today.

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