I still think the Broncos are the better team, but when your defense is unable to stop the opposing offense on third and long for an entire half—the Steelers were something like 8 of 9 on 3rd and 8 or longer in the first half—you simply can’t expect to win.
Saddest about this was that the Broncos were able to run very effectively against the Pittsburgh defense, which would have worked to their advantage as it has all year in opening up the passing game had they not fallen behind so quickly. Jake Plummer will once again be the local media’s scapegoat, but real football fans will recognize that a poorly-executed defensive game plan put him in a position where the Bronco’s strength, the run game, was, in Shanahan’s mind, at least, taken away early on (personally, I think he gave up on it way too soon)—which allowed Pittsburgh to focus its defense entirely on the pass.
Bottom line summation: Shanahan called a lousy game; and the softness of the zone in our defensive secondary (the Broncos didn’t stop Pittsburgh from scoring once in the first half) forced Plummer to spend the entire second half scrambling away from Pittsburgh’s blitzing linebackers who were keying on the pass—at times allowing him to make incredible plays out of nothing (some of his escapes were miraculous), but at one crucial moment throwing an interception when he had Mike Anderson wide open in the flat for a 15 yard gain. All of this, though, was the result of falling behind and not sticking with the run.
I’m disappointed, obviously, because this is the best Broncos team we’ve fielded since ‘97; but football games turn on breaks, and today, the breaks went to Pittsburgh—from a series of dropped interceptions (Bailey—who would have started the game with a turnover for a Broncos touchdown; Foxworth in the endzone; and Ferguson, who simply wiffed in the endzone) to two caused fumbles that we couldn’t recover.
Oh well. Onward to next year. Best of luck to Jerome Bettis, and congrats to the Broncs for a fine season.
Yeah, but next year it will be just as disappointing when they lose the Super Bowl to the Redskins.
By the way, sorry I missed the whole “DarkSyde” thing. I was on a long distance conference call with Osama, coordinating our strategery.
In his next tape, he agreed to say that he voted for the Iraq war before he voted against it.
Hear, hear! on that Redskins bit.
I’m afraid I was pulling *against* the Broncs because Champ Bailey was rather low-class after his requested trade from the ‘Skins.
So, like Dear Leader Markos would say: screw that mercenary.
Cordially…
Hillary Clinton just blamed Denver’s loss on the administration’s policy on Pittsburgh.
Heck, I’m hoping for a Steelers/Seahawks Super Bowl. Blue Collar Vs. the Latte Lappers…
BECAUSE OF THE TURNOVERS!!
John Cole paid you to write this with his ill-gotten Pajamas income, didn’t he, Jeff?
BECAUSE OF ROGER SIMON!
Sorry for your loss.
Time to move on.
Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 16th.
TW: word. Thunderbird?
you know why they lost Jeff.
they were favoured.
TW: ate
as in, olbos, koros, hubris, ate
harrison, Colorado doesn’t have a professional baseball team. They only have the Rockies.
I suppose when you aren’t a Lion fan you can afford to be gracious in a loss.
I don’t know why, but I have this tremendous urge to go outside and light a couch on fire.
I live in the Detroit metro area but am not a Lions fan. I grew up around St Louis in the Jim Hart days, but Bill Bidwill has long been acknowledged NFT Screwup Supreme of all times, so I have no rooting interest past seeing good game. My son, however, is a Steelers fan for no particular reason I’ve ever heard. He’s ecstatic, and the world could do worse than Have Jerome Bettis get to the Super Bowl.
Oh, yeah, when I was a kid the rhyme went:’
“What’s the word?
Thunderbird.
What’s the price?
30 twice.”
It went for 60 cents a bottle. Heh.
Aw, damn.
Good recap except for one line…the best team did win. Pittsburgh. Denver did not give the game to the Steelers, they created a situation that promoted all the mistakes. The way things are going, it is a Pittsburgh/Seattle Superbowl.
It’s all because Rove wanted it that way.
Denver may have given up on the pass a tad early. I don’t think that made a whit of difference, though. Denver actually played fairly well. It’s just that Pittsburgh, right now is playing great. Do they have the most talent of the teams in the playoffs? Maybe not. But right now no one is playing better than they are.
Sorry Jeff. I took the trouble to Google the Denver suicide hotline number, if you need it. But I think you’ll survive. If it makes you feel any better, I live in KC and we didn’t make the playoffs (again). At least you damn near made it to the Superbowl.
Jeff, I don’t know how you can say Denver has the better team. Just because Pittsburgh struggled a little early (and don’t forget, Roethlisberger was hurt), and Denver was pretty consistent all season, that doesn’t mean Denver has a better team. Pittsburgh finally started playing up to their level at the end of the season. I think if you look objectively at the talent on both sides of the ball it’s pretty hard to make the case that Denver is the better team.
Did you see where Gibbs said he’s relinquishing the play-calling next year to Al Saunders? Thank God. The game plan and play-calling against the Seahawks was abysmal. Better hope the Broncs don’t make it to the Super Bowl next year. 1987, 1987, 1987.
GO SKINS!
Could be worse…
Could be a Bengals fan…
What kind of namby-pamby, lily-livered, “not-winning-or-losing-how-you-play-the-game,” levitatin’ loafer, MOTHER OF CHRIST, GRADE-A HORSEHIT is that, Little Susie Goldstein?
Your team LOST. They are LOSERS, you hear? LOSERS!
And you know what that makes you.
No, it doesn’t. Nor does it mean Pittsburgh does. My opinion is that Denver has the better team. Which is why I said it.
Lots of moments in that game that could have turned momentu 180 degrees. But so it goes.
Should have never been a Steelers game there. If Pittsburg hadn’t hurt Palmer, then Cincinnati would have played and Beat Denver alst week and this week would have played and beat New England.
Since you can never prove me wrong, the argument stands.
Come on, let this Bengal fan have his fantasy!
Ah, selective quoting. Can you really look at the overall talent and say that Denver has a better team? I guess you can.
Yes, I can. The got out coached today. They completely shut down Pittsburgh’s run. They’re excellent (this year) on special teams, Sauerbraun’s out of bounds k.o. notwithstanding.
They have a better running game. They are better against the run. Their weakness is always in a scheme where they don’t get pressure on the QB and then play a soft zone. They managed to correct that for most of the season, but it was precisely the way they got beat by KC, and its how the Colts dominated them in the last two playoffs.
And while it’s fashionable right this moment to talk about Pittsburgh’s linebackers, I’ll take Al Wilson, Ian Gold, and DJ Williams over just about any trio in the league.
Similarly, Champ Bailey is perhaps the best corner in the league—and the rookies, Foxworth and Darrent Williams (and eventually Paymah) will only get better and have shown a lot of talent.
I think the Broncos need an impact receiver (Lelie has the potential but is too sporadic), and a power rusher to compliment Trevor Pryce. And I think they need to screen more (they are too enamored of the quick slant). But Rod Smith is still an excellent possession receiver who can break some big plays, and he’s a great blocker, as well.
I give the Steeler’s the edge in the receiving corp now, but that’s about it.
Which is why I think the Broncos are the better team overall. But they’ve also become fairly predictable offensively.
I don’t know it for sure, but Dayne might play a bigger role next year.
Bah, SORE LOSER, better team, my redneck ass! Denver got their asses handed to them by Roethlisburger, and it was painful to watch. Pittsburgh pride!!
/I gloat
// but too much.
I agree with you for the most part Jeff. If you compared the players one to one, I think Denver may be better. But for some reason, I’m not sure it’s entirely coaching, Pittsburgh is crazy-making plays right now. Every play they need to make, whether it be a fumble recover or a tackle…they make it. Alot of teams have runs like that…Pittsburgh is having it in the post season. A long time ago I heard an All Pro Defensive End named Claude Humphrey say, “I’d rather be hot than good…” he said it sort of tongue in cheek, but he had a point. Not that the Steelers aren’t good. They obviously are, but right now they’re hot and good.
Pittsburgh won because it is the best football team ever seen in the universe, including alternate reality universes (except the alternate universe where the Steelers went 19-0 and the 1972 Dolphins were forced to lie prostrate before Cowher in the Hall of Fame and admit their fallibility).
Jeff’s allowed to think Denver was the better team but lost because … they sucked when it counted. We all know what it’s like to be a fan.
That said, next year, the Steelers go 19-0 and the 1972 Dolphins ...
Man, bringing up the Rockies after that Broncos game—that’s just cold man.
You’re all pathetic. Try being a Browns fan. Seriously, try it. Whatever. Pricks. I give up.
The Steelers beat the numbers one, two and three seeds in the playoffs, yet they’re still not the better team. Yeah.
Another Steelers fan…
Franklinstein,
I saw this show on ESPN classic, I think, Five Reasons You Can’t Blame Art Modell for moving the Cleveland Browns. I was just wondering. Do Browns fans happen to agree with any of that?
The question of the day: is the word “Steelers” p.c. enough to print in the Seattle papers so as not to offend pony-tailed men in Seattle coffee shops? Steel mills are inherently eco-unfriendly, the loss of mill jobs is most likely due to Republican policy, and I think they eat a lot of meat at “The Big O” in Pittsburgh. Man, don’t these folks know about the Socialist Workers Movement on the west coast?!?
Sorry, but the Steelers can’t lose to a team that looks like they were dipped into an Iraqi voting box.
Last week, the Broncos beat the Pats because in key situations that got turnovers or forced Brady to make an errant throw by putting pressure in his face.
Today, on the first defensive series, Ben R threw of his back foot across the field to Ward. Champ Bailey broke on the ball, got his arm a bit hooked, and instead of taking it the other way for six—he had a clear field—the ball popped off his shoulder pad and actually found it’s way into Ward’s hands for a first down. It was huge third down play—potentially a game changer; in that same series, the Broncs forced a fumble and recovered it. On review, the runner was ruled down on the questionable assertion the he had control of the ball in his hand as it hit the ground. The ball looked like it had started sliding loose, and the at the ground precipitated the degree of the fumble, but nevertheless, the call went the Steelers’ way. They ultimately scored on that drive, but not before Ben threw a pass into the endzone that Foxworth had in his hands for a pick. The receiver did a nice job of getting a hand on it and knocking it loose, but those are three instances on the opening drive of the game that went against the Broncos.
Last week, they made all those plays.
Similarly, at the end of the first half, the TD pass to Ward was a bad decision, and had Nick Ferguson gotten his mitts together, he picks that ball off. Another huge play—7 points and momentum going into halftime.
On the offensive side for Denver, they were down 10-0, moved the ball easily down the field, and then, on first down from the 12—as I’m screaming at the TV that Porter was coming on the blitz and hoping Shanahan, who likes to go for the kill, will instead go against his tendencies, which Pitt had studied, and run a quick trap or a draw. Anderson or Bell either walk into the endzone or (as happened on 3rd down, when the finally DID do it) pick up 6-8 yards. Either way, you establish the run, establish your dominance at the line of scrimmage, teach Pitt the perils of blitzing by tendecy, and make the game 10-7. Not only that, you take some additional time off the clock.
Plummer made 2 bad plays, one that was his fault (the int after the great special teams runback—he had Mike Anderson uncovered in the flat with nobody within 15 yards, and even that guy was chasing a receiver and had his back turned to Anderson; and the int at the end of the first half, which was a combination of Shanahan not being content to dump the ball off or run a couple times to see if it was worth going for points, depending on field position, having burned time outs when they shouldn’t have, and Plummer throwing a ball to Steve Alexander who may or may not have run the right route. Plummer through it outside; Alexander looked as though her were looking for an inside jump ball against a smaller corner pinned on the sideline. Either way, that pass was similar to the one Lelei later caught going down the sidelines, so while it was a bad decision, ultimately, it was more of a bad coaching decision than anything I else, I think. Shanahan gets impatient).
Beyond that, Plummers first fumble was a blindside blitz hit. That’s how fumbles happen. He certainly didn’t hold the ball too long or forget to step up in the pocket. It was just a good play; the second fumble was predictable given the situation. The Broncos were playing street ball by then.
Anyway, that’s the way I saw the game. The breaks this week went Pittsburgh’s way, and they took advantage of them much like Denver did against the Pats last week. For our part, we had our chances and didn’t make the plays. Buy my count, there were at least 4 dropped passes for Denver, one of which would have taken us out from the 3 yard line up to the 20 and given us a crucial first down. But its hard to fault Rod Smith, who is usually so reliable.
Shit happens. Next year. And if you’re going to run aggressive blitz packages, have the balls to bring your safeties and corners up and make the other team beat you deep. Ben picked them apart 10-12 yard at a time on 3rd and longs because our secondary gave too much cushion. All year we;ve give up passing yardage, but it was meaningless, because we would give up 7 on 3rd and 9. Today, we were hesitant. It backfired and caused me much viewing grief.
I only caught the last few minutes of the game. By then, it was indistinguishable from a snuff film.
“We?” Unless you played for or a member of the staff of the Denver NFL franchise, that term is entirely inappropriate (and the single largest peeve in all of sports).
Keep in mind, wingnuts — all those Steelers are union members. Therefore evil.
Goldstein, you shouldn’t pin your case on the Denver defense considering the fact that they just got shredded. They generated virtually no pressure on Roethlisberger all day despite their vaunted blitz scheme. Mike Andersen had some nice carries, I’d love to see him in the Black & Gold (especially speaking as a USMC poolee) but 24-7 at halftime … you know the run game isn’t going to be a factor.
It’s pretty rare for a “better team” to lose 34-17. Sorry.
I saw this show on ESPN classic, I think, Five Reasons You Can’t Blame Art Modell for moving the Cleveland Browns. I was just wondering. Do Browns fans happen to agree with any of that?
I’m a Bengals fan, and even I can’t think of an acceptable reason to move the Browns. It did allow me to redirect my virulent hatred to Modell and the Ravens, though.
I grew up in Michigan and I am a huuuugeeee Lions fan– when they are playing well.
I have also been a proud fair weather fan of the Bengals and the Buccaneers.
Mostly- and this will shock nobody- I root for the team with the cutest QB. So who’ve I got in the Superbowl?
The Steelers got a lot of breaks during the first half, the score could easily been reversed.
But why didn’t Shanahan ever act like they were running out of time. Sheesh, with 9 minutes to play, he still wasn’t in a hurry-up/no huddle offense. They were leisurely sucking up :40 at a pop between plays. Had he given up already?
Sorry your Broncs went down, Jeff. That said, I was born in the ‘Burgh– Go Steelers!
Denver really needed to go all the way this time.
Without Kubiak next year they could well struggle to get to .500
Seattle is the home of Starbucks coffee. Terry Bradshaw’s first wife was figure skater JoJo Starbuck. Make up your own nasty joke now.
So it’s 3rd and long and you’re going to blitz. Why oh why do you play your corners 10 yards off the reciever? Foxworth was getting torn up underneath all day. Of course you don’t want to get beat over the top but after they convert a couple of 3rd downs and march down the field it’s time to trust your corner to make the play. The defense got conservative and soft on the wrong day.
Jeff,
I’m curious…its yor opinion that Denver was the better team, but just got outplayed/outcoached/didn’t get the breaks, and given that
Do you think the Pats were/are the better team?
TW: if Bailey hadn’t returned that interception 100 yds…
1. Peyton Manning is the best passer in the game, but Big Ben is already vying with Brady for best QB rights. He just. Doesn’t. Screw. Up. A lot of credit must go to Pitt’s sterling O line and Cowher’s scheming too.
2. Detroit Lions = LA Clippers
Miles —
What makes you think I give a shit about your peeve? The Broncos call themselves the Denver Broncos. I live in—and pay taxes to—Denver. The team belongs, at least symbolically, to the city.
If it makes YOU feel more comfortable, mentally supply “Pat Bowlen’s” Broncos, or instead of reading “because this is the best Broncos team we’ve fielded,” supply “the best Broncos team the city of Denver, who allows its name to attach to Pat Bowlen’s team, has fielded” etc.
Or, you can simply try not to show how clever you are by literalizing pronouns that can be use royally.
kyle,
Harsh about the Lions, but true. I grew up in the Detroit area and latched onto the Black & Gold in the 1970’s when it was apparent that just about every home Lions game was blacked out locally because they couldn’t get the locals to fill the 1,975,000 seat capacity Silverdome eyesore to watch a suck job team.
Just about all the people in Washington state who don’t live in the Seattle area are just as disdainful of all the latte-sipping leftists as you all are.
But we love our Seattle teams anyway.
Go Seahawks!
Rob —
I wouldn’t say the Pats were better, but I will say that before the two games were played, I’d have given the Pats a better chance against the Broncos, because they have the QB with the stronger arm and the better pocket awareness, and the better ability to beat the blitz deep.
As with the Steelers, I didn’t fear the running game of the Pats; Dillon actually ran a bit better than I thought he would, but the Pats running game was no match for the Broncos front.
But unlike yesterday, when the Broncos blitzed Brady—though he occasionally burned them deep or on quick seam routes to the tight ends—it did what it was supposed to do: forced him to hurry throws and miss key third down conversions, or dump the ball off short and tackle to prevent those same conversions.
I expected us to play that same defense yesterday, only we’d put a spy on the tight end, and we’d press the outside receivers. Had we done so, I believe we would have shut down the Steelers successfully.
Instead, as I noted several times above—and as Dario makes crystal clear—our corners sat back REPEATEDLY 12 yards on third and long when they should have been up hitting the receivers and daring Roethlisberger to beat them deep in one on one coverage. At the very least, this would have taken away the Steelers’ ability to dictate the tempo by picking up so many first downs. Trust one who watches all the Broncos games. The defense allowing so many 3rd and longs was very unusual THIS SEASON. It was a problem of the past I’d thought we’d overcome. Which lead me to believe we went conservative at the wrong time and dared Ben R to hit the timing routes.
When the Broncos have lost in the last 3 years, this has been the recipe.
Foxworth is a rookie and a talented one; he’ll be a star in this league. But yesterday he played a bit scared—and he did so against a receiver corp that did not scare me as deep threats as much as the Pats’ did. I wish Darrent Williams had been healthy. He’s a more aggressive corner, and is a bit better than Foxworth. But that’s football.
Quite clearly, had a few breaks gone the other way, the game changes; this is the case against the Pats, too—though the difference is, the Pats didn’t drop interceptions and blow chances, etc. They played well defensively, and the Broncos won because they caused turnover and scored off of them. Pittsburgh did that yesterday, but at the same time the Broncs missed all their interceptions, didn’t recover the fumbles, and couldn’t make 3rd and long stops.
I guess if you go through every single play of the game that hurt the Broncos and not the Steelers, and then state an ALTERNATE way where the outcome COULD HAVE been different, well yeah, sure, the Broncos were the better team and probably should have won.
On the other hand, you could examine the fact that the Steelers beat the #1, #2, and #3 seeded teams on the road, something that has never been done before, and then look at the fact that they shut down your run, had your QB so rattled he committed 4 turnovers, exploited every possible gap in your coverage and scored the first four times they held the ball, and maybe, just maybe, you might think the better team actually won.
Oh, and by the way, Jeff. Foxworth? Turtle.
I think the biggest thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet was the fact that Denvers defense got beat by little known Cedric Wilson throughout most of the game. With Champ Bailey basically taking away Ward, who was Ben’s safety valve throughout the season, the Steelers were forced to go to an unproven Wilson who only had 26 catches the whole year. He ended up with almost 100 yards receiving and on those 3rd and longs Jeff was talking about, it was almost always Wilson who came up with the ball. Foxworth was simply overmatched. I also think Lynch has lost a step too many, as he was always a second or two too late coming on the blitz, allowing Ben to make the throw unhampered.
Somehow we also got to see the best and worst of Jake Plummer yesterday. He made some god-awful throws at times, and then other times made some incredible scrambling plays that defied logic. I agree with Jeff that had Denver stuck with the run game longer they would have slowed down Pitts defense. Mike Anderson was continually knocking back linebackers and safeties on runs up the middle. If you soften a defense like that, you have to stick with it. Had they done that, Pittsburgh would have had to respect the play-action, which would have allowed for more open receivers on Denvers most dangerous play, the play-action bootleg. I will give credit to Jake though, he played better than I thought he would in the biggest game so far of his career.
A fumble recovery here, Lynch not dropping an interception there, we have a different ballgame.
But dem’s da breaks kid. Don’t tell me about it. As a Titans fan, in one playoff run we went from the Musical City Miracle to one yard short of going to OT in the Super Bowl. Success is a bitter mistress…
Jeff, had things been different the week before the Broncos would still be out. Indy would have taken them out.