Only piece of Good News: They don't have to play in the Divisional Round. If they needed to travel to Foxborough to play the Patriots, there would be, like, 15 guys on the active roster. According to Tomlin's press conference on Monday, pretty much everyone suffered a catastrophic injury on Sunday and they would've only dressed two offensive linemen against New England. That's an exaggeration, but not much of one.
If there's one other silver lining, I was impressed by how the offense still hung in there and managed to put up 23 points. They were missing their starting tailback, they were down three offensive linemen, Ben Roethlisberger was at about 50 percent capacity on his banged up ankle, and they were stuck in a situation where they needed to throw the ball and the defense knew it.
Ike Taylor had the worst game of his professional career. Dick LeBeau didn't adjust from man coverage to zone when it became obvious in the second quarter that the Steelers corners couldn't handle the Denver receivers in man coverage. It could be that Ryan Clark was the X factor. Without him to cover for Troy's freelancing, there were big holes in the back end. But, I'm not ready to say that Taylor sucks because of one game. I think LeBeau would come to my house and beat me up if I even hinted at saying something like that about him and I would deserve it. William Gay leaves a lot to be desired, but he's a better option than Bryant McFadden or Curtis Brown. Troy did a great job on run defense, but he was too committed to the line of scrimmage, even after Tebow started completing long passes past overwhelmed Steelers cornerbacks. Do I think they should cut him? I do not, that would be dumb.
The defensive line was all backups and Jason Worilds was in for Lamarr Woodley for most of the game. Without pressure from the front seven -- some more blitzing would have been nice -- the secondary was left shorthanded and you saw the results. Given that this defense is going to undergo a major overhaul in the offseason due to salary cap issues, we may have had a glimpse into the future. That's really bad news.
Ike Redman actually averaged 7.0 yards a carry. Mike Wallace had a nice touchdown run. Heath Miller, Emmanuel Sanders, and Jerricho Cotchery chipped in. Roethlisberger did the best he could on one leg. The interception was inexcusable, but, like everyone else on offense, you could at least claim that he tried hard and didn't give up.
This was a maximum effort game by the Steelers on both sides of the ball, just not maximum focus. Wallace had a couple of critical drops and his head definitely wasn't in the game -- he hasn't been on the same page with Roethlisberger since Ben's ankle injury. Mundy and Troy didn't cover well on deep passes. Taylor often forgot that he was supposed to be covering Thomas. They didn't switch up to zone just to keep the plays in front of them.
Tim Tebow averaged 15 yards an attempt and 31 yards a completion. He averaged five yards a carry. Demaryius Thomas averaged 51 yards per catch. They had some ridiculous numbers on offense. They got on a roll in the second quarter and were almost unstoppable.
That's the thing about this Broncos team: They're dangerous to opponents because they feed off momentum and confidence more than any team I've ever seen. If they get on a roll, they can beat anybody, including the Patriots and the Packers. The way they're set up on offense, if they can hit on some big plays in the passing game against teams that have trouble defending the pass (Patriots are 31st against the pass, Green Bay is 32nd), then they open up the rest of the offense and can mix in runs from Tebow and the other members of their top-rated rushing attack to keep a defense off balance and possess the football.
Denver is also a danger to themselves because they feed off momentum and confidence more than any team I've ever seen. If things aren't clicking for them early and the Patriots/Packers/hated Ravens jump out to a big lead, then the Broncos will start to lose confidence and the wheels will start to come off. They may get hot late, but by then it will be too late. If the Steelers had scored touchdowns on those two first quarter possessions, the game would have unfolded much differently. I'm not saying the Broncos got lucky and the Steelers deserved to win. Denver played well and they played better than the Steelers. They deserved to win, the Steelers deserved to lose. I'm saying that controlling momentum and keeping the Broncos down is the key to victory. The Steelers didn't do that, they didn't capitalize on the opportunities they had early, and they paid the price. If future opponents do the same thing this postseason, then Denver has a great shot at some upsets.
But, the bad news for the Broncos is that the Packers, Patriots, and hated Ravens are all much better in the red zone than the Steelers. They also force more turnovers on defense. That gives those teams the ability to put Denver away early and keep them out of the game late. The Steelers didn't have that ability against anyone this season, which is one of the reasons why they'll have the same view of the games as the rest of us (in a roundabout way, I mean. I'm sure they have nicer TVs and more attractive people in their living rooms.)
And, hey, I say this every time the Steelers fall short of winning the Super Bowl: They've been there eight times, they've won six, and they've had only nine losing seasons since 1970. That's a damn impressive run and we, as Steeler fans, should appreciate it. And not be spoiled by it.
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and he had a good point. The team has been on quite a run since Ben Roethlisberger took over as the starting quarterback (and before that, but the Super Bowl appearances and AFC Championship Game appearances really started to pile up starting in 2004). Steeler fans have been spoiled by that run. Maybe it's time for a bad run, so that we can learn to appreciate success again instead of just expecting it and turning up our noses at it when it just isn't successful enough. I'm not saying I want the Steelers to suck. I'm saying that it may be the best thing for us as fans, at least in the long term.
As long as we still beat Baltimore. And the Patriots.
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