AFC WILD CARD PLAYOFFS : Steelers @ Broncos : 01.08.12 : Game Thread!

[Kipper]

[War Machine]

Dumervil and Miller are the two D players I'd be wary of. Brian Dawkins was ruled out either yesterday or Friday (can't remember which) with a neck injury.

[Palmetto Steel]

Let's get "wild" for this "Wild"card game!........ Time to open-up a can of whoop-*** on Denver today!....

[Palmetto Steel]

key matchups

STEELERS' PASS PROTECTION vs. ELVIS DUMERVILL & VON MILLER

Even though Ben Roethlisberger says Denver has a "great" defense, that's not the case. The Broncos rank 20th in total defense and 24th in points allowed at 24.4 per game. Four times this year including twice in December, the Broncos allowed 40 or more points in a game. That is not great. What the Broncos do have, however, are a few great players on defense. Two of them are strong-side linebacker Von Miller and defensive end Elvis Dumervil.

Miller, a first-round pick in this year's draft, leads the team with 11.5 sacks. Dumervill, a sixth-year pro who missed the entire 2010 season with a torn pectoral muscle, has 52.5 career sacks including 9.5 this year. Both Miller and Dumervil were named to the Pro Bowl team this season.

Considering that Roethlisberger's mobility is still limited because of a high ankle sprain, pass protection will be paramount. In particular, tackles Max Starks and Marcus Gilbert must elevate their games against Miller and Dumervil if they want to keep Big Ben clean.

MIKE WALLACE vs. CHAMP BAILEY

Champ Bailey may not be the NFL's best cornerback, but he's still one of the best. He was just named to his 11th Pro Bowl, which moves him into a tie for the third-most selections in league history. He's a future Pro Football Hall of Famer who has more career interceptions (50) than any active corner.

"Champ has still got it," Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said.

Bailey is expected to spend most of today's game guarding Mike Wallace, who led the Steelers with 72 catches, 1,193 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Like Bailey, Wallace has named to the Pro Bowl squad. But after a strong first half, Wallace has slumped in recent weeks. In the regular-season finale in Cleveland, caught just one pass for 11 yards.

What's encouraging for Wallace and Antonio Brown, the Steleers' other 1,000-yard receiver, is that Denver's secondary is susceptible to the deep ball. It's allowed 13 completions of 40 yards or more. By comparison, the Steelers have allowed only two.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. TIM TEBOW

The Steelers know all about Broncos running back Willis McGahee, who ranked eighth in the NFL with 1,199 rushing yards. He's a ninth-year pro who spent four seasons (2007-2010) with the Ravens, the Steelers' archrivals. No doubt the Steelers want to keep McGahee in check. But they also must stop Tim Tebow as well.

The Steelers don't fear Tebow's arm. In fact, they hope they can force him into throwing the ball often because he's so inaccurate. He's only thrown six interceptions in 11 starts, but he's only completed 46.5 percent of his passes. He's the league's only starting quarterback with completion rate lower than 50 percent. However, Tebow's 660 rushing yards -- second only to Cam Newton's 706 among NFL QBs - is a big reason why the Broncos lead the NFL in rushing.

"They are unique because he is unique," defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said of Tebow, who often runs a version of the option offense. "The guy is a winner. That's all you need to say."

SHAUN SUISHAM vs. MATT PRATER

Granted, Matt Prater has the luxury of kicking in Colorado's thin air. Still, kicking the ball straight is just as important as kicking it long. This year, Prater has done both. Three of Denver's eight wins have come in overtime on Prater's game-winning field goals. On Oct. 23 when Tim Tebow made his first start of the season, the Broncos won in Miami, 18-15 on Prater's 51-yarder in OT.

Then home on Dec. 11, Prater set NFL history, becoming just the second kicker to kick a 50-plus yarder with less than a minute left in regulation and then booting a 50-plus yarder in overtime. His 59-yarder against the Bears with three seconds left tied the game at 10-10 and then his 51-yarder in OT won it.

Prater also led the NFL this year with a 70.1 percent touchback rate (47 of 67) on his kickoffs.

Pittsburgh's Shaun Suisham only has a 38.9 percent touchback rate (28 of 72). Then again, he kicks half the time in Pittsburgh, not Denver. Suisham's longest field goal this year was a 51-yarder two weeks ago in San Francisco.

[Kipper]

Slowed by Age and Injuries, Steelers Still Have an Iron Grip
By JUDY BATTISTA
Published: January 7, 2012

PITTSBURGH — The obituary for a defense was swift and stinging.




The latest news, notes and analysis of the N.F.L. playoffs.
Go to The Fifth Down Blog

Old. Slow.

“And done,” Brett Keisel, the bearded defensive end, helpfully added.

Attachment 0Actually, Warren Sapp, the almost certain future Hall of Fame defensive tackle who is an NFL Network and Showtime analyst, said it was over for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was a jarring dismissal of the defense that was the N.F.L.’s best when the Steelers went to the Super Bowl last season. That defense has followed in the Pittsburgh tradition so seamlessly that the two Lombardi Trophies earned by this group stand in a hallway at the team offices beside the four won by the legendary Steel Curtain three decades ago.

But even in a place nicknamed Blitzburgh, Sapp’s critique seemed to have some merit, and it gained plenty of traction after the Steelers’ somnolent performance in a 35-7 season-opening loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

“It was fun to hear that, fun to have something to strive for other than beating ourselves,” safety Ryan Clark said. “Most years, that’s what it feels like, like you’re playing against the last Pittsburgh Steelers defense. All people know here is excellence. It was good to have those doubters, good to have those things to fight against. We relished it.”

So an odd thing happened on the way to N.F.L. irrelevance. By the end of the season, the Steelers were back to their familiar perch atop the league’s defenses, having changed nothing about their style but allowing the fewest yards and points — fewer than they allowed last season — in a season in which the dominant story line was often the absence of defense. For the fifth time in 11 seasons, the Steelers have the top defense, an astonishing stranglehold on opposing offenses that have rapidly changed with each season from balance to downfield bombs.

With an offense slowed even before Ben Roethlisberger sustained a high ankle sprain late in the season, and now lacking running back Rashard Mendenhall, who tore a knee ligament in the regular-season finale, and probably center Maurkice Pouncey, who aggravated a left ankle injury, the Steelers begin the playoffs at Denver on Sunday with a scouting report that could have been lifted from the 1970s.

The rest of the playoffs will be about the quarterbacking precision of the Packers, the Patriots and the Saints. The Steelers will be about James Harrison and Troy Polamalu hunting down quarterbacks. Same as it ever was.

“We’ve been around long enough to know one game is not a season,” Pittsburgh’s defensive coordinator, Dick LeBeau, said of the first loss to the Ravens. “We let things sort themselves out and we concentrate on what we can control. Everybody has games they’re not proud of, and that is certainly one of ours.”

Still, there was an ephemeral feel about the Steelers last week that was about much more than the oddity of preparing to face an option quarterback (Tim Tebow) for what LeBeau said might be the first time since he was a Detroit Lions defensive back.

A healthy Steelers team could have been the favorite to retain the A.F.C. championship. But the Steelers’ fragility belies their statistics.
Injuries have wreaked havoc with the defense, forcing LeBeau to bind it with the football equivalent of rubber bands and duct tape, using nine starting lineups in 16 games and deploying the same four starting linebackers — the spine of the 3-4 defense — just five times.

Linebacker Lawrence Timmons regularly plays inside. But LeBeau said that because of injuries, Timmons played four positions this season, sometimes two or three of them in one game. LeBeau will use another lineup Sunday, because Clark, who had started every game this season, will not play against the Broncos as a precaution because he possesses a sickle cell trait that leaves him at risk when playing at high altitude. The Steelers are used to delivering bruisings, but now they are the bruised, leaving them more vulnerable and less dominant than last season’s team.

Pittsburgh improved in passing yards allowed, yielding just 176 yards, compared with 214.1 last season. That, according to ProFootballFocus.com, which charts every play, is probably a testament to Harrison’s play when he has been healthy. (He missed five games to an eye injury and a suspension.)
In a formula that weighs sacks more heavily than hits and hurries, the Web site ranks Harrison as the second most productive 3-4 outside linebacker in the league, with 8 sacks, 9 hits and 21 hurries, particularly impressive because he rushes the quarterback on just 59.6 percent of all snaps.

But the Steelers have not been as successful against the run, allowing 99.8 yards a game, a long breakaway sprint worse than the 62.8 yards they allowed last season. That was jarring for a team traditionally so good against the run that opponents simply abandoned that part of the game.


More glaring is that the Steelers have produced just 15 turnovers, compared with 35 last season. As a result, the Steelers, despite a difficult schedule, feasted on teams with struggling offenses and inexperienced quarterbacks — Seneca Wallace, Blaine Gabbert, Kellen Clemens and Tyler Palko, among others — but lost three out of the four games they played against good offenses, beating only Tom Brady and New England but losing to Houston and to Baltimore twice.


The Ravens put together the most singeing drive of the season on Nov. 6, with the Steelers holding a 20-16 lead at home with 2 minutes 24 seconds remaining and a chance to seize control of the A.F.C. North. Baltimore began the drive at its 8, usually a typical moment for the Steelers’ defense to sack the quarterback or intercept a pass.


Instead, Joe Flacco marched Baltimore 13 plays — all passes — and 92 yards, completing a 26-yard touchdown pass on third-and-10. The drive left Heinz Field in stunned silence and signaled that if time had not yet passed by the Steelers’ defense as Sapp had predicted, it might at least be getting close.


“We are older as compared to other teams,” Clark said. “We know we have 30-year-old starters. If you go around the league and ask, ‘Would you take 30-year-old Troy Polamalu or 30-year-old Brett Keisel or Casey Hampton or James Farrior?’ a lot of teams would say, ‘Heck, yeah, we’ll take them all.’ ”


Clark could be correct, given that some of the Steelers’ oldest players — Keisel, Harrison, Polamalu — were also their best this season.


Pittsburgh’s locker room is festooned with children’s toys: Ping-Pong and billiards tables, and sometimes a basketball court marked off on the carpet in athletic tape. But against one wall last week, the longtime nose tackle Aaron Smith talked about considering retirement. He is 35 and missed 12 games after neck surgery. It made the room elegiac, with the implication that this could be among the last playoff runs for the core of players who have won two Super Bowls since 2006.


The Steelers have forestalled the march of time by building through the draft, so each player is familiar with the system by the time he becomes a starter. It will happen against Sunday. Farrior, who turned 37 on Friday, said he was excited to see safety Ryan Mundy, drafted in 2008, in place of Clark.


“We’re going to keep going on until we can’t go anymore,” Farrior said.


They are not done yet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/sports/football/steelers-defense-slowed-by-injuries-still-ranks-at-the-top.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=football

[Palmetto Steel]

Adversity as big a foe as Broncos
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Mike Bires mbires@timesonline.com

The Steelers are playing football today in Denver. They are not playing in the Twilight Zone, although it may seem that way.

They're taking on Tim Tebow and the Broncos after one of the most bizarre weeks in franchise history.

It started last Sunday night in Cleveland when running back Rashard Mendenhall blew out his knee without anyone touching him.

Tuesday, safety Ryan Clark was told by his coach that he would sit out the wild-card game for health reasons.

Thursday, wide receiver Antonio Brown, the team MVP, found out that the mother of his 4-year-old son had filed a child custody claim against him.

Friday, there was a double dose of bad news.

When the Steelers showed up for work, they were told that running backs coach Kirby Wilson was in a hospital recovering from severe burns to his arms and legs after a fire swept through his home. Shortly later, it was determined that center Maurkice Pouncey wouldn't play in Denver because of his nagging high ankle sprain.

All of that adds up to a ton of adversity.

In a year in which the Steelers managed to win 12 games despite a slew of injuries, they must be wondering how all this can be happening to them now as they enter the playoffs.

How prophetic it was on Monday when veteran linebacker James Farrior said "We love to have our backs against the wall."

The Steelers may be are 8-point favorites, but they certainly didn't arrive in Denver with a Rocky Mountain high.

No doubt, it's troubling that Clark and Pouncey can't play. There's also concerned about quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who's still not fully recovered from his high ankle sprain. But the situation at running back is downright scary.

Not only is Mendenhall done for the rest of the season, Mewelde Moore, a valuable sub in recent years, will miss his third straight game with a knee sprain.

That leaves the Steelers were three running backs - Isaac Redman, John Clay and Chad Spann.

What do those three have in common?

Coming out of college, nobody wanted them. None of them was selected in the draft. Each played his way onto the active roster after first playing on the practice squad.

Redman, who starts today, at least has been on the active roster now for two years. As an undrafted free agent out of NCAA Division II Bowie State, he earned a spot on the practice squad in 2009 after a strong showing in training camp.

Clay and Spann, however, were recent additions to the active roster.

A former star at Wisconsin, Clay turned pro after his junior season with the Badgers and figured he'd go as high as the third round of the draft. But after a poor performance in the NFL Combine that suggested maybe he was too slow, he didn't get drafted.

And there was that one day in training camp this past summer when Clay struggled so badly that Wilson yelled at him and told home to leave the field. Wondering if he'd been kicked off the team, Clay started walking dejectedly toward the locker room. Moments later, he was summoned back to practice and eventually landed a job on the practice squad.

Spann, who played at Northern Illinois, led all major-college running backs with 22 touchdowns in 2010. After spending time on the rosters of the Colts and Buccaneers this year, he was signed to the Steelers' practice squad on Dec. 12.

Clay moved up to the active roster Dec. 23 after Moore got hurt. Spann was brought up on Tuesday almost as an afterthought. The big news that day was coach Mike Tomlin saying Clark would not play in Denver.

Spann will be in uniform today although the Steelers hope they won't have to play him.

"It's hard to believe what's happening to us at the running back position," Redman said, shaking his head. "But we'll be alright. We're going to play our hearts out for Coach Wilson."

Winning today won't be easy for the Steelers. They haven't played well on the road this year, not even against inferior teams that they should have beaten with ease. And with their current state of affairs, winning becomes even more difficult.

But as Farrior said, the Steelers don't seem to mind when "our backs are against the wall."

In a few hours, we'll see just how well the Steelers cope with all the bad news the past few days brought them.

http://www.timesonline.com/sports/steelers/bires-adversity-as-big-a-foe-as-broncos/article_2bc36654-a071-57ce-ab12-ec3d2d5ac6b8.html

[Palmetto Steel]

When the Broncos have the ball: The Broncos haven't scored more than 17 points in six of their past eight games despite having the league's No. 1 running game. And they have turned the ball over 30 times, second most in the AFC. The problem is QB Tim Tebow, who is completing just 46.5 percent of his passes. Coach John Fox installed an option-read attack to tailor the offense to Tebow, and that has allowed RB Willis McGahee to rush for 1,199 yards. They run the option out of a spread formation with three wide receivers, Tebow in the shotgun and an offset back (McGahee). They'll also use a traditional I-formation. But, in a league where the pass is prevalent, their problems are best reflected by this stat: They have rushed for 601 yards in their past three games but lost all three because Tebow has regressed as a passer. OLB LaMarr Woodley will return. With the exception of two series vs. the Bengals Dec. 4, it will be the first time Woodley and OLB James Harrison will play in the same game since Week 4.

When the Steelers have the ball: The Broncos have given up 40 or more points four times, including twice in the past three games. Like the Steelers, they have injuries to key players, including OLB Von Miller and S Brian Dawkins. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen likes to use different looks and personnel to confuse the offensive line. He often will rush six out of their nickel and dime packages, but teams have hurt them with outside runs. But the Steelers don't have that kind of running back with the loss of Rashard Mendenhall. He will be replaced by Isaac Redman, who is more of an inside runner. It will be interesting to see if the Broncos use CB Champ Bailey to match against Pro Bowl WR Mike Wallace. Not many teams have used single coverage on Wallace or Antonio Brown. So much, of course, depends on the effectiveness of Ben Roethlisberger, who has produced just two TDs in 10 quarters since sustaining a high-ankle sprain. He will be without Pro Bowl C Maurkice Pouncey (ankle).

K Matt Prater ... A clutch kicker with three winning field goals plus a 59-yarder that sent a game into overtime, Prater is a weapon the Broncos rely on once they cross the 50-yard line. He usually will kick a 70-yard FG in practice, especially in the high altitude, and probably will negate any kick-return game by the Steelers because he often puts the kickoff through the uprights at high altitude. But Prater is as clutch as he is powerful: He has converted 28 of 29 FG attempts in the fourth quarter and overtime. He kicked a 59-yarder against Chicago with :03 left to force OT, then kicked a 51-yarder in OT to win the game.

This is the seventh playoff meeting between the Steelers and Broncos, with each team winning three times. The Steelers are 2-2 in Denver in the postseason. The Broncos have not played a postseason game since their 34-17 loss to the Steelers in the 2005 AFC championship. That was the last time the Steelers played a road playoff game. They are 3-3 in road postseason games since 1992. ... The Broncos are collapsing at the wrong time. They have lost three in a row by a combined 88-40 and are 3-5 at home. ... The Steelers have won two in a row and six of their past seven. They are 4-1 in their past five road games.

To win, the Broncos must ...

1 Conjure some Tebow magic. He has completed 40 percent of his passes with 4 INTs and 3 lost fumbles in their three-game skid -- numbers that must disappear.

2 Have Bailey be a champ. How they use him in single coverage will dictate how much deep success the Steelers can have in the passing game.

3 Buck the trend. The last team to lead the league in rushing and win the Super Bowl was the 1985 Chicago Bears.

To win, the Steelers must ...

1 Get Deebo on Tebow. That's the nickname for OLB James Harrison. The Steelers will need him to pressure from the outside to keep the Broncos QB inside the pocket.

2 Get Ben on the mend. He has thrown just one TD and four INTs and has a passer rating of 68.45 since he injured his left ankle.

3 Be special on teams. The Broncos will need scores from other sources, and Eddie Royal and Eric Decker already have returned punts for TDs this season.

[Kipper]

From DenverBroncos.com

They Meet Again

By Max Henson
Posted 20 hours ago

The Broncos last postseason game came in the 2005 AFC Championship against the Steelers. Tomorrow they'll square off in the Wild Card round as the playoffs get underway.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Fourteen Broncos are ready to make another postseason appearance Sunday.
The rest are eager for their first taste of the NFL’s second season as Denver gets set to host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

But whether they’re experienced or not, each member of the Broncos locker room shares the same excitement in playing for a championship.

“I’ll definitely be excited,” said cornerback Champ Bailey, who is bracing for his sixth postseason start. “I mean, this is the playoffs, there’s a little bit more excitement there just because it’s hard to get in this tournament and when you’re in you have to take advantage.”

“I know personally, this is the biggest game of my life,” said defensive end Robert Ayers, a playoff newcomer. “That’s how I’m approaching it. I want to lay it on the line. It’s all or nothing. You win or you go home. I don’t want to go home.”

In order to advance, the Broncos must defeat the 12-4 Steelers, last year’s AFC champion.

“It’s a huge challenge,” Head Coach John Fox said of facing Pittsburgh, “and that’s why we play the game.”
The biggest challenge facing the Broncos this week will be scoring against the league’s top-ranked defense, a veteran unit that allows a league-low 271.8 total yards per game.

The Steelers have a proud history of tough, aggressive defense and this year is no different.

“They’re really good. They have a bunch of great players, a great scheme, and some of the best players at their positions in the league,” quarterback Tim Tebow said leading up to his playoff debut. “You have guys like (S) Troy Polamalu, (LB) James Harrison, (LB) LaMarr Woodley, and all those guys have played a lot of football.”

“Everybody knows the Pittsburgh Steelers,” running back Lance Ball said. “They’re aggressive; they have this aura about them. They want to come in and push you around, and we have to be the first aggressor.”

To do that, Denver will test the Steelers’ run defense with a heavy dose of the NFL’s top-ranked rushing attack – one that features Willis McGahee, who posted a 1,199-yard regular season.

The Broncos know winning at the line of scrimmage in the run game will make it easier to keep the Steelers off balance with plays through the air.

A balanced attack is ideal, but Tebow and the Denver offense is focused on doing whatever it takes to move the ball downfield.

“More than anything, we’re just trying to find a way to win,” Tebow said. “So, whatever we have to do, whether that’s run the ball 55 times or pass it more -- it doesn’t matter. We’re just going to find any way we can to win the game.”

Tebow’s quarterback counterpart Ben Roethlisberger has been leading the Steelers in the playoffs since he entered the league in 2004. Tomorrow he’ll attempt to win his 11^th postseason start with a sprained left ankle – an injury he suffered in Week 14.

“He’s a tough quarterback. He’s able to move,” defensive end Elvis Dumervil said. “The way I look at it—I’m not looking at him like he’s hurt. As long as you’re out there I’m going to come at you.”

Key to Denver’s success defensively has been a steady pass rush, and the Broncos intend on disrupting the explosive Pittsburgh passing attack by getting to Roethlisberger early and often Sunday.

But according to linebacker Joe Mays, shutting down the Steelers’ run game, which is without starting running back Rashard Mendenhall, will be crucial if the Broncos hope to bring pressure in passing situations.

“We’ll definitely try to get after (Roethlisberger), but we have to make sure we take care of business first, which is trying to take away their running game,” Mays said. “They are definitely going to try to establish that running game to take some pressure off Roethlisberger.”

For the first time since the 2005 season, when Denver lost to Roethlisberger and the Steelers in the AFC Championship game, the Broncos are back in the playoffs.

“We’ve got a huge opportunity for this organization, for this city,” linebacker Mario Haggan said. “And we're going to go at it head first and try to make it happen.”

[Palmetto Steel]

Steelers-Broncos Preview
STATS LLC

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.

[Palmetto Steel]

2010 Trends (Post Season)

The Steelers are 10-6 ATS.

The Steelers are 5-3 ATS away.

The Steelers are 7-5 ATS as the favorite.

The Steelers are 3-2 ATS as an away favorite.

The Broncos are 6-10 ATS.

The Broncos are 4-4 ATS at home.

The Broncos are 5-7 ATS as the underdog.

The Broncos are 3-2 ATS as a home underdog.

[Kipper]

Broncos coach Fox believes pass-happy approach leads to doom

• By Marc Sessler NFL.com
• Published: Jan. 6, 2012 at 03:35 p.m.
• Updated: Jan. 6, 2012 at 05:28 p.m.

John Elway is urging Tim Tebow to wake from his funk and "pull the trigger," and the Broncos quarterback has promised to comply.

Somewhere in the middle of this arrangement stands John Fox, the coach in charge of Denver's game plan on Sunday, when the mighty Steelers visit for a wild-card encounter that doubles as the Broncos' opportunity to snap a stark, three-game skid.

Elway wasn't suggesting an all-out air assault, certain to run into trouble against Pittsburgh's top-ranked defense. He simply wants Tebow to reapply the devil-may-care approach (ill choice of words, perhaps) that, with all its faults, helped guide Denver to a 7-1 midseason surge.

It doesn't sound like Fox is planning to reinvent the wheel Sunday. He's come this far with his new pal, the read-option, and while he's heard the whispers about Denver needing to open it up to keep pace, a jarring change of strategy appears unlikely.

"I don't really understand what that means unless they say pass it a lot more," Fox told KDSP-FM this week, per SportsRadioInterviews.com. "If you look at our stats, whenever we have thrown it 35 or 45 times, it's been very lopsided, so I'd say they gotta stick to what they do because they know that better than they know this."

Fox downshifted into all-star coach-speak when asked to specify: "Without getting into too much detail from a competitive standpoint, we’ll have a good plan and I'm sure the Steelers will as well and whoever executes that the best on Sunday will leave victorious."

He says so much while saying so little. Only Sunday will tell if the Broncos have one more stunner left in their veins.

[Palmetto Steel]

Injuries


Pittsburgh

Player		Status/Updated	Notes
Ben Roethlisberger	QB	Prob Sun - Ankle - 1/5/12	Roethlisberger aggravated his high ankle sprain in Week 17 against the Browns but is fully expected to start in Sunday's Wild-Card game against the Broncos.
Doug Legursky	C	Prob Sun - Shoulder - 1/3/12	Legursky left Week 16 against the Rams in the first quarter with an injury to his left shoulder. He did not play in Week 17 against the Browns but is expected to return to the lineup for the Wild-Card game against the Broncos on Sunday.
LaMarr Woodley	LB	Prob Sun - Hamstring - 1/3/12	Woodley missed the final two games of the regular season due to an injured hamstring but is expected to return to the lineup for the Wild-Card game against the Broncos on Sunday.
Cortez Allen	DB	Doub Sun - Shoulder - 1/4/12	Allen suffered a right shoulder injury during Week 17 against the Browns and is not expected to play in their Wild-Card game against the Broncos on Sunday.
Mewelde Moore	RB	Doub Sun - Knee - 1/4/12	Moore missed the final two games of the regular season due to a sprained MCL and is expected to miss their Wild-Card game against the Broncos on Sunday.
Maurkice Pouncey	C	Out Sun - Ankle - 1/7/12	Pouncey re-tweaked his high ankle sprain in practice Wednesday and has been ruled out for their Wild-Card game against the Broncos on Sunday.
Ryan Clark	S	Out Sun - Illness - 1/3/12	Clark will be held out of the AFC Wild Card game against the Broncos on Sunday as a precautionary measure concerning his sickle cell trait condition. In 2007 he lost his spleen, gall bladder, and 30 pounds as a result of a sickle cell trait and playing at high altitudes potentially cause negative blood reactions.
Rashard Mendenhall	RB	I-R - Knee - 1/3/12	Mendenhall has been placed on injured reserve after he suffered a torn ACL against the Browns in Week 17. He will miss the entire postseason and due to the severity of the injury, his availability for the start of the 2012 season is now in doubt.
Jonathan Dwyer	RB	I-R - Foot - 12/8/11	Dwyer has been placed on the injured reserve and will miss the remainder of the season after sustaining a foot injury.
Chris Carter	LB	I-R - Hamstring - 1/4/12	Carter has been placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury and will miss the entire postseason as a result.
Daniel Sepulveda	P	I-R - Knee - 11/6/11	Sepulveda has been placed on injured reserve due to a knee injury and will miss the remainder of the season as a result.
Chris Hoke	NT	I-R - Neck - 12/6/11	Hoke is required to undergo season-ending neck surgery due to an injury he suffered against the Jaguars in Week 6.

Denver

Player		Status/Updated	Notes
Jonathan Wilhite	DB	Ques Sun - Illness - 1/7/12	Wilhite was limited in practice Friday because of an undisclosed illness and remains questionable for Sunday's Wild-Card game against the Texans.
Russ Hochstein	G	Ques Sun - Undisclosed - 1/1/12	Hochstein left Week 17 with an undisclosed injury and is considered questionable for their Wild-Card game against the Steelers on Sunday.
Spencer Larsen	FB	Doub Sun - Knee - 1/4/12	Larsen suffered a knee injury during Week 17 against the Chiefs. He is not expected to play in their Wild-Card game against the Steelers on Sunday.
Brian Dawkins	S	Out Sun - Neck - 1/6/12	Dawkins left Week 16 against the Bills after re-aggravating a neck injury and did not play in Week 17 against the Chiefs. He has been ruled out for Sunday's Wild-Card game against the Steelers.
Chris Kuper	G	I-R - Leg - 1/2/12	Kuper has been placed on injured reserve after suffering a dislocated left ankle and broken tibia and fibula in Week 17 against the Chiefs. He will miss the postseason.
Cassius Vaughn	CB	I-R - Leg - 11/29/11	Vaughn has been placed on injured reserve after suffering a fractured left fibula against the Chargers in Week 12. He will miss the remainder of the season as a result.
Knowshon Moreno	RB	I-R - Knee - 11/15/11	Moreno suffered a torn ACL in his right knee and has been placed on injured reserve. He will miss the remainder of the season.
Kevin Vickerson	DT	I-R - Ankle - 10/10/11	Vickerson has been placed on the injured reserve with an ankle injury. He was injured during the Broncos Week 5 loss to the Chargers.

[Kipper]

From Broncotalk.net

(disclaimer** I (Kipper) personally hate all of the adjusted rate type of stats, thus why you never see me post and use them. They're really inaccurate IMO and rely on weighted formulas that are subjective in creation)

Outsiders’ Perspective: Pittsburgh Steelers
Posted Thu Jan 5th by Monty



Breaking down the Denver Broncos‘ first playoff opponent in six years from the Football Outsiders‘ perspective: the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Recall that lower (negative) percentages are good on defense, bad on offense and special teams. DVOA Primer

Overall DVOA: 23.7% (2nd)

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most overall efficient teams in the NFL, second only to the 15-1 Green Bay Packers. There is not a glaring weakness across the board (they rank in the top half of the NFL in all seven categories we’ll break down in this post), and most parts of that board can be considered a strength. They have a strong, mobile quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger; they have perennial Defensive MVP candidate Troy Polamalu, and they have been to the big game the hard way before (playoffs on the road). Winning this game is a tall task for the Broncos.

Overall Offense: 16.3% (6th)
Pass Offense: 30.5% (7th)
Run Offense: 10.2% (7th)

Rashard Mendenhall is out. We can expect a big dropoff in the Steelers’ traditional run-first offense, right?
Wrong. Isaac Redman had a stronger yards per carry (4.4) than Mendenhall (4.1), and his DYAR and Success Rate were decent as well (Success Rate was better, landing Redman in the top five). In other words, Redman consistently got the yards the Steelers needed. He may not have broken free for huge gains, but he moved the chains.

However, Ben Roethlisberger‘s lingering ankle injury does appear to be affecting his play. He maintained his spot in the Top 10 DYAR, but his weekly passer ratings dropped from 117.3 and 129.6 in Weeks 13 and 14 (the latter was the week of his injury) to 52.3 and 70.0 in the two games he has played since. There’s hope that the Broncos can pressure Roethlisberger enough to force him into mistakes — though few take sacks and win like Big Ben.

Overall Defense: -5.8% (7th)
Pass Defense: -7.3% (3rd)
Run Defense: -3.9% (15th)

They were already a stout defense, but the Steelers’ getting LB LaMarr Woodley back for this game is nothing short of huge. Woodley had two sacks in four straight weeks in the playoffs following the 2008 season, setting an NFL record.

It is true, though, that the Steelers’ strength (pass) and weakness (run) on defense play to the Broncos’ offense well. If the Broncos already struggle passing, it makes sense for them to stick to their top-ranked ground game, since it’s the weakest overall area of this Steelers team.

Special Teams: 1.6% (9th)

Wide receiver/returner Antonio Brown is, simply put, a beast, and a deserving recipient of the AFC’s Returner Pro Bowl slot. Brown ranks second in the AFC in kickoff return average (27.7 yards) and fourth in punt return average (10.8), with one punt return TD. In total, he has gained 2,048 all-purpose yards for the Steelers. He was voted Steelers MVP by his teammates.

[Kipper]

[Kipper]