Steelers live blog: Steelers vs. Broncos

It’s Sunday night, and its Pittsburgh Steeler time! Follow along as we crush the hapless Broncos, won’t you?

8:33: Steelers looked very nice driving down the field (the 40 yard pass to Nate Washington helped) 8 play, 60 yard drive, TD pass to Heath Miller.

8:42: What’s going on? The Broncos are looking pretty nice on their first drive (even on their broken plays, I’m talking to you, Jay Cutler). The Steelers held the Broncos to a 3rd and 8, until our “stellar’ corner back play kind of let us down again. Touchdown Broncos, Cutler to Stokley.

8:50: Steelers 3 & Out. Our drive included a Hines Ward dropped pass, a bad Roethlisberger throw (that should have been intercepted by Dre’ Bly) and a 7 yard Willie Parker run. Mix that in with some of John Madden’s senile ramblings, and you have your next commercial break.

8:54: This game is already starting to worry me. I think Cutler is going to have one of those games where we get them to 3rd and long, and then he burns one of our corner backs for about 15 yards (it just happened). Let’s keep our fingers crossed kids.

8:58: Roethlisberger, deep into double coverage…Intercepted by Dre’ Bly. Dre’ Bly is also hurt on the play. With Champ Bailey already out for the game, The Broncos secondary might be taking people from the stands by the time we reach halftime.

9:02: Cutler is hurting the secondary right now…Please see the previous posts…I don’t trust our CB’s tonight…even with the Broncos not having Javon Walker

9:05: They just showed Barrell Man (and yes, I wonder what the heck he wears under that barrel as well. It’s 37 degrees there, and he is wearing a barrel and a cowboy hat. Yikes). As for the game? horrible throw into double coverage by Cutler (the corners will need help all night, Coach LeBeau…please give it to them), that was picked off by Anthony Smith in the endzone.

9:10: After a couple of nice runs by Willie Parker, the Steelers were able to change field position, but we still were forced to punt. The Broncos will be starting around their 10 yard lone though, so hopefully our defense can keep them pinned down.

9:15: 3 and out by the “Horses”. It looks like we’ve started playing cover 2 on 3rd down instead of man-to-man. All I can say is, good idea.

9:20: Roethlisberger, after converting a long 3rd and 14 to Santonio Holmes, hit Hines Ward on a quick slant (Denver has been bringing a lot of blitzes tonight). The play is being reviewed now by the Steelers (on the replay, it really looks like Ward didn’t have control of it, and it hit the ground, but then again, I’m not the coach of the Steelers).

9:22: No, I was right. Why the hell did we challenge that? Guys in the booth, step it up, there is no way he had control of that. There are still 8 minutes to go in the half. Hope that doesn’t cost us later…

9:24: Roethlisberger’s pass is tipped up by Ward (it may have been tipped by one of the Broncos), and intercepted by…well, I missed who it was, so insert your favorite Broncos player here _________. On replay, it was a bad throw by Roethlisberger (he threw back towards the coverage instead of towards the open area in the zone) but Ward still should have caught it

9:28: What the hell? is Jay Cutler really that fast? a 31 yard scramble? And we add on a 15 yard personal foul by Polamalu…Broncos are looking to get a TD right now…

9:30: Cutler, play action pass on 3rd down to Sapp, touchdown Broncos. I don’t feel particularly bad about this TD (except for the fact we’re losing right now)…How often is Cutler going to scramble for 31 yards? And the Broncos already had a short field to work with after the INT. 14-7 Broncos, with 4 minutes to go in the first half.

9:35: Crap. Question, what will a bad snap mixed in with a Broncos blitz get you? A Denver TD. The snap came in low, the Broncos blitzed, Roethlisberger fumbled, and Marvel Smith didn’t see the ball on the ground…50 yards later Dumervil scores a Broncos TD. We are looking a little flat right now (read as: very flat). There is only about 2:25 left in the half right now. I hope Tomlin gets on the right track at halftime…after his obligatory hair cut.

9:40: Obligatory horrendous Coors light commercial. Dear Coors, we all know you’re the official beer of the NFL. Making these stupid commercials using coaches and old interviews is borderline retarded, and never funny. Either make some funny commercials, or do the usual scantily-clad women or something…because these current commercials suck.

9:45: For someone who has just come back from an injury, it seems that Hines Ward is getting drilled every single time he catches the ball…

9:49: A Kendall Simmons holding penalty (when he really didn’t need to hold, since Roethlisberger was already headed out of the pocket) combined with Marvel Smith getting burned off the edge by Dumervil (which has been happening all game) combined with the Broncos Cover 2 defense which apparently has no holes (or not any quick holes, because Roethlisberger has rarely found anyone quickly) has led us to the half. The Broncos lead the Steelers 21-7. Pretty sloppy first half for the Steelers, we apparently were thinking the Broncos were just going to give us the victory.

10:07: The Steelers cornerback play is still killing us. DeShea Towsend got burned on a a 3rd and 3 quick screen for a Horsey first down…

10:08: Nevermind, Larry Foote just picked Cutlery off over the middle. Doesn’t look like Cutler ever saw him, and he was late with the pass.

10:11: If the Steelers are going to win this game, we are going to have to run the ball. Parker just broke off a 20 yard run, and we are now in the red zone. A TD here…I wouldn’t mind that, at all.

10:13: Santonio Holmes just caught a TD he had no business catching. Roethlisberger gunned it in between two Broncos defenders. Nice job by Holmes to hold onto the ball after getting hit by the Safety. 21-14 Horses. But we are at least looking a little better on offense.

10:21: …6 minutes to go in the 3rd Quarter. I wouldn’t mind us stopping the Broncos sometime soon. Jay Cutler had another 9 yard run (Clark Haggans is partially to blame…once he’s past the line of scrimmage, feel free to tackle him; he’s not allowed to throw the ball anymore).

10:24: Another 3rd down conversion. This time of the 14 yards screen pass variety. The Steelers blitzed from the weak side, and the Broncos screened on the strong side.

10:24: Nice sack by Woodley, which forced a fumble, and took the Broncos out of field goal range (momentarily, anyway)

10:25: What is John Madden talking about? something about fumbles. He makes my head hurt.

10:26: Another 3rd down conversion. a 17 yard slant to Stokely. The Steelers cannot get off the field, and the Broncos are already in field goal range.

10:27: Make that 3 yards from the endzone. Another WR Screen, this time to Brandon Marshall.

10:28: TD Broncos. Cutler to whoever the TE is for the Broncos…Scheffler, I think. We got killed on 3rd down conversions. The Broncos had two 3rd and over 10 yards and we couldn’t get off the field. Every time they show Troy Polamalu (after a big play) he has the “Oh, I can’t believe this just happened” look. Me either Troy, me either. 28-14 Broncos, as we begin the 4th Quarter.

10:32: Classy. On the kickoff, which was basically kicked right to Davenport, he decided that Rossum was going to run directly up behind him and catch it. That would have been a great idea, had he decided to tell Rossum about it. We start this drive from the 5 yard line. That sucks. If it would have been something with pooping in somebody’s closet Davenport would have been all over it.

10:36: Madden & Michaels have spent the last 2 minutes talking about a camera guy who got hit and his camera turned green (haven’t seen that since the earthquake in San Francisco, blah, blah, blah). Yes, they’re getting paid millions of dollars to talk about this game.

10:43: This is probably the game right here. 4th and 1 on the Broncos 12 yard line. Roethlisberger on a QB sneak…and we got the first down (thank goodness).

10:46: Matt Spaeth is completely uncovered, and Roethlisberger found him in the endzone. Td Steelers. Sweet Hips follows up with the extra point, and its 28-21 Horses. 10:10 left to go in the game.

10:52: Here we go…3rd and long for the Broncos once again. The Steelers need a stop here, which they haven’t been getting all game. Before we can see which Broncos receiver is going to get the necessary first down yardage, the Broncos called time out.

10:55: Finally! we stopped the Broncos on third down. We blitzed, which the Broncos easily picked up, but we had decent coverage down field, the “amazingly fast” Cutler took off, and we tackled him before he could get very far. We’re down a TD…lets see what the offense can do.

11:04: 3rd and long for the Steelers, at about the Broncos 37. Nice slant by Wilson to pick up the first down. Al Michaels just said it, and I agree with him, surprisingly, that both teams have converted numerous 3rd and longs…As we hit the 2 minute warning, the Steelers are inside the Broncos 30 yard line…Not what I expected for this game, but it has at least been entertaining. Looks like Tomlin is playing for overtime right now, so lets hope that everything works out…

11:09: Steelers TD. Roethlisberger to Heath Miller. Pretty shoddy coverage by the Broncos. Miller easily got by his defender on an out route. Sweet Hips with the extra point…28-28. The Broncos will have 1:10 and two timeouts to get into Elam field goal range.

11:14: Auspicious beginning? not quite. The Broncos first play on offense had Clark Haggans offsides and about a 18 yard reception by Scheffler (who went off with an injury)

11:16: Dear Coach LeBeau, I love it when you blitz. It is part of the reason the Steelers defense is good. But seriously, if its not working (which it is not on this drive) then stop doing it! We are getting no pressure on Cutler, and our CB’s aren’t good enough to stop ANYBODY on-on-one.

11:19: Daniel Graham made have just made the stupidest play in the history of football. Its being reviewed right now. It looks like Graham caught the ball, and then he may have thrown it before he was touched…we await the review. It was ruled a catch and down by contact. We’re probably about to lose now…and it should have never happened.

11:22: Well, after the obligatory ice the kicker timeout by Tomlin, it will be Elam from 47/48 yards to win it.

11:25: Game over. We couldn’t get the Broncos off the field on 3rd down, and we couldn’t get a consistent pass rush on Cutler without blitzing, which of course exposes our cornerbacks or our linebackers in pass coverage. The Steelers fall to 4-2. The AFC North sucks, so we’re still leading the division, but man…we shouldn’t have lost this game. We played the whole first half thinking we were supposed to win, and the Broncos actually played to win…We never recovered from that first half.

Category: Football