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Retired_Member_001
10-15-2007, 04:24 PM
Tomlin’s Fearless Warriors V Shanahan’s Incompetent Fools: A Preview

Last time these two teams meet each other, The Denver Broncos dominated. In fact, they didn’t just dominate; they ripped Ben Roethlisberger to shreds. The problem is the Broncos are more likely to have the kind of performance they had in the 2005 AFC Championship game against the Steelers. And no, the Steelers aren’t much better, the Broncos are just much worse.

First of all, stopping Willie Parker will be big. Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t fair well when he has to throw the football a lot and Willie Parker has been inconsistent so far this season. His performances in Week 2 and 3 were brilliant, 5.5 yards per carry in both games as well as 259 rushing yards combined from the two games. But his performances the past two weeks have been just bad. Just 37 rushing yards against Arizona and a 3.6 avg yard per carry against Seattle. However, Willie Parker will cause a lot of problems as has ankle breaking speed and the Denver Broncos aren’t best known for their tackling, he’ll slip his way out of a few tackles. He is more than capable of making the big run. His elusiveness is exclusive. Willie Parker as well as Marvel Smith and Alan Faneca, causes for trouble stopping the run.

Ben Roethlisberger looked terrible last season when he faced the Broncos, one of the main reasons for that is because he was forced to throw the ball a whopping 54 times. It doesn’t look very likely he will be forced to throw against the ball against the Broncos, but if the Broncos could keep the game close until the end, the Broncos may have a chance. Just like Phillip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger can’t win games. Hines Ward’s injury status for the game will be interesting, he will be key for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he is currently “Questionable”. All Bronco blitz plays should be directed at right tackle Willie Colon. It would be wise to overload that side on the blitz plays, Colon is young and not as good as Marvel Smith and he will have trouble against the likes of Simeon Rice. That will be the Denver Broncos only chance at getting to the Quarterback.

Mike Tomlin is known for playing “smash your mouth” defense, he likes blitzes, and he is a defensive mastermind. Because the Denver Broncos run defense is so bad, the Broncos will need to score a lot of points, but that will be excruciatingly hard against the best defense in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers have only let up 9.4 points per game this season and that is the best in the NFL (as stated before). Ike Taylor and Deshea Townsend are both very solid corners, in fact the Steelers pass defense has only allowed opposing Quarterbacks to complete 51.5% of their passes, the Steelers pass defense has only let up 3 passing touchdowns. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense has made 17 sacks as well. Especially with Nalen out injured, Jay Cutler will be running for his life. The young Quarterback barely stands a chance. Be sure that the Steelers will be throwing all sorts of blitz plays at Jay Cutler, and the Steelers could also get a couple of coverage sacks on Jay Cutler. Jay Cutler better be wearing a super protective helmet.

But we are also forgetting the Steelers secret defensive weapon. His name is Troy Polamalu. Troy Polamalu is known to pop up out of no where and pick off a ball. The Broncos, especially Jay Cutler, will have to keep an eye on Polamalu because he is a defensive playmaker. The Steelers really like to move him around; he is like a chess peice for them.

Obviously establishing the run will be a necessity for the Broncos but that is a lot easier said than done against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Larry Foote and James Farrior are both good linebackers and the way the Broncos offensive line is looking without Nalen is spooky. Although establishing the run will be hard, it will need to be done if the Broncos are to have any chance.

There’s one thing left though. Allen Rossum is a great return man, kick/punt coverage has been a problem for the Broncos and Allen Rossum can exploit that weakness.

It looks like Willie Parker will be breaking ankles, Cutler’s head will be looking like a smashed plum, Henry will be getting whacked in the back field and Allen Rossum will be making the Broncos special teams coverage look like crushed lady bugs, things look doubtful for the Denver Broncos. However there is still a chance for them, especially if Hines Ward is out. Roethlisberger wont beat Champ and Dre’, and he will definitely not beat Champ and Dre’ without Hines Ward.

This game will be big for the Broncos, 2-4 makes playoff chances look slim, but with a 3-3 record the Broncos would have every chance of making the playoffs. The Broncos certainly have their work cut out for them, and everything points to a Steelers win.

AFGAHNI_BATTLE_DONKEY
10-15-2007, 11:59 PM
wow.

that makes scared as hell of them.

omac
10-19-2007, 10:43 PM
I hope the Steelers do blitz a lot; that would force some single coverage and we'll get a chance to burn them with some big plays. Go ahead, force Denver to take chances; they've been too careful about running safe plays in the offense too often, and it's affecting production. Cutler will take his licks; it's not like he isn't used to getting hit.

When Arizona beat Pittsburgh, they limited their rushing production to 77 yards. In the 4 games Pittsburgh has won, they've rushed for 206, 184, 205, and 163 yards. I don't think Denver's run defense can limit Pittsburgh to 130 yards rushing, let alone 77, so forget beating them by defense.

Though Pittsburgh's rush defense has been excellent, the teams they've faced were only average or below average in rush ranking. Denver's got a pretty good rush attack, although it has faltered against 2 strong rushing defenses, probably taking into consideration losing the time of possesion battle because of our rush defense woes.

Denver has to take risks in offense in order to keep their defense off the field to try to win the time of possesion battle; that probably means going for it a lot on 4th and 3; Mikey knew that was the gamble he had to take against Jacksonvile. The other approach is to try to get big points fast, meaning more vertical, high-risk pass plays that could turn into wasted downs or turnovers.

Either way, Denver's offense has to gamble a lot in order to keep their defense off the field or hold serve, and hope Pittsburgh's offense makes some mistakes. Lucky for us, our offense has the weapons to have at least a small chance of winning with one approach or the other. :cheers:

Also, Saurbrun's got to keep nailing the kickoffs back deep into the endzone to minimize special teams stoogerisms, not an easy task to do.

Medford Bronco
10-19-2007, 11:50 PM
I hope the Steelers do blitz a lot; that would force some single coverage and we'll get a chance to burn them with some big plays. Go ahead, force Denver to take chances; they've been too careful about running safe plays in the offense too often, and it's affecting production. Cutler will take his licks; it's not like he isn't used to getting hit.

When Arizona beat Pittsburgh, they limited their rushing production to 77 yards. In the 4 games Pittsburgh has won, they've rushed for 206, 184, 205, and 163 yards. I don't think Denver's run defense can limit Pittsburgh to 130 yards rushing, let alone 77, so forget beating them by defense.

Though Pittsburgh's rush defense has been excellent, the teams they've faced were only average or below average in rush ranking. Denver's got a pretty good rush attack, although it has faltered against 2 strong rushing defenses, probably taking into consideration losing the time of possesion battle because of our rush defense woes.

Denver has to take risks in offense in order to keep their defense off the field to try to win the time of possesion battle; that probably means going for it a lot on 4th and 3; Mikey knew that was the gamble he had to take against Jacksonvile. The other approach is to try to get big points fast, meaning more vertical, high-risk pass plays that could turn into wasted downs or turnovers.

Either way, Denver's offense has to gamble a lot in order to keep their defense off the field or hold serve, and hope Pittsburgh's offense makes some mistakes. Lucky for us, our offense has the weapons to have at least a small chance of winning with one approach or the other. :cheers:

Also, Saurbrun's got to keep nailing the kickoffs back deep into the endzone to minimize special teams stoogerisms, not an easy task to do.

To win me must cause 3 turnovers by their offense and have zero against us.

when you are outmanned, this is how to beat a good team IMO

Yes you must limit the run as well but turnovers are key. Give Cutler a short field. It is easier to drive 30 or 40 yards than 80
and TDs no stupid FGs please, unless before the half or to win the game.

omac
10-20-2007, 01:40 AM
To win me must cause 3 turnovers by their offense and have zero against us.

when you are outmanned, this is how to beat a good team IMO

Yes you must limit the run as well but turnovers are key. Give Cutler a short field. It is easier to drive 30 or 40 yards than 80
and TDs no stupid FGs please, unless before the half or to win the game.

And just how are we suppose to get 3 turnovers, and minimize ours to 0?

As the TheWookieBronco (cool name btw) already mentioned, Pittsburgh is a defensive juggernaught, great against the run, great against the pass, and 5th in sacks. Though they don't have a lot of interceptions, the pass is only successful 51% of the time against them, best in the NFL. Only half the passes are completed against them. That's a tremendous amount of pressure for the offense, when they know that their defense can't stop the run; Denver will force some plays, and they will have turnovers.

Conversely, Denver ranks last in rush defense, while Pittsburgh ranks 2nd in rush offense. It will be much harder to get a turnover if they don't need to pass the ball much. Trying to strip a rusher of the ball is much more difficult than getting an interception or jarring the ball loose from a receiver who's just caught it. When you focus on trying to strip the ball from the runner instead of tackling him, you end up giving much more yardage (forgot what team was trying to do that to Pittsburgh).

How is Cutler supposed to have a short field to work with, when special teams hasn't consistently given the offense good starting field possition?

Don't get me wrong, I'm with you on this one; we need to fix our defense and special teams, but I think it's too much to fix for the next game. Denver will have to find ways to win despite the defense and special teams problems. Those will involve risk, and those will lead to turnovers.

omac
10-21-2007, 10:42 PM
To Medford Bronco,

You were so right about how this game would come out, and I was so wrong. You called the turnover thing almost precisely, and the field possition the Broncos got was pretty good.

I thought the Broncos had to play more desperate, as I didn't think they could fix their run defense and special teams woes in a mere 2 weeks, but they did. I didn't expect that based on how they've been playing, but they proved me wrong.

Very nice call. :salute:

Medford Bronco
10-22-2007, 12:10 AM
To Medford Bronco,

You were so right about how this game would come out, and I was so wrong. You called the turnover thing almost precisely, and the field possition the Broncos got was pretty good.

I thought the Broncos had to play more desperate, as I didn't think they could fix their run defense and special teams woes in a mere 2 weeks, but they did. I didn't expect that based on how they've been playing, but they proved me wrong.

Very nice call. :salute:


Thanks, :salute:

the :defense: stepped up and I am proud of them.
Turnovers are the key in any game. its easier to win when you get
"free" points like Crowders fumble.

Lets hope this is what we need all year an have a chance to win this divsion.

I feel better. Still need work on D and Cutler needs to get rid of the one bad pick per game like that led to Pitt getting back in the game but I am encouraged

omac
10-22-2007, 08:43 AM
Thanks, :salute:

the :defense: stepped up and I am proud of them.
Turnovers are the key in any game. its easier to win when you get
"free" points like Crowders fumble.

Lets hope this is what we need all year an have a chance to win this divsion.

I feel better. Still need work on D and Cutler needs to get rid of the one bad pick per game like that led to Pitt getting back in the game but I am encouraged

They can do it; they've got character, great coaching, and a great organization. :cheers: