Why The Denver Broncos’ Playoff Win Was So Critical

Ben Roethlisberger runs off the field after the Steelers’ loss to the Broncos in Denver. Plus, they played the second half without Dont’a Hightower and the last part of the game without Gronk.

The Broncos cornerback accused Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of faking his right shoulder injury suffered in the wild-card round against the Bengals.

As an indication of that, the Broncos lined Manning up both under center and in the shotgun during the game. These two teams are the best when it comes to quarterback power – Tom Brady of the Pats and Peyton Manning of the Broncos.

“We didn’t instill this in them”, she said.

Broncos receivers were credited with five dropped passes by Pro Football Focus, and some blamed as many as nine of Manning’s incompletions on his receivers.

“You can outsmart yourself sometimes by trying to play too much of a mind game”, Belichick said. Brady threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns in this game. So I definitely felt like I was shortening up my motion up a little bit, which is why we threw some screens, and couldn’t really get the ball down the field…

The NFL conference championship games this Sunday include a Tom Brady-Peyton Manning matchup that promises to be the game of the weekend. I’m thinking of a big play to Bennie we didn’t make. Luckily for the 76,877 in attendance, the Broncos had been in this position many times before and made the plays late to steal a playoff victory. Roethlisberger finished the regular season with 3,938 yards in 12 games (328.2 per game), 21 touchdowns, 16 interceptions and a 68.0 completion percentage. Although Denver managed just 324 yards of offense and went an atrocious 3-15 on third down in the game, their 13-play, almost seven-minute go-ahead drive was yet another exhibition of the team’s focus in the face of pressure. Despite playing without three of their best players on their offense and their best playing gutting it out with a bad shoulder, they gave the Denver Broncos everything they could handle and more in the divisional playoff.

Notes: Broncos PR Omar Bolden injured a knee following his 42-yard return that set up Denver’s first field goal….

Brady will wear his quarterback namesake’s jersey during this Sunday’s AFC championship game.

Yes, they have the league’s top record at 16-1, but playing half a game or so isn’t going to cut it anymore.