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Steelers’ comeback fells Broncos

By Mike Ciarochi mciarochi@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Andrew Baugh

Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) makes a touchdown reception past Denver’s David Bruton Jr. during Sunday’s game at Heinz Field.

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Andrew Baugh

Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) makes the first down catch in front of Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. (25) during the game against the Denver Broncos at Heinz Field.

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Andrew Baugh

Pittsburgh linebacker Lawrence Timmons (94) causes Denver running back Ronnie Hillman to fumble, which was recovered by the Steelers, during the first quarter of Sunday’s game at Heinz Field.

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Andrew Baugh

Pittsburgh defensive end Cameron Heyward (97) makes the tackle on Denver running back Ronnie Hillman (23) during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game at Heinz Field.

PITTSBURGH — It was a tale of two halves, as the Steelers overcame a 27-10 first-half deficit in Sunday’s 34-27 win over the Denver Broncos.

The win over an AFC team lifted the Steelers into the sixth and final playoff spot, even though the New York Jets won this weekend. The Jets beat NFC foe Dallas Saturday night, so the Steelers moved ahead of the Jets based on their record against conference opponents.

According to Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, the biggest halftime adjustment was simply settling down.

“We stopped kicking our own butt probably was the No. 1 adjustment,” Tomlin said. “So much of that first was was self-inflicted wounds, things that we were doing to ourselves. We settled down and that had a lot to do with it.”

The first half saw Denver’s Brock Osweiler complete 14 of 18 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns, two to Demaryius Thomas and one to former Steeler Emmanuel Sanders, who caught eight passes for 139 yards.

Meanwhile, Denver’s defense, the best statistically in the NFL, limited Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger to 194 passing yards and no touchdowns, while also limiting DeAngelo Williams to eight yards on five carries.

The second half, though, was a complete reversal of fortunes. Osweiler completed only seven passes for 82 yards, with an interception.

Roethlisberger, meanwhile, finished with 380 passing yards and three touchdowns, two to Antonio Brown, who caught 16 total for 189 and the first two scores against Denver’s Chris Harris in two seasons.

Tomlin, however, refused to build up Harris, even after Brown had soundly won the war between the two.

“The nameless gray faces we play against are irrelevant if we’re on our game,” Tomlin said. “We’re going to do things that are in our wheelhouse, regardless of what’s in their wheelhouse.”

The Steelers played the first half almost entirely in Denver’s wheelhouse, except, of course, for the very early stages.

Williams broke the scoring ice with a 2-yard TD run with 10:16 left in the first quarter. Roethlisberger passed to Williams for the other 19 yards of the drive.

The score was set up when Will Allen forced a Ronnie Hillman and Mike Mitchell recovered at Denver’s 21-yard line.

Osweiler passed 18 yards to Thomas for the tying touchdown with 4:41 left in the first quarter. The play capped a 12-play, 85-yard scoring drive and tied the score, 7-7.

Osweiler liked it so much, he struck again by hitting Sanders for 61 yards and the go-ahead score with 3:08 left in the first quarter.

To that point, Sanders had four catches for 100 yards and the touchdown and Denver led, 14-7.

Cody Wallace drew a personal foul penalty and Roethlisberger threw an interception on the next play. His pass to Markus Wheaton was picked off by Josh Bush for Denver.

Osweiler scored himself on the 10th play of the ensuing drive. He took it in from 7-yards out, but the extra point attempt was wide right to make it 20-7 with 11:30 left before halftime.

Aqib Talib was called for pass interference to move a Steelers drive to the Denver 22-yard line, but Pittsburgh settled for a 24-yard field goal from Chris Boswell with 7:33 left in the first half. The drive covered 12 plays and 57 yards and the kick made it a 10-point game, 20-10.

Osweiler passed to Thomas for their second scoring hook-up of the first half. Thomas used a stiff-arm on Antwon Blake and walked into the end zone for the score that made it a 27-10 Denver lead with 1:56 left in the half.

Roethlisberger came back with another field goal drive, this one a Boswell kick from 45-yards out to make it 27-13 Denver at the break.

Denver completed the first half converting all eight of its third downs, but the Steelers finally stopped the Broncos on third-and-20 to open the third quarter and Brown took the ensuing punt back to the Steelers 44-yard line.

“Yes, you can,” Tomlin said when asked if he could fell a shift in momentum. “But you don’t respond to it. “You have to live down in and down out and maintain that one-snap-at-a-time discipline. I think we’re a team that doesn’t ride the emotional rollercoaster. You acknowledge it exists, but for the most part we do a good job of maintaining an even keel.”

Another stop by the Steelers defense and the offense make the Broncos pay. Roethlisberger passed to Brown for a 9-yard touchdown with 7:16 left in the third quarter to make it 27-20 game. The drive covered 58 yards in 7 plays and included a pass interference penalty against Denver just before the score.

The Steelers tied the game with 12:34 remaining in the game when Roethlisberger passed for 9-yards to Wheaton to make it 27-27. The drive covered 60 yards in 5 plays.

Ryan Shazier stepped in front of an Osweiler pass intended for Sanders and the interception gave the Steelers the ball at the Broncos’ 37-yard line.

Three plays later, Roethlisberger passed 23 yards to Brown for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:24 remaining. The scoring drive covered 37 yards on 3 plays and Boswell’s extra point put Pittsburgh ahead, 34-27.

Roethlisberger kept Denver in the game by throwing an interception with 2:01 remaining. The pass was intercepted by Brandon Marshall at the Pittsburgh 41-yard line.

“I was trying to make something happen,” Roethlisberger said. “You just have to be smart. Our defense bailed us out. When you fall off the horse, you have to get back on it again.”

Yes, the defense stood tall again and Pittsburgh took over with 1:40 remaining. And, yes, they converted a third down on a pass play to run out the clock.

The Steelers finish the regular season with back-to-back 1 p.m. road division games, at Baltimore and at Cleveland. Win both and they are in the playoffs.

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