The Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers have met five times in the playoffs with the Broncos winning three of the matchups. And on Sunday, the two teams will battle once again with the right to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XL on the line.
Both teams play a similar style of football with strong running games and stiff defenses. They both feature a one-two punch at running back that allows them to pound the ball inside with their power back or stretch the field by attacking the corners with their speed back. The Steelers rely on future Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis to be the battering ram while Willie Parker adds a more explosive dynamic to the offense. The Broncos have the dependable Mike Anderson as their power runner and the speedy Tatum Bell is a threat to go the distance anytime he touches the ball.
The key to this game for the Broncos will be to establish a running game so they can take advantage of an overaggressive Steelers’ defense with the play action pass. The Steelers love to attack and are susceptible to play fakes. But it will be tough for the Broncos to fool them if they don’t have some early success on the ground. Look for the Broncos to also counter the aggressive Steelers by throwing screen passes and dumpoff routes to their backs.
The Steelers will play the Broncos similar to the way they approached the Colts last week. They’ll attempt to keep Denver QB Jake Plummer out of his comfort zone by utilizing the zone blitz. In the few losses the Broncos suffered in ‘05, Plummer struggled against pressure and had a higher propensity for turning over the ball. However, if the Broncos pick up the blitz and give Plummer time to throw, he can take advantage of the Steelers’ secondary, especially when strong safety Troy Polamalu is crowding the line of scrimmage.
On offense, I believe Pittsburgh will try to keep the Broncos guessing, and will come out throwing the ball to loosen up Denver’s defense, and then try to pound the ball on the ground behind left tackle Marvel Smith and left guard Alan Faneca. As they did in the Colts game, they will pick and choose their spots to put the ball in the air and rely mostly on their ground game in the second half.
Prediction: Both teams will be trying to accomplish the same goal --establish the run and pressure the quarterback-- but they will go about it in slightly different ways. They are very evenly matched combatants, and both are on a roll at this point. However, the Steelers face a tough task of winning their third playoff game on the road (an unprecedented accomplishment), in a tough environment in Denver.
I expect this to be possibly the hardest hitting game of the playoffs this year, and the score should be relatively tight. But I think it’s too much to ask the Steelers to pull off yet another road win against a very tough opponent.
Broncos 20, Steelers 17
