Another week in the play-offs, and another "unbeatable" foe disposed of. Of all of Pittsburgh's highlights from the AFC Championship game, the one that stood out the most was choreographed by the best player on the field: Troy Polamalu. On this particular third-down, the Broncos had a screen set up to the right side. The Denver running-back was behind two offensive linemen, and there was not a Steeler player in sight. Obviously, Denver would easily get the first down...and then some.
And then, Troy entered the picture.
As Troy took on both offensive linemen, he tried to cut between them, in order to get to the ball-carrier. While his intentions were sound, he failed to break "cleanly" between the two linemen: one of the linemen hit Polamalu, sending Troy sideways. But, despite being off-balance and falling to the ground, Troy reached out, grabbed the running-back, and yanked the ball-carrier to the ground...short of the first down.
Hands down, it was the best play of the game (even though many sports-shows failed to even show it in their highlights). In fact, that was the best defensive play I have seen in the past 20 years. In other words, Troy was once again a spinning dervish, ramming his body into any and everyone on the field of play.
Speaking of impressive plays by Polamalu, after the Steelers punted, the Broncos tried to run out of their own end-zone. On third down, Mike Anderson took the ball and appeared to have enough room to gain at least a yard or two for his punter. Then, from eleven yards back, Troy came flying into the picture and dropped Anderson at the one-inch line.
Simply, since Cowher has Polamalu on his defense, punting was the right decision: it almost netted a safety.
Furthermore, I agree with Cowher's decision to punt a second time. Despite a valiant effort by Chidi Iwuoma on the second attempt, his toes grazed the end-zone and the Broncos got the ball on the 20 yard line. In other words, Pittsburgh almost placed the ball on the two yard-line twice in a row. Again, a smart move by Cowher...considering the long-haired bottle of dynamite that plays strong safety for him.
Since we are on the topic of playing well, Cedric Wilson has been the $8 million dollar man during these play-offs. He may not have had a meaningful catch all season, but the way he has performed in the play-offs, he is worth every cent that the Steelers paid him.
Really though, the credit for Wilson's success in the past few games can be attributed to Ben Roethlisberger. With Hines Ward and Heath Miller covered, Ben has been finding his third and, in Cedric's case, his fourth options. In short, playing quarterback comes down to decision making: reading the defense and finding the open receiver...and Ben is doing admirably. If teams want to "force" Ben to throw to beat them, then by all means they should do so...because Ben will assuredly do just that: beat them. Just ask the Broncos.
