SPORTS-(BRONCOS)
01/22/06 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (L 17-34)
After almost a full season of professional tackle football, the Denver Broncos came full circle.
Their season began with a lopsided loss in Miami, then ended with a lopside loss on their home field,
For the first time since the first game of the season, the Broncos were flat out beaten by their
opponent. Even a nearsighted asshole sitting in section 520 about 500 feet above the plaing field
could see that things weren't going well in "Bronco Country".
Early in the game, John Lynch came on a blitz. Pittsburgh QB Be Roethlisberger got the pass off, but Lynch still ran into him. A typical quarterback would've been on his dumper.. but Roethlisberger just shrugged him off. Kinda' felt at that point that things weren't going to go as planned. I give all the credit to Roethislberger and Bill Cowher's staff. They took away Rod Smith's bread-and-butter 12 yard crossing route.
They took away Denver's aggressive blitz packages. They took away what had
been steady pass protection from Matt Lepsis and George Foster. They took away the AFC
title and just flat out beat Denver.
Jake Plummer's going to get alot of blame for this, but it wasn't Plummer who forced only one punt in the first half. Denver's secondary has always been vulnerable to the 10-20 yard pass and that's what Pittsburgh took all day. They seemed to key on rookie Domonique Foxworth, who after 17 games of
unexpected play, suddenly looked like the typical rookie. Pittsburgh also got a little bit of luck early on, to
manufactue their momentum. Champ Bailey tipped a Roethlisberger pass, but Steelers WR Hines Ward
concentrated, stuck with the pass and caught the carom for a first down. Shortly after,
a Willie Parker fumble was negated. It was soon 10-0, then 24-3 at halftime. Two "lucky"
calls don't lead to 24 points. Early in the season, the Broncos were known for their
third and fourth quarter collapses. But here it was the second quarter that did them in.
Fans wanted to double-check Jake Plummer's uniform to make sure it was in fact, orange and blue...
because he sure looked like the guy who used to play for the Arizona Cardinals. Plummer fumbled
twice and threw two interceptions. Denver's forte' is ball control, field position and running the ball. When
Pittsburgh stuffed the run game, got out to their 10 point lead and kept the Broncos
pinned inside their own 10, Denver's game plan evaporated. They were forced to play
a different type of game. Plummer was even quoted as saying:
"It's tough. They were getting after it and when they got a lead, we get one dimensional."
I'm sure the captain in the pre-game huddle was disappointed
that they didn't "go out there for 60 minutes and play Broncos Football! BRONCOS on 3!"
To open the fourth quarter, Charlie Adams returned a kickoff 47 yards and the Broncos
were toying with momentum. Next play, Plummer threw over the middle, where
Newly Crowned Douchebag...excuse me, Pittsburgh Linebacker, Larry Foote intercepted the pass.
Foote rambled about 10 yards, then decided to deliberately fall to the ground.
It wasn't over, Foote grabbed his new Douchebag moniker as he ran to the 20 yard line,
placed the ball at his feet and did a ridiculous dance. Son, you'd better have a good excuse for
going to the ground ON YOUR POWER, then getting up and dancing like a dumbfuck.
Next series, Foote lost his cool and was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct after a pass interference had occurred. Foote was an embarassment to a Steeler team that had shown up and played with discipline. When the Steelers bench began celebrating late in the game, Foote was rather immobile. Of course he couldn't dance...Bill Cowher had already broken his foot off in his ass. I hope this dickhead gets a
shattered kneecap at Super Bowl XL.
The Broncos were well behind in the fourth, but made a Mild Charge. The game was put away when
Roethlisberger ran a 4 yard bootleg into the endzone for the final 34-17 score. Roethislberger,
who wears #7 because he was a John Elway fan, put the game away in the south endzone.... in Denver,
on a very Elway-esque head first TD dive. I'm sure he knew of the significance.
If the Donkies were to lose to anyone, it still sucks, but I'm perfectly fine with the Steelers.
What happens to the Donkies now? All the talk this year was of
winning the division and getting A home playoff game.After two years of
playoff thumpings, that was the obvious goal. In that sense, they achived their goal.
Hosting the AFC title game was an
unexpected bonus and it's possible that the Broncos blew their wad with the
Patriots game. However, they made progress this year and that's not something that
evaporates when they regroup in Dove Valley this July.
Alot of preseason talk was "Shanahan should go". After this year, he proved that his job's
not in jeopardy. Besides...who else would you want running things in Denver? Marty Mohrinweg?
Jim Haslett? Gary Kubiak is already gone to Houston, so a new offensive cooardinator will be needed.
Most likely, an internal canidate will be promoted... I'm sure the current local favorite is
receivers coach Steve Watson. I'm not sure of the exact contract commitment of
each defensive lineman, but drafting some help there might help. Or else
draft a safety, since Lynch and Nick Ferguson won't be around much longer.
Depsite what radio callers
may say, Plummer's not going anywhere. While the secondary was suspect this game, Foxworth,
Bailey and Darrent Williams are all quality starters. Most importantly
(at least to the readers of THIS crappy website), will Renee Herlocker come
back for a sixth year? That's ancient by cheerleader standards. Who else can
aim the Giant T-Shirt Shooting Rubber Band?! The personnel seems to be there, they just
need to remember how they feel right now and aim to get back, next year.
Besides...they've got "TOO MUCH TALENT" to disappear.
PICTURE PAGES! PICTURE PAGES! Time to get your picture pages!
Some shots from Sunday's AFC Championship game via the fifth level:
