AFC Wild Card Playoff- Denver Broncos 29 Pittsburgh Steelers 23

[Trumpetbdw]

It was exclusively Taylor who was burned. He had his best season this year, but the worst game of his career yesterday. As for lack of adjustments, probably the biggest issue Steeler fans have with LeBeau by the way, it was never more evident than the last play where Ryan Mundy sold out for run, and left the middle of the field wide open, as Ike Taylor failed to adjust his coverage and try to prevent Thomas from getting a clean break over the middle of the field.

Oh, and Kaba. I may never say this again, so frame it if you like. I flat hate the Ravens. As you do the Steelers. But that hatred is mainly borne from respect. You guys play it the right way. The same way we do. This is your chance, and this is your time. I'll never say that I'm rooting for the Ravens, I'm not. But I hope you guys play this thing the right way, and if your team gives it a run, you'll get nothing but respect from me. And let's face it. You think Ravens-Steelers is bananas now? And it's the most fun game of the year by far (until after a loss), but it will be off the hook next year if both teams will have combined for 3 of the last 7 Lombardis.

So I don't mean this even a little bit, yet I 100% do. Much like the relationship of Wes Mantooth and Ron Burgundy developed following Ron's episode in the Bear pit, except reversed. Brother, if we can't get it, it's your time to seize the moment.

[darvon]

I thought the play selection by Denver seemed sprightly and worked well. They created the tendancy to run on first down all day and then reversed it for OT.

In the 2nd quarter I thought they were trying some things that took LeBeau a little by suprise also.

Steelers were absolutely decimated by injuries, but that is one of the chasms you have to cross to win in the NFL.

[RSConn5]

Steelers were absolutely decimated by injuries, but that is one of the chasms you have to cross to win in the NFL.

The Steelers injuries are no excuse. Denver had injuries too. Brian Dawkins & Chris Kuper were both out for Denver and then their leading receiver Eric Decker goes down early in the 2nd quarter. The difference is that the other Denver players, like Demaryius Thomas, stepped up for Denver and the Pittsburgh players didn't.

[mikesteelnation1]

Lost in all the excitement was a truly amazing performance by Ben Roethlisberger. He looked incapacitated early in the game but somehow stayed in one piece long enough to lead a great comeback on the road.

How must he have felt watching Demayrius Thomas looking like Usain Bolt in OT?

Props to Big ben.

You know when Ben started looking like he wasn't so incapacitated? When arians could no longer incapacitate him mentally with the stupid play calls. The second Pittsburgh goes to the hurry up, and all the play calls are on Ben with no input from arians. Sure Ben still had some hobble to him, but the offense was no longer predictable. And on the bum wheel he stepped up and fired a laser to cotchery. If Tomlin doesn't fire arians, bens silly opinion be damned, he's hitching his wagon to the wrong horse.

I was way angry last night, now I'm just highly disappointed. I've had 24hrs to look at the wreckage of a team we would have taken to new England next week. Hampton, keisel, and starks all were injured and will require surgery. Mendenhall is scheduled for surgery, and it looks likely pouncey will be too. 2 of the 4 other ol have ongoing injury issues. Our 4th and 5th dbs probably wouldn't play next week. Bens still hurt, and not mobile. Woodley is about 60%. Looking at all of that, I know we could no way have executed the game plan we used previous to beat the pats. Not using practice squad guys and street fas to fill those gaps. Any way I slice it Pittsburgh watches the sb from home. Better to do that on an ot heart breaker, than a total beatdown from the pats.

We need to focus on getting the guys back healthy, really assess the older guys and trim the fat, have a draft that assesses our needs, and plug holes with low tier ufas. Oh, and fire Bruce arians!!! Lots of great players on this team. Tomlin just needs to stick to his creedo of next man up, and get this team younger and faster.