The tale of two playoff teams… same thing only different

By Magoo
Who are the Denver Broncos, and what do they bring to the AFC title game this Sunday? On either side of the ball they are a very good football team. This season at Invesco Field they are unbeaten with an 8-0 record. With their win over the New England Patriots last Saturday, make it 9-0. In many ways they are much like the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their offense is powered by 2 running backs. Their defense gave up the exact same number of points, 258, as did the Black and Gold. Like the Steelers they are quite good at stopping the running game. In fact, they like to force their opponents into relying on their passing game.

In Sunday's 21-18 AFC playoff win over the Indianapolis Colts that's exactly what the Steelers did. In the second half of that game the Colts found themselves trailing by 11 and then eventually 18 points. This forced the Colts to become a one-dimensional offense. In the second half the Colts ran the ball a mere 3 times. Many may question the logic of forcing a team like the Colts to pass the ball, and inquire about the sanity of such a move, but it sure worked for the Steelers last Sunday. True the Colts put up 15 points in the second half and made it into a contest at the end, but it ultimately led to their undoing.  

With 2:31 minutes remaining, the Colts offense had the ball at their own 18 yard line and began, at the time, what seemed to be their last try at the Steeler defense --and the lead. In an effort to try and surprise the Steelers, the Colts used only their 3rd rushing attempt of the half. A hand-off to running back Edgerrin James netted a gain of just 2 yards. This set up a situation that seemed to play into the Steeler’s hands.

On a 2nd-and-8 play, Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning lined up in the shotgun, and it didn't take a genius to know that they were defiantly going to pass the ball. The Steeler defense responded and came up big when linebacker Joey Porter sacked Manning for an 8-yard loss. It was the 4th time in the game that the Steelers had sacked Manning.

This forced the Colts into a 3rd-and-16-pass attempt that failed. On the next play, a desperate 4th-and-16 situation, the Steelers once again got to Manning and threw him for yet another loss. The Steelers blitzing defense, knowing they would need to stop the pass, had once again come up huge. The Steelers now had the ball at the Colts 2 yard line and a victory was near at hand.

The whole scenario was a classic match up of strength against strength. The Colts coming into the contest protected Manning like no other team in the league. They had allowed a mere 20 sacks on the season. But the Steelers defense had excelled at getting to the quarterback while amassing 47 sacks (3rd best in the NFL) on the season. This time the Steelers won the showdown.

Everyone knows what happened next but if the Bettis fumble never happened this sequence would have been the story of the game. In his post-game press conference, Manning made several comments that alluded to the same.

"We had some breakdowns in a lot of forms," the eight year veteran signal called told reporters. "and that was the difference in the game."

The Indianapolis Star writer Mike Chappell agreed as this observation appeared in his column on Tuesday. (The Colts were) "blitzed into oblivion by the Steelers."

The Broncos hope to turn the Steelers into a one-dimensional (passing team). Like the Steelers defense, it plays into their strength. But here is where the two teams differ. The Steelers use the sack as a weapon while the Broncos use the turnover.

Bronco quarterback Jake Plummer, has much to do with the success of this philosophy, he threw only 7 interceptions. Additionally their running backs hold on to the ball as they lost only 9 fumbles this year. In the meantime their defense picked off 20 errant passes this season, and recovered 16 fumbles. The Broncos had +20 in the turnover ratio; good enough to be second beat in the NFL.

In their 27-13 win over the New England Patriots the Broncos won the turnover ratio by landslide (5-1) while gathering in 3 fumbles and intercepting 2 passes. It was the Bronco defense that clearly won the day. In the game's most important sequence they turned the game upside down.

Late in the third quarter the Patriots trailed the Broncos by a 10-6 score. Patriot quarterback Tom Brady used 7 plays (5 passes) to move the ball 73 yards and had advanced the ball to the Bronco 5 yard line.

On a 3rd-and-5 play, Brady dropped back to pass once again. It proved to be one pass too many, as this time the Broncos were ready for him, and corner back Champ Baily intercepted a pass intended for wide receiver Troy Brown in the endzone. Bailey took off, and with no one in front of him returned the ball 100 yards to the Patroits 1 yard line.

On the next play running back Mike Anderson went around left end for a Bronco touchdown. Instead of having a possible 13-10 lead, the Patriots faced a 17-6 deficit.

In the fourth quarter another Patriot turnover led to yet another touchdown giving the Broncos an insurmountable 24-6 lead. The Broncos had been successful in frustrating their opponent. In fact they forced the Patriots to use the pass. In the second half the Patriots used only 7 rushing plays while passing the ball 21 times. Two of those passes wound up in the Bronco's hands. Like the Steelers, the Bronco's defense was up to the task. The turnovers left the normally calm Brady to bristle.             

"When you lose, you want to go down fighting," Brady said. "You want to go down playing your best and we didn't do that. We made it easy for them."

Yet still there are a lot more similarities between these two teams. Both posses running games that helps dictate the tempo of the game. This season the Broncos ran the ball 542 times compared to the Steelers 549 times. The Broncos ranked second in the league in rushing offense while averaging 158.7 yards per game. Additionally they rushed for 25 touchdowns. The Steelers were strong in these categories also, averaging 138.9 yards per game (5th in the NFL) with 21 scores.

Like the Steelers they are stiff against the run. Their numbers are nearly the same. The Broncos allowed an average of 85.2 yards while the Steelers had similarly allowed 86.0 per game. Hence forcing their opponents to rely heavily on the pass to prevail.

It might be safe to say that this game will come down to whoever can run the ball effectively will win the game. However the running game may turn out to be a wash. In which case, the game will come down to which defense is able to force the other team to go to the passing game to gain an edge.

It may seem that the Broncos would have a slight edge if this were to happen. They, like the Colts, are very good at protecting their quarterback. They allowed only 23 sacks on the year.

If the Broncos seek to exploit the Steelers pass defense it will be the most interesting match up of the game. Once again it will pit strength against strength. But it could prove dangerous for the Broncos. In their last two contests, the Steelers blitzing game was tested by teams (Cincinnati & Indianapolis) that were also better at protecting their quarterbacks than even the Broncos. Neither team was able to hold off the Steelers blitzing defense as they got to the quarterback 9 times.

On the other hand if it is the Steelers who need to go to the pass to gain an edge it may be the interception that proves to be the big factor.

Whatever the case, the team whose defense is able to utilize their strength will win the game.