Five Steps to WIN the Game – Week 7 Pittsburgh Steelers

OK, enough backwards thinking. I blame myself for this 3 game losing streak the Broncos are currently riding. It’s all about attitude, and listing 5 ways to lose the game is like adding a cancer to this team. I’ve been a distraction in the locker room, and for that, fellas, I apologize.

Not to mention, I’ve been giving the enemy coaches a Bible on beating our Broncos. No doubt Norv Turner meandered his way to my post, read what I had wrote and had an epiphany. “I now know how to beat the Broncos.” Don’t blame Jim Bates. Don’t blame Mike Shanahan. Blame me.

That said, I’m done giving the enemy valuable scouting notes they, no doubt, would have never come across had I not pointed them out first. Sorry, Mike Tomlin, I will not win this game for you!

Here are 5 steps to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers!

1. Fix Ourselves First

The Broncos are a bit of a mess, but hopefully these two weeks have given the team a chance to look inward and realize that we’re beating ourselves. Give the other teams credit, but we’re beating ourselves out there.

Jay Cutler has been good, not great, and we may need one of his best games yet this week. Zero interceptions would be a huge help. Travis Henry needs to run with authority and not fear the Steelers vicious defense. No more returns for touchdowns, either from the opposing special teams or defense – fix these mistakes and we’ll be asking the Steelers to beat us without giving the game away. Something we have yet to do ALL YEAR LONG.

2. Stop the run. Seriously.

No more excuses. We did better against San Diego until garbage time Michael Turner runs padded the running stats. But not good enough. With a final score of 41-3, it’s tough to find a silver lining.

We will have to stop Willie Parker or we will lose, it’s that simple. If Parker tallies anything over 120 yards, we’re likely looking at a blowout the other way.

This is not impossible. We held Ladainian Tomlinson to 67 yards on 21 carries, but we had to throw everything and the kitchen sink to do it. The Chargers still beat us handily through the passing game, because we asked so much of our secondary to focus on the running game. We need to lean toward stopping the run but not sell the house in doing it.

I would start Marcus Thomas and Sam Adams at DT – I think Thomas has shown the most aggressiveness of our DTs, and Adams is a big boy that can hopefully step up his game just a little bit. Alan Faneca is one of the best Guards in the business, and he will plow through to get to the second level in the run game. Looking at film, I believe these guys have the best chance at slowing the All Pro.

3. Force the Bad out of Big Ben

If Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t throw an interception, the Steelers are unstoppable. He’s played three games mistake free this year, and the Steelers have outscored their opponents 82-23 in those games. He only has three interceptions on the year – two came in the team’s loss to Arizona. To some extent, the team goes as Ben goes.

Quarterback pressure will be the key for this game. Get Roethlisberger flustered. Two years ago, Ben famously pump faked Champ Bailey and threw a touchdown over his head. Last year, Champ wasn’t being fooled, and had two crucial red zone interceptions. Ben was bothered all game long.

The key to getting this done will be getting Jarvis Moss going. We know Elvis Dumervil is turning into a stud in the pass rush. I want to see Moss having a larger presence on the field. In limited action, Moss has 11 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. He’s making plays when he’s given the opportunity to do so, and I expect him to have his best game yet against the Steeleers.

4. Early Bird Gets the Worm

The Steelers have outscored their opponents 57-6 in the first half. In away games they’re 24-0 scoring in the first half (all 24 points coming in the first quarter). Until last week the Broncos were the leader in the NFL in not allowing an opponent score a touchdown on their first possession. We fell off last week; we need to regain that edge to slow the Steelers’ quick start.

Many Steelers prognosticators are thinking a repeat of the AFC Championship Game is in order: throw it early to set up the big lead then run the ball to maintain it. If Champ isn’t good to go, this may be exactly what they try to do.

If we can get a quick turnover off of this mindset and score, we’ll follow the formula we did last year (and the same thing the Chargers did to us last week) – get a quick 14-0 lead and maintain it.

5. It is time for this offense to explode

We need to put a thirty burger on the board. I don’t foresee us holding the Steelers to less than 25 points. Their offense averages more than that (26.4) and our offene has allowed even more (27.2). Each and every week, some of these points we’ve allowed are coming off interceptions or fumble or punt returns (or shortly after these plays). I’ve already mentioned Step 1 was to fix these mistakes. This will help keep our offense on the field and points off the board.

That said, we’ll need a huge game from the boys on offense. Let’s see Cutler get a 3 touchdown game. Javon Walker simply burned Ike Taylor last year – we need him to do it again. Broncos fans like to mention that we have the league’s best pass defense – well, the Steelers have the second best.

But who have they played? Cleveland (Charlie Frye Cleveland in week 1, not Derek Anderson super-Cleveland since), Buffalo, San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle. Arizona has great WRs and were in the beginning stages of their 2 quarterback system. Other than that, I would take Denver’s passing game any day. Our new offensive line will have to step up and protect Cutler. I think they can.

San Diego fans have mentioned that the fans’ chanting of “Marty!” in their home game might have woken up the team. Since then the Chargers have played well. As much as I hated seeing it, maybe the fans walking out on the Broncos sent a similar message. They need to step up, plain and simple.