Steelers step into Broncos' back yard and take charge

Monday, January 23, 2006
By Thomas George, The Denver Post

DENVER -- Most of the Denver fans had already slipped away. Much of what was left in the stands the final seconds were fans waving yellow towels.

Terrible ones, by any measure.

They provided a salute to the Steelers. A goodbye wave to the Broncos.

The Broncos all season talked about going into someone's back yard and owning the place. The Broncos always displayed their desire to do something special in this season. The Steelers, on cue, read the lines, rehearsed them, stood tall and delivered.

It took a ton for the Steelers to hammer Denver, 34-17, in the AFC championship game yesterday at Invesco Field.

It required the Steelers to plunk themselves in the face of the Denver blitz and not blink.

It entailed mixing pass protections, always keeping the front side and passing lanes free, working the edges and working over the rookie cornerback, Domonique Foxworth.

How many times did you see it? Here comes the Denver blitz. There goes the ball quickly from Ben Roethlisberger's hands. There goes the Steelers' receiver on an out or curl pattern. First down accomplished.

When you blitz and do not get there, you get blitzed.

Especially with a quarterback prepped for the rush, receivers who run sharp routes and a rookie corner playing it safe.

"We didn't want to throw the ball at Champ Bailey," coach Bill Cowher said. "It was nothing against Domonique."

Actually, they threw at Bailey, too. For a touchdown, on a pump fake that made him bite hard inside and set receiver Cedrick Wilson free on a 12-yard flare into the end zone for the first touchdown.

Receiver Hines Ward came back to Foxworth: "When you get some balls caught out, you tend to play a little soft or loose and not take chances. We wanted to exploit that."

Oh, really? Let us count the ways.

Actually, let's not bother.

Because it was clear from the start of this game and throughout that the Denver blitz was not getting to the quarterback fast enough and that the cushion Foxworth was granting receivers was way too much. And that meant double trouble. And the Steelers kept going at it. Their third-down conversion success in the first half was comical. Their success at converting turnovers into points was laudable. The Broncos failure to implement a defense that clicked was miserable.

It had become their staple, a defense that could whip the best in the league. A defense that could bring safety John Lynch off the edge and into the backfield or a variety of others that could get there. Bailey, for the most part all season, did his part in shutting down his receiver. That other corner position remained in flux. Denver hid it often with blitzes.

Lenny Walls opened there. Good athlete. Not much as a tackler. Started the first two games. Rookie Darrent Williams started the third game. Walls was back for the fourth. Soon he was gone, set free from the Broncos' doghouse.

So, Williams started the next eight games. Groin injury. Foxworth inserted.

Foxworth started the final four regular-season games. The playoff game against New England, too. And this AFC championship affair.

The Steelers did their homework.

They knew that stability at the cornerback spot opposite Bailey was as good a place as any to pick on the Broncos' defense. They knew that Williams is a much more aggressive cornerback than Foxworth. The Broncos did not do enough to adjust. At some point earlier, they should have backed off and given Foxworth more help and took the game away from Roethlisberger and took their chances with the Steelers' run game. At some point earlier with the blitz they should have taken their chances with Foxworth in press coverage to take away the underneath stuff.

Everybody gets so concerned with the bomb, the big play, the circus toss.

What is the difference if you allow yourself to be killed in a slow and soft manner.

You're still dead.

"We saw a lot of film of New England and Philadelphia where they spread out on offense and were not able to handle the Denver blitz," tight end Jerame Tuman said. "We've been using the tight end a lot lately in the passing game. Today we were being used as extra blockers in pass protection.

"A lot of times, we were the ones picking up the blitz. We anticipated the pressure."

And tossed it back into the face of the Broncos.

A 21-3 second-quarter edge buried the Broncos. The Steelers scored on passing plays on the first play of the quarter and on the next-to-last play of the quarter. Though the Broncos won the second half, 14-10, that Steelers' second-quarter spree proved insurmountable.

"All season we were able to blitz and play sound defense with that and get off the field," Lynch said.

Not this time. The Broncos were blitzing but simultaneously playing it safe.
No one wanted to be the goat.

That got them busted. And beat.