By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward (86) is tackled by Denver Broncos safety Nick Ferguson (25) and D.J. Williams (55) during the fourth quarter.
DENVER -- Was it altitude or attitude? Or possibly ineptitude?
What ever it was, it undid the Steelers last night at Invesco Field and stripped away the air of superiority that had surrounded the team.
Five games into the 2007 season, the case easily could have been made that the Steelers were among the elite of the AFC. Maybe not in the class with the New England Patriots or the Indianapolis Colts, but close enough to ignite Super Bowl hopes in the fans.
Those hopes took a distinct jolt last night in the high altitude where the Steelers came out in a lethargic mode that not even a superb second-half comeback could overcome and lost, 31-28, to the Denver Broncos, who were without their best defensive player, cornerback Champ Bailey.
The Steelers still look like the best of what appears to be an ordinary AFC North, but they have a distinct second billing behind the Patriots and Colts in the conference and share that status with Jacksonville and Tennessee, both teams that also have four victories.
Were the Steelers a bit too pleased with themselves after their 4-1 start in which they had displayed the look of a champion, particularly in their 21-0 whipping of a good Seattle team two weeks ago?
Were they just a tad overconfident playing the disappointing Broncos, who were 2-3 with three consecutive losses?
Did the Broncos' most recent defeat, 41-3 to the San Diego Chargers, cause the Steelers to take them too lightly?
Neither the Bronco team that lost to San Diego nor the Steelers' team that beat Seattle showed up last night.
The Steelers made a grand rally in the second half, coming from a 21-7 halftime deficit to tie the score with 70 second remaining. But the defense allowed the Broncos to move 49 yards to the Steelers' 31, from where Jason Elam kicked a winning 49-yard field goal.
The Steelers called a timeout before Elam kicked and if you listened to Denver coach Mike Shanahan that was the wrong strategy.
"Jason tells me he enjoys that," said Shanahan. "It gives him more time to focus."
The Steelers showed the most peculiar game plan early by accentuating the pass over the run. This was strange not only because the Steelers fashion themselves a running team but also because the Broncos have shown themselves to be a team that couldn't stop the run.
Denver came in allowing a whopping 187.6 yards rushing per game, which was 75 yards above the league average. The Broncos had allowed three opponents to run for more than 200 yards.
The game plan would figure to be Willie Parker, Willie Parker, Willie Parker. It wasn't. Of the 13 plays the Steelers ran in the first quarter, 10, inexplicably, were passes. Of the 36 plays they ran in the first half, 21 were passes.
But it wasn't the offensive game plan that did in the Steelers. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was superb in the second half, completing 14 of 15 passes and leading the team to a touchdown every time it had the ball.
It just didn't have it often enough as the defense, in its worst game of the season, could not contain quarterback Jay Cutler. Time and again, Cutler came up with big plays to keep drives alive.
He scrambled 31 yards to the Steelers' 15 in the second quarter to set up the touchdown that gave the Broncos a 14-7 lead.
After the Steelers cut the margin to 21-14 early in the third quarter, Cutler led the Broncos on a 79-yard drive on which he completed passes of 19, 16, 17 and 22 yards. On two of those plays, he was in third-and-14 situations.
But most significantly, he kept the winning drive alive with passes of 16, 9, 11 and 9 yards.
"He's fearless," said Shanahan. "He did a good job of keeping his composure, especially after the Steelers seemed to capture the momentum."
For the game, Cutler completed 22 of 29 for 248 yards and three touchdowns. For the defense that limited Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck to 13 completions in 27 attempts for 116 yards, it was a distinctly disappointing performance.
The defeat, though, hardly blows up the Steelers' season. They still look like the class of the AFC North and will have a chance to prove that in the next three weeks when they play Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland.
Another good run is within their reach and maybe the lessons learned in Denver can help achieve that.
First published on October 22, 2007 at 1:41 am
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.
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