When Pittsburgh earned one last chance after Ryan Shazier stripped Bengals running back Jeremy Hill, Roethlisberger ambled back onto the field. As the sixth seed, they will be on the road for as long as they last in the playoffs, including a trip to Denver this week.
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The playoff win in Cincinnati was Roethlisberger’s fourth in which he’d led a fourth-quarter drive to win when the Steelers had been tied or trailing.
The Steelers likely won’t be able to throw the ball 55 times as they did in a 34-27 victory over Denver last month.
At least 10% of the tickets for Sunday’s Broncos-Steelers game are for sale on the secondary market with the average ticket going for about $500.
As part of an impressive three-game tear near the end of the season, the Steelers took down the Broncos behind 380 yards and three scores by Big Ben, two of which went to Brown, who also added 189 yards. Another report from NBC Sports revealed that starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been limited in practice this week.
Brown is the centerpiece of the Steelers’ offense, catching 136 passes for 1,834 yards and 10 touchdowns in the regular season. In his absence, Martavis Bryant will take on the starring role, with Markus Wheaton, Darius Heyward-Bey and possibly rookie Sammie Coates (one catch this season) set for an increase in targets. The one time he bit his cheek and gunned it, the ball sailed high over wide receiver Antonio Brown’s head. Their backup running backs played well last week against the Bengals, as Fitzgerald Toussaint ran for 58 yards and Jordan Todman ran for 75, showing that even without DeAngelo Williams, there still is some potency potency in the backfield. Each of them had over 50 yards on the ground, so if Williams misses another week, the rushing attack will not be in too bad of shape.
Sure, Coates has dressed in just six games this year – none of which has come since November 15 against the Cleveland Browns.
Jones has seen meaningful action in five games this season. Brock Osweiler had a good game as Manning’s replacement, with 296 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, but Manning has the ability to do better than those numbers. Roethlisberger has never lost a divisional-round playoff game (4-0). The Steelers can not expect an aging, injured Manning, because he should show up ready to play.
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Jones had an outstanding year, arguably the best of his career, but that penalty that 31.2 million people watched could put a dent in his value and lead to the Bengals getting him at a discounted salary. “They did a nice job allowing us to maintain the personality we wanted to retain in the run game”. They have the No. 1 defense in the world for a reason. Pittsburgh will need a stellar performance on defense to match the defensive output expected by the Broncos. It’s little question, especially given how the Wildcard Game played out, that Steelers fans would much rather have Roethlisberger at 60-70% than Landry Jones at 100%.
