With Pittsburgh driving and looking to extend its 13-12 lead late in the fourth quarter, Broncos corner Bradley Roby stripped Steelers running back Fitzgerald Toussaint and defensive end DeMarcus Ware quickly pounced on the ball.
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The 39-year-old Manning, back in the starting lineup for the first time since a disastrous outing in mid-November, was shaky at times but leaned on his team’s defence and running game to put Denver one win away from a Super Bowl berth. He was precise and the offense efficient Saturday, the first game since November 15 in which Brady had his full complement of receivers.
So far, Brady has managed to get the better of Manning. Denver has had the best defense this year and not to mention the Broncos beat the Patriots earlier this year with Brock Osweiler at QB for Manning of Denver, but that’s the past. Denver is 10-3 in games decided by seven points or fewer, and Manning said being battle-tested helped them on this blustery night. A sack of Big Ben on fourth and five essentially ended the game, turning the ball over in field goal range so the Broncos could stretch the lead to ten. Denver scored just one touchdown against the Steelers after 57 minutes of play. At the same time, you don’t want to make it too much of a game of, ‘They do that.
Of course, the Broncos’ win wasn’t almost as exciting as the Cardinals’ overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers, which would not have gone to overtime if Aaron Rodgers had not completed his second Hail Mary pass of the season with a seemingly impossible throw.
The Steelers went 51 yards in four plays to set up another Boswell field goal, but they were unsuccessful on recovering the onside kick with 19 seconds left.
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The Denver Broncos cornerback wasn’t shy about letting people know he thought Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was faking the shoulder injury he sustained against the Cincinnati Bengals during Wild Card Weekend. We do this. They do that. “But I think kind of like tonight, we stayed patient”. Some people (the aforementioned idiots) like to take out those frustrations on Twitter and call out players who made mistakes when it really counted. That said, it was hugely important that Denver won that game. Receiver Martavis Bryant had a run of 40 yards. “It cost us today”. “So, I wasn’t nervous at the time, but I knew it would make for an exciting day”.
